And he secured it......

What did you want?

The last deal was levered up on a combination of BT sports possibly bidding....

And it was levered up on more clubs competing with the top Championship clubs coming in on the middle eights.

Both those cards tuened out to be deuces not Ace's

You can't judge Elstone on the headline value of the deal, for all you know SKY were ready to pull the plug.

good to see SL adopting some of the law changes from Oz. the way i feel at the moment I want to get rid of being able to kick in a forwards direction; with that, would need to reduce the numbers on the field, so go to 11-a-side, no scrums. Start match with a ptb on own 20m line. don't you think it's wrong that you can kick forwards but not pass it? why should you be able to charge a kick down and it not be considered a knock-on but a pass is different? We're a handling code.

I'm pleased that you're happy with the alleged deal ?

You say that Elstone cant be judged on the headline value of the deal but, I would argue that this is exactly where he can be judged.
In fact, it's the only measure that we have.

As for the last deal being "levered up", perhaps more should have been done to talk up the value of the sport

we just need to get more middle class people watching.

Of course I am not happy with the deal, but I won't shoot the messenger.

Can you not look at it from the possibility we may have got no deal at all this time, rather than taking a view every deal will just go up and up?

You only work on the simplified position that we got X last time and we got less that that this time. I have explained what we got last time had certain drivers Elstone did not have. If that is Elstone's fault YOU tell us where he failed? What cards do YOU think he failed to play??

I remember Leeds Sunday league struggling for players (years ago) and they went to 11 a side.

I made the journey to watch one of these games and it wasn't bad. more running and less collisions and wrestling.....

However I'd fear that professionals going to 11 would be all about releasing the speedsters.

Reagan Grace would get 100 tries a season

On another thread - Loop fixtures - you state the players are more professional and the crowds are UP.
Anyway,you ain't been listening to the podcasts and reading the writing of the journalist you were happy with when he told of the financial failings of an overseas club.
Seems Elstone isn't a favourite with some of the press people.

The facts are he has contributed nothing worthwhile that i know about and has recieved a substantial wage , no wonder the Everton supporting fan that i converse with and his mates say that he talks a good game but produces very little .

Not just that though, is it? Hetherington and McManus are desperate to be rid. He can't carry the game in any direction without them. Which begs the question of the point in paying him.

But it's ok to spread false news and narratives whilst antaganising other posters.

Well, Hetherington has no real say, he doesn't't own Leeds (although he likes to pretend he does). Elstome is employed, unless he severely fails or some misconduct occurs he will keep his job. The same people saying he should just get sacked are the same people that moan about the yawnions losing their powers to hold employers to ransom.

You think someone else at Leeds makes that sort of decision?

Sure the facts are that he hasn't produced a big TV deal for Superleague.

But the big deal we got last time wasn't produced by Blake Solly either, it was produced by a combination of a potential second bidder and a plan to increase the competetiveness across the clubs with BOTH the battle for the Superleague Crown and the enhanced relegation battle.

Blake Solly set that up and arguably he won more money for that from SKY, but it bombed as crowds went down, and the focus of the game at the top was lost and interest shifted to the relegation battle.

So that left Elstone with the same old same old to sell........... I just don't believe that when selling to organisations like SKY, when you are up against smarter and harder negotiators than any freelance salesman you could ever employ, your going to get a contract worth more than the products value.

I don't even believe they even bothered to listen to him. What could Elstone say? What cards could he play?

We receded back to the whole focus being on an M62 league, and consequently we receded back to the same deals we had before the Solly deal.

Expecting Elstone or anyone else to outwit an organisation like SKY sports just isn't feasible........

For me Elstone isn't there to get a massive TV deal for an average small product, he's probably there to push the agenda of the bigger Superleague bosses....