Wembley contract

Quote: Barstool Preacher "I'm not saying Wembley is brilliant, but the issues with it are primarily that rugby league just can't come close to filling it, rather than the ground itself.

I don't think that is going to get any better at a ground in the north, and once you take the Wembley tradition away, then before long the Cup will go altogether. Tradition is the only reason why it exists now, and there's no heritage in a downgraded final in Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester.

You could possibly try moving it around a bit and going to popular grounds like Cardiff or Murrayfield. That might see a short term boost, but in a few years time their novelty will have worn off for the clubs that regularly get there and neutrals that go regularly too, and attendances will drop just like Wembley's have.

If you want a near full house and better atmosphere then by all means move it to Elland Road, but if you're moving a final that has been played at the national stadium in London for a century to a stadium with less than half it's capacity in Leeds, then you're already more or less admitting the competition is past it's sell by date in my opinion.'"

Fair points. Re: sell by date it's dying on it's now though. The invention of the 1895 Cup to attempt to boost the crowd is an attempt to arrest the decline. It's a real shame but since the advent of SL / Sky / Grand Final the CC has been tinkered with and messed about with too much - dates, venues etc. Taken with the fact an SL club need only win 3 games in a row to get there (used to be 4) the magic has gone, at least for me it has.

This is before we consider the costs of getting there and the underwhelming experience once you do.