Doubled edged sword.

Its not just about catchment area for sponsors and fans, its the catchment area for players playing at a level that is suitable for a top quality competition or at bare minimum having the platform to get to it.
If you want the overall quality of the game to improve we have to improve the area from which we get the players which i think you can only do by expanding into new areas with pro teams.

And yet the ' Sugar Daddy ' principle is an RFL favourite, depending who you are and what day of the month it is, Leigh were criticised for having one, Fax criticised for not having one

Interestingly enough it has grown and expanded. I know of people who watch and play the game who previously didn't. Also know of people who have gained coaching quals as a result of the move. Not as much growth as there could've been but some small seeds planted that hopefully will grow. And whilst in no way condoning the shambolic events of Crusaders, Wales now has two semi pro teams.

The question has to be, could we have achieved two semi pro clubs by investing in setting up two semi pro clubs? , or has that happened purely because it was a top tier club that was the catalyst? , if it is the latter then maybe the expansion of the game will have to happen in the haphazard ' stick a pin in and hope ' way it was tried with Bridgend and Wrexham ?

SL should not exand into non heartland areas again unless the RFL has the money to guarantee seed funding for at least 10 years or gets a guarantee of funding from the expansion club with moneys being deposited with the RFL. Crusaders was a farce from day one and followed the same pattern as Gateshead and Paris.

That is exactly what i have suggested in the past, expect Smokey on shortly to explain why you are being completely unreasonable

It would rule many out, just as it has done in football.

Not that many, thats why football has such better attendances than any other sport.

You get what you pay for. Right now we pay relatively low prices overtime that is translating to relatively low quality, we are getting further away from the NRL and a fair amount of our best players are playing either RU or NRL. If we want a high quality sport, in high quality facilities then we as fans of the game are the only ones who can pay for it.

Some people have other priorities in life rather than paying out all their spare cash just to watch Rugby and line the pockets of players, like paying the gas bill etc. Twenty pounds to watch a game of SL is more than enough in my opinion. If everyone reverted to a part time situation this would help relieve the strain on club finances and you would probably get better crowds by being able to charge more reasonable prices on the gate.

Just checked the Harlequins RU website and their ticket prices start from £20 for adults.

You can watch Premierleague matches for as little as £17 at Blackburn (adult) or £20 at Wigan. Appreciate prices will be higher at the likes of Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal etc but as you can't buy single match tickets on spec for these grounds not able to readily see what they are.

At Cas you pay £20 to stand up and an additional £5 to upgrade to seating.

Would be interesting to know how much it costs to watch an NRL game - suspect not much if any more than it costs at Superleague.

So it looks like going to Superleague isn't particularly cheaper than the other sports. They just derive more income from other sources such as sponsorship and TV revenue.

£36 cheapest at Chelsea this year. If you can get them - should be easier now!