You need to paint a fuller picture then Wrencat. WMDC have done no less for WTW of Fev than they have for Cas Tigers.

Unless you count ignoring their own, and national, planning guidelines when granting planning permission for the 5 Towns Park development........

Fev have certainly had the crap end of the stick and have done a fantastic job of upgrading Post Office road.
However, the"community stadium" at Glasshoughton, which will belong to Castleford Tigers (not the community) has the full backing and support of WMDC, unlike the Newmarket development which Mr Box has said publically, is a matter "between Wakefield Community Trust and the developer" and that WMDC are "not involved", when they clearly were at the time when plans were originally passed a mere 5 years ago, not to mention passing plans for "the big white box", originally included within the Newmarket site but, actually built outside of it, clearly affecting the trigger point for the stadium build.

So, you cant talk about them being impartial etc, etc.

Their actions have had a profound and negative effect on plans to build a "community stadium", which would be owned by the community and not by Wakefield Trinity.

But again you are thinking about it in terms of a merged team simply trying to be the sum of two parts. When it wouldn't (or shouldnt) You're looking at the market of a merged Wakefield and Castleford side as the 10k or so who are the hard-core of the current clubs when the aim would be at the 300k other people in the area without an affiliation (or a casual one).

Look at it from completely the opposite direction. Both wmdc clubs aren't big enough. Both will tell you there are areas of expansion for both clubs in terms of fan catchment Whatever is available to Wakefield or Castleford in terms of NEW fans is available to a merged side. Ergo Merged side has the entire catchment area for news fans where as Cas and Wakefield would each have their own smaller bit and be in competition for the rest of it.

I fully understand what you are saying.
However, your supposition is that one big new club will be more attractive than 2 smaller "local" clubs.
In the longer term, it may well be, although this is pure conjecture.
If we really want to slice and dice the current SL clubs then lets go the whole hog.
Get rid of the lot and have a franchise in each major county across the country, plus 1 or 2 in Wales, 1 0r 2 in Scotland and a couple in Ireland.
I'm sure that it will work in the long term, just as it may do if Castleford and Wakefield merged.

Part of the attraction of RL as it stands are the local derby games and losing some of these would be a backward step.

Remember, this thread started on the back of Bradford going pop and whether the Championship is sustainable.

Anything is sustainable if the cost base is right, in relation to the spend going the other way and perhaps the better question would be: can the Championship be a full time professional league and if so, is there sufficient income to sustain it.
Clearly, as it stands the answer is no.

So, what should we do ?

Either accept that it should be a semi-professional league, with no realistic pathway to SL or, wait for the next club to overstretch itself whilst "chasing the dream".

Of course, the bottom line to all these things is funding and it seems that most sports have accepted that there should be 1 elite league with a gulf to the rest.

RL is trying to have things every which way and it's turning the game into a joke.

IF we want a competitive second tier comp, with clubs in the Championship on a similar footing to those in SL then, Nigel Wood & Co need to get their backsides over to SKY towers and demand some more money and maybe we can have 2 divisions of full time professional clubs but, until then, we should probably promote London & KR into SL and pull up the drawbridge.

In many respects the history and how our sport came about plays a big hand in the objections to regional teams with true franchising even if it would probably be the best way forward for the sport over the next 50 years and further.
We certainly aren't nor have made any progression, in fact I'd say we've gone backwards at a rate of knots compared to other sports not just RU.
it's because of that identity, that history, that belonging to what your forbears did also and the pride and passion that will hold us back in the end.

For me if it was a case of lose my club for the sake of the sport as a whole not just for my generation but future generations then so be it. As an FC fan I would much rather watch an East Riding team for instance than see the game I grew up continue to struggle and fall by the way-side which is what will happen eventually (not 10/20 or even 30 years but it will happen) if we carry on with the cretins in charge of the sport and the many 'chippy' Northerners who think expansion should be no more than building a few bogs and putting a corrugated roof over the terraces

Even if it meant playing at KR's ground

Seriously though, we are in a catch 22 situation.
As RL is really only played along the M62 corridor and parts of the south of France, unless we truly force expansion (which can be done through marketing and plenty of cash), the game will stay exactly where it is both in terms of geography and exposure.
IF there was a serious desire to "re set" the game and "franchises were set up in different areas, then people would be happier than "merger's" as hey are usually thought about.
When the dreaded "M" word comes up, it's always Wakefield and Castleford and the 2 Hull clubs that are mentioned and quite frankly, these 2 changes will make naff all difference to the game as a whole and there would probably be a net loss of supporters watching the game, something that RL can ill afford.

On the evidence of Batley,they are more than sustainable,work within a budget and compete very well given the budget they stick with at that level. Are you saying they cant progress any further or happy to stay where they are at? Or possibly the infrastructure of SL couldn't support them.

Using Bradford as an example for sustainability in the Championship isn't a good one , they aren't sustainable anywhere as long as they remain at Odsal

im saying they can do what they do at the level they are at. But what they do isnt scale-able.

Fair comment..Since the door to SL was re-opened for Championship,how was scalability measured previously? In fact how could Hull KR be building a squad on full salary cap now,if it wasn't for a championship club that put that in place.

How do you measure scalability in this sport?

It would be very difficult to measure scalability in a one size fits all manner. Different clubs, different businesses would require different things. But we can look at what is successful and what is needed for a club to get from where it is to there.

I think it is asking the impossible to expect Batley or any club really to switch between how a sustainable championship club needs to be set up and how a sustainable SL club needs to be set up. I'd also say that Leigh didnt do it, they werent sustainable running at that level in the championship indefinitely, and Hull KR arent doing it either, they have kept what they can of an SL set up but everyone knows thats a temporary attempt at getting back.

If a club owner has to put (might be wrong) a £1M bond to the RFL,in order to increase the cap,to attempt the impossible(was impossible).SL infrastructure,you either have the money or you dont..Hull KR and Sheens are living on a luxury,thats been handed to them,at a cost of a Championship club thats made it that way.He'd be struggling to get a team on less than a million..

In some ways yes, Leigh did right to go forward,for the game.But left benefits for the one that fell.

It's notable how few of the fans of teams of these suggested mergers are actually in favour. If they're not going to back the venture then it'll probably fail, simple as. Because once you take those fans out of the equation there's virtually no difference from the attempts to establish teams in untapped catchments, i.e. where almost all the projected audience comprises people with no previous interest in the game.