Which part of "we have a national stadium" did you not understand?

Which part of ' it's too big and we dont make any money out of it ' do you not understand ?

Don't the RFL have a share in Wembley?

So, to go back the OP and the subject of this thread: "How have we lost this?" where "this" is being able to fill Wembley for an international – we've lost it by decided that Wembley is "too big"?

Like I said earlier, too many people in the game have lost all ambition and have accepted that rugby league is and should remain a small regional sport of interest to no-one - while still moaning at the national media for regarding it as a small regional sport of interest to no-one.

To be honest tb, I agree that we should have more ambition and use Wembley for internationals, but I also like the idea of having a purely RL Stadium. Maybe it's not the worst idea in the world to build a 40000 seater in Bradford.

I think it's ambitious rather than small mindedness to want a national RL stadium as well as wanting to use Wembley to it's potential.

Which part of the statement "Rugby League NEEDS a national stadium", did YOU not understand?

RL does not have a national stadium. The FA do. They simply let us use it from time to time. That, for a sport spouting 'expansion' and 'development', is not good enough. Wembley, as good as it is, is 200 miles from the heartlands of RL. It's a showpiece stadium - perfect for the CC final, but we've also got the rest of the game to think about.

I suggest you remove that chip from your shoulder - everyone else understands we're talking about a RL Stadium. A true home of RL in the UK.

Care to answer any of the points I made? Or happier making cheap little one-liners?

It's not the FA's national stadium. It's [ithe[/i national stadium. And it's been host to rugby league, as the national stadium, for over 80 years.

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But no, let's throw all that history away and build a small regional stadium for a small regional sport.

So where does the money for this come from?

The build cost on a brand new 40-50,000 all seater stadium is going to run into tens of millions of pounds, wherever you locate it.

You can't take it from the money the RFL receives in TV deals, as this is the primary source of funding for clubs and a fair few would be bankrupt if you diverted these funds elsewhere.

You can't borrow it, as any commercial lender will want to see evidence that the stadium is going to viable - half a dozen big games a year for which it might or might not be full isn't going to persuade them in the current climate.

The RFL (as far as I'm aware) isn't sitting on the sort of funds needed to pay for this kind of project.

The FA has multiple revenue streams it can use to pay the running costs of a facility like Wembley. Where is the RFL going to get that funding from, other than out of existing budgets?

It's a great idea in principle, but it's not realistic IMO.

I think thats why Cronus suggested the Salford project , the cost of building doesn't neccessarily double as you move twice as big , however your problem with funding is correct

As for running costs . I think he answered that one

But it is the FA's stadium. It is owned by Wembley National Stadium Ltd, who are a subsidiary company of the FA.

Wembley is owned by the FA. It is the FA's stadium. Yes, we know it's 'the national stadium', but - to repeat myself - we're talking about a RL national stadium. For RL. What is it about that concept you don't understand?

So, Wembley has hosted the CC final, 7 GB internationals and a few England internationals [size(maybe some other bits I've missed)[/size. we knew that. No-one has mentioned moving the CC final from Wembley - that's a glorious tradition no-one wants to lose. However, a few internationals is hardly a tradition at all; there's very little history on the international scene worth clinging to. You're not stupid, so I can only assume you're being deliberately stubborn. Wembley would be used as it has been since 1929 with a couple of exceptions - for CC finals. No-one has suggested otherwise.

What we're talking about is a home base for RL in the UK. A base for the national side, various semi-finals and finals, player development and the RFL. Somewhere we can make money by hosting other events - concerts, other sports, etc. A stadium like that at Barton would have been perfect.

A 40,000 capacity would have been perfect for everything apart from th SL GF and the CC final , that could still be held at Wembley

As for the reason we cant fill Wembley , reread some of the earlier posts , it isn't just fans of certain clubs fault , it is the lack of competition at that level , plus we are by nature club orientated , we always have been

Do we concur with Steve Coogan's (or 'Steve Coogan's') recent contention that the North 'might as well be' a country?

The M62 corridor has a population of 5-6 million. More than Wales and similar to Scotland. They can support the Millenium Stadium and Murrayfield in cities smaller than Leeds.
On the other hand the most recent figures for turnover I can find:
RFL: £21.9m
SRU: £33.5m
WRU: £58.5m

Although the SRU and WRU effectively own the pro clubs iirc, so that might distort the picture.
For completeness - the RFU: £112m (down from £119.2m). For context Manchester Utd: £63.3m per quarter, so roughly a quarter of a billion a year!

The original Barton concept had plans for a casino, hotel and other facilities - a larger stadium could integrate these facilities quite easily. Of course there would be a degree of debt and like any development there's an element of risk. Start-up funding would probably be the main stumbling block but Peel Holdings are not known for their lack of ambition (or lack of cash) and as Starbug says, additional capacity would require additional capital on top of the current plans; not the entire lump sum from scratch. It wouldn't be easy but there are ways and means. It's just unfortunate a major recession came along just as the original larger scale plans were starting to gain momentum.

The best investment a RFL stadium could make would be a top-notch marketing and sales team, who could initially go out and sell sponsorship (similar to Emirates at City Stadium). Simply drive them past the site and point out that hundreds of thousands of people drive past Barton every single day and their brand would be in full view, attached to a stunning new stadium - as well as SL and international RL TV exposure, among others.

They then go out and pitch the stadium at any number of touring events (concerts, NFL, wrestling, boxing, motorsports, etc, etc) and attract corporate sponsors and sell hospitality. As I've said, it also hosts all England internationals, CC semi-finals, Co-op and Northern Rail finals, amateur and youth finals, even 9s events. Sale could be tempted to play there. Other minor sports then come in - international lacrosse and hockey have been hosted at local stadiums in recent years. It could be a busy and profitable stadium.