A wodge of cash that'd make big Nige's pie bill seem like loose change?

That’s because the clubs with money can’t really spend it as they can’t keep buying decent players from lower down the league(s) as they won’t fit them all within the Cap so there’s no money trickling down the table/leagues.

I think the culture we have in our sport of waiting until a player is out of contract so he signs for his new club on a free transfer is very very dangerous as well. Money is not going around clubs.

Pretty much the only team over recent years who’ve paid good transfer fees to other clubs is Warrington. Yet backwards thinking sports fans think that’s a bad thing, the old cliche of “just throwing money at it” is often trotted out.

The clubs with money needs to keep hold of (by fitting them in their cap) and buy the genuine stars of the game rather than lose them to the NRL or Union.

The Salary Cap has been the single biggest hinderance to our sport.

Okay maybe we keep a Salary Cap but up it significantly since the one we have now is a quarter of a century out of date!

I would like an end to the cap but with a few caviats. First no club can spend money it has borrowed (except long term for infrastructure “new stands etc”) any cash put in by owners sugar daddies should be gifts & not repaid. A proper scale of payments to lower league & amature clubs for transfers to other clubs. Finally any club found to break any of these rules to be immediately disbanded & ejected from the sport for ever.
My only concern would be going back to the time when Wigan in effect were the only fully pro team & everyone else competed to come second to them.

I'd love the Hearns to be let loose on RL. It really has become an old boys club where certain individuals ike James Rule, Steve Ferres, Nigel Wood seem to always jave a job in RL yet leave a mess whereever they go. Wonder hiw many millions thise 3 have milked out of RL over the years.

Then theres the pally chairman all looking after each other and making sure they've got each others back.

I'd love to see the Hearns upset a few of the them and try get this sport moving forward. Like another poster said, what's the worst that can happen?

I agree regarding the salary cap, just because a game or league is "close" doesn't mean its enjoyable to watch!

No salary cap would be a disaster for SL. The aim should be to grow the sport, get a bigger TV deal and then increase the cap that way.

Id also make the marquee player rule clearer and if we want to attract more stars maybe expand it to say 3 marquee players for the clubs that can afford them

And Cas...

Who just happen to be pretty much the only team in the league that make a profit (a fairly substantial one at that...) spending the full cap and paying transfer fees.

You have to keep the cap until the rest of the league can A. afford to pay the current one in place and B. actually be able to make a profit.

You can't let poorly run teams like Huddersfield & Wigan making big losses year on year have free reign in what they spend on players.

Leeds were the first full time fully pro team, Wigan and Widnes then followed their lead.

Stop using facts, it confuses the knuckle draggers...

Come on.
We know that vCas have had a few very good years, on the back of a cup final and grand final appearance and very well done with that BUT, for how many seasons did Mr Fulton clear the slate for you, without which you may not have been alive as a club.
It's not too long ago that you sold arguably your best player (Clark) to Warrington so that you could stay alive.

Be careful what you wish for.

As for Hearn, if he can revive the fortunes of the sport then, why not ??
He's certainly got a decent track record and if it means increasing or abolishing the cap, it doesn't really matter.
We certainly need someone with some marketing expertise.

Right now the sport is taking Sky's money and losing fans on the back of their demands.
We have fixtures which prioritise TV requirements but to the detriment of actual supporters.


Bring on the revolution

So we scrap the salary cap and then what? Most clubs still won't be able to afford to attract the top NRL talent or retain what talent we have, and we'll still be stuck with the 12 Super League clubs who, by and large, aren't up to the job.

Said it before, but Hearn is the easy answer to the wrong question. We spend too much time asking "who can save us?", when the real solutions are well within the grasp of the clubs.

All of the clubs employ commercial, PR and marketing managers - it's their job to find new audiences, find sponsors, sell tickets and put the stars in the public eye. The first question to ask is why those people aren't earning their keep, rather than jumping into bed with a snake oil salesman who can spot a quick buck a mile off.

I don't particularly like how he comes across but he's elevated British boxing's profile and ticket sales big style.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Even I could sell out an Anthony Joshua fight.

They didn't do much with Leyton Orient thats for sure

Indeed. If what we want for this sport is for it to become s p-up in an arena preceded by staged "bust ups" at a press conference, he's our man.

If we want the sport to be relevant and credible, he's not the answer.

There's more to Hearn's success in boxing than Anthony Joshua. Boxing is now more popular and relevant in the UK than its been in 20 years. He's made average fighters like Tony Bellew, and Anthony Crolla into stars and has then selling out events,he made Carl Froch into one of the biggest draws in the world, and he's also just negotiated a billion dollar online TV deal in conjunction with his TV deal with sky.

I don't want to see him involved in a central capacity, but it'd be interesting to see him involved in promoting events like Magic and the CC final.

Maybe the quality of boxing has gone up in UK making his job easier. Froch was a quality boxer not average.

Not unlike cycling with Wiggins, Froome, Yeates etc The quality has to be there.

Hearn is not the answer

Spot on.
I'd fully expect Leeds to fill headingly every game next year or to have a new marketing department in place by 2020!

Leeds have more corporate capacity than ever before, and I’m fairly confident in saying have more corporate capacity than any other Super League club. These corporates pay big money and is how The Rhinos will rake in the cash. This is where the marketing department will be focused on to ensure it’s sold out at every game rather than the terracing.

No doubt it has the past 10 years or so. You only have to look at the amount of World Champs we have/had in that time and you can see that British boxing is at its absolute peak. It's been a bit of a knock on effect of the amount of money put into the amateur scene for the Olympics that has also brought about the upturn.

it isn't that long that we only had the likes of Hatton and Calzaghe as WC boxers and one or two others, now you can reel a list off of recent and present Champs.
Off the top of my head, there's AJ, Fury, Haye, Froch, Kell Brook, Khan, James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, Liam Smith, Rocky Fielding, Josh Warrington, Ryan Burnett, Khalid Yafai, Groves, Eubank Jr, Crolla & Ricky Burns.

Also, agree Froch was an excellent boxer. The only guy that really schooled him was Andre Ward and he was ranked as the P4P best by Ring magazine and others during his LHW career. You don't beat the likes of Kessler, Bute, Jean Pascal, Jermaine Taylor, Dirrell, Abraham & Groves unless you're WC

Indeed. I'm probably averaging an email from Rob Oates every month about Leeds' new corporate packages for next season.

Because weve got more world champion boxers it doesnt mean the quality of boxing and standard has improved.Take for instance Froch vs groves at wembley.If they were fighters from 20 years ago they wouldn't have filled a telephone box,especially groves who is an average fighter.The majority of americans and fighters from the west are turning to MMA and the Ufc.Boxing barely gets a mention in the states these days.What Hearn has managed to do with sky is make their fighters massive amounts of money,many of whom wouldnt live with the boxers from 20 years ago.

It's simply called hype. The Hearns are very good at it, and they have a paying public who are more than willing to lap it up, seemingly at any cost.

Didn't argue otherwise but it's up for debate about the standard but that's beside the point. What can be generated through those Champions in today's world is hype though and people are buying into it big style through Social Media arguments that the media are quick to jump all over and other match up's that the Country are keen to see because they are quality fighters, Aj v fury for example.
No doubt the Hearns have done a great job of turning the talent we've produced of recent times and made people want to see the fights, even when they're not for World titles, people have bought into them and filled big stadiums like Haye v Bellew.
The issue for me is that all transferable to RL. Boxing like darts and Snooker are individual sports where you hire an arena do all the build-up and put on the event. Will their skill set translate to RL. We'll see if they get involved.

As for boxing barely getting a mention in the States, I don't totally agree, it does, but not to the extent when the USA ruled the HW division and that for me and others is the reason why boxing over there isn't ruling like it once was. Give them a dominant HW Champion, like a Tyson or Ali and I bet we'd see the sport suddenly come back to life.

When I grew up and took Karate and then Kickboxing classes it was just for the love of it, how things have changed. Kids go to gyms thinking they may actually make a career as sorts out of it if they're any good and have good training.
I'm actually involved in training guys for MMA and what you say is true, MMA is seen as an actual way to earn a good living, where it wasn't just 10/15 years ago and has definitely made a dent on boxings hold of fighting & they actually have to compete with something similar nowadays. Whereas 20/30 years ago Boxing was it, as far as someone wanting to watch a PPV fight.

Over in the US Collegiate wrestlers only had the Olympics and WC to turn their hand to after University but now MMA is where many turn to. Similarly, former Golden glove champions are getting to their local MMA gym, learning a bit of takedown defense etc and working their way up to the UFC. Even American football players who haven't made the grade or got injured are equally turning to it. Similarly over here I've got guys that have played RU and RL that are athletes and are wanting to learn all the different bases of MMA.

Are we really gonna continue this myth that MMA is taking over from boxing. I must have heard this for like 15 years now. It's simply not true at all.

MMA is a niche sport. Its niche in the states and even less popular in Europe. Both MMA/UFC and boxing co exist and do good business.

Essentially both sports need stars. UFC numbers are down and that's because they have one PPV star and that's Connor McGregor. Outside of him it's a struggle. You let me know when UFC can sell 80,000+ tickets in Wembley at least once.

Anthony Joshua sells out huge stadiums and does 1m+ PPV buys.

When you see an MMA fighter generate the money Floyd Mayweather did we can start having a serious debate.

I have been watching MMA since the 90's. It's a great sport, just hate seeing this anti boxing fans come out with rubbish how it's this huge sport which will kill boxing.

Also froch would have lived and competed with any super middleweight from 20 years ago.