https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20784569 ... and-money/ Reading the above article got me thinking about the long term plans of DB, after all he is a business man and sentiment is a vulgar word when there's a lot of money to be made. As he has already shown by trying to get rid of the cherry and white team colours. As DB himself says, it doesn't matter where a successful team resides in the country, it's the brand that matters. My belief is that DB will pump money into Leigh to buy success and then he will sell it on as a franchise that could be set up anywhere in Britain. They will be known as the Leopards and could be playing in Edinburgh, Dublin, Cardiff or wherever. He's looking at the bigger IMG picture. He knows they want big city clubs and he can make a lot of money by selling a ready made franchise. The future looks bright for Leigh in the short term but I don't believe the long term future of the Leopards will be playing in Leigh. I fear for a local playing Leigh team if DBs long term plans come to fruition.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20784569 ... and-money/ Reading the above article got me thinking about the long term plans of DB, after all he is a business man and sentiment is a vulgar word when there's a lot of money to be made. As he has already shown by trying to get rid of the cherry and white team colours. As DB himself says, it doesn't matter where a successful team resides in the country, it's the brand that matters. My belief is that DB will pump money into Leigh to buy success and then he will sell it on as a franchise that could be set up anywhere in Britain. They will be known as the Leopards and could be playing in Edinburgh, Dublin, Cardiff or wherever. He's looking at the bigger IMG picture. He knows they want big city clubs and he can make a lot of money by selling a ready made franchise. The future looks bright for Leigh in the short term but I don't believe the long term future of the Leopards will be playing in Leigh. I fear for a local playing Leigh team if DBs long term plans come to fruition.

I do believe that there will come a time that DB will look to pass the torch but I do not see that being a franchise relocation, or anytime soon at all. I honestly don’t think that rugby league will ever get to the North American style franchise sale and move, and if Leigh do become one of the top 6 or so clubs in the IMG future vision, we could do very nicely as a efficient business on game days in a full 12,000 seater stadium. The real money maker and business builder however of a sporting club, is in the sponsorship and merchandise sales. That is why I believe Derek is referencing why it doesn’t matter where a club is situated. It’s the brand that sells shirts etc. I see hundreds of MUFC and LFC shirts here in Canada, and I’m constantly being asked about football when I present to groups. Almost nobody has been to the UK and/or been to a Premier League game, but they follow the big teams, buy the shirts, and subscribe to watch the games.
Derek is a business man, but he is more importantly a true Leigh fan. He has shown true dedication and resilience over recent years, and I believe that it is his goal to grow our club and keep it in Leigh as a strong club for future generations.

With all the previous talk , especially in Covid times with streaming games, I think this is what Derek is alluding to.
Should IMG look at this avenue , Leigh will need to do something to stand out, which with this re brand they certainly have.
2k members or ST in old money suggests it’s worked well upto now.
Loved Alistairs spin on the downgrades though! I’m pretty sure the fact they added red and white wasn’t the reason why they down graded and wouldn’t suggest it was consultation with fans, more of a backlash on social media but fair play to taking some of the comments on board.

After reading Dereks message I thinks its crazy to think an attendance of 10,000 against Salford will happen , it wont ,not even dragging the fans in for free,yeah we need to grow , but let’s be realistic , Leythers want a team in Leigh not in Norfolk, ive got a Gold Subscription for the coming season and support Derek and the Club 100%,but I want to see Leigh at the LSV .

Realistically, based on our population (60k) I think , if we get 6k home supporters that’s 1in 10 , for me that’s not a bad effort with the away fans pushing up to 8-9k for some of the bigger matches. All for aiming for the moon but a dash of realism is required . Sincerely hope im wrong and we average 10 k , past data suggests we wont .

I get what VL is saying but we are neither Man Utd or Liverpool. We are Leigh. That's a large dose of realism. I personally think Leigh will average 6k crowds, especially with Friday night travelling across M62 and admission costs for away fans. The trouble with DB is he thinks everyone has money like he has. In these times of spiralling inflation, which is going to get worse before it gets better, I think he's in for a shock with his crowd projections. Take in admission costs, travel, a few drinks, you are talking 40 to 50 quid. It's out of my reach now and a few others, I should imagine. Add a few suspensions, injuries and the time for the players to gel and I can't see farther than another relegation battle with HKR and Wakey. A couple of big enforcers, which are definitely needed, and class outside back could change that however.

I do believe he's edging his bets though. If, in the future, Leigh are welcomed into the top league by IMG all is well and good. If not, he will hope to sell them on as a going franchise relocated to a big city. At the end of the day he is a successful businessman hoping to make a lot of money.

Derek often speaks to the press and is always very cryptic and can be easily misunderstood.

"Beaumont said
Two bits of info from the opening statement - Leigh needs to be a unique brand, so by choosing a moniker from the Big Cat world Derek wants to achieve this, when already we have Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity (Formerly the Wildcats) and from the Lupine world we have Warrington Wolves. In the lower divisions there is the Swinton Lions and Keighley Cougars.
Already we have Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls with strong brands. Choosing animals is not unique in Rugby League or Sport in general, and besides Leigh Leopards does not trip off the tongue despite the deliberate use of alliteration.

A need to be different from Wigan seems to be overriding factor in Derek's thinking. The old joke goes along the lines about Wigan and Leigh merging to form a new club - called Wigan, that play in Wigan but wear Leigh's colours.
Wigan is not an exciting urban metropolis, it is like Leigh a former pit and cotton town in Lancashire, any superiority that the Pies might have is in the success of it's Rugby Team. If you want to better than Wigan, do it on the field not creating a franchise.

“People can say, ‘We were first with cherry and white.’ If we were, tough as we’ve been absolutely smashed by Wigan, there’s no denying they’re a much bigger club".
Who can say ‘We were first with cherry and white.’? Wigan formed in 1872 and Leigh in 1878, does Derek know what colours they originally wore, but I am guessing both chose Cherry and White, as was the pattern for most Lancashire teams (St Helens, Wigan, Leigh and Oldham). Who was first, is just minor bragging rights.

“What the rebrand has done has made us more appealing to a wider audience. Look at the NFL, it’s not the Dallas Cowboys or the San Francisco 49ers anymore, it’s just Cowboys and 49ers."
"Cowboys" does not denote Dallas, most people would have an image of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, not the Dallas Cheerleaders. 49ers does at least link into a historic event based near to San Francisco. Leigh will never be synonymous with Leopards. "Go Leopards" is a chant that will never be heard from the North Stand

“People go on about the geographical spread of our sport – ‘we need to be out of the heartlands, we need to be here, there or wherever.’ - “It doesn’t matter whether you’re based in Leigh, London, Wakefield or France.
I am guessing this is the bit that spooked Wysiwyg. Essentially as Vanners pointed out Rugby League and Leigh are not on a par with the NFL and Oakland. The UK is not open to franchise moves, the only one I remember is Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes. It was a good idea in principle but fans will not drift naturally with the franchise. Wasps RFC was initially successful but large loans to cover the move never got paid, resulting in administration this year.

If sport becomes about Television and not the match day event, then franchise sports teams becomes possible. At present Rugby League is about surviving on relatively small attendances and some Television coverage. With IMG I believe that all games will ultimately be available, with streaming of the less exciting fixtures appearing on Our League or an alternative service. Leigh TV will become a thing of the past (not that it is currently functioning). When Media becomes the main source of revenue only then will franchising to new areas become a reality. London have always struggled to maintain a solid core fan base because they are always on the move.

“The facts are in the figures. We’ve got our biggest ever sponsorship deal for the front of the shirt as they absolutely loved it and what it’s about. “Most of the other partners stayed on at increased cost and we’ve attracted new ones. There are also more memberships – we did 2,000 by mid-November, last time in Super League, we did 1,200 season tickets.
This statement from Derek, assumes cause and effect. Leopard re-brand is successful because of increased sponsorship and larger season ticket sales. The same could be argued that Leigh have a successful team, the majority of the team has been retained and some real quality has been brought into the club. There is stability with a strong management team and the team are not favourites to be relegated.

Leopard skin print clothing seems popular at the moment, but only as a female fashion statement. Plenty of other people believe that as a style it is a bit naff. If Leigh sell more merchandise for women and kids (and possibly the LGBTQ+ community), then I guess that is job done, on the side they might start a line in retro Cherry and White hoops for the adult male supporters.

"And as he targets a 10,000-plus crowd for their opening match against Salford, Beaumont is looking well beyond finishing 11th next year."
First game of the season against poorly supported local rivals Salford, with 10,000 on the gate and Televised on SKY sports. This sounds like Derek has been on the sherry again.

Opinions are like holes we all have one... wait until you see the pre match line up thats enough to sell 20K tickets never mind 10K @ £27 a ticket...

Don't allow Hopoate anywhere near your opinion then!!

Leyth Bent n Bongs has a population of well above 100k. 10k for the opener with all that is planned is very achievable when you consider the gate for the MPG at a game that has no season tickets and a premium price. Salford will bring 1-2k more than Batley and it will be advisable to buy tickets early imo

Salford in 2022 had an average crowd of 4,529 at the AJ Bell - despite the short journey to the LSV, and the first game of the season, there is no chance they bring 2K supporters.

Leigh need to fill the house with home supporters if they want anywhere near to 10K.

Sadly, Bongser sees all too many Wiggin shirts around the pubs in Atherton. It may be the reason for the Wiggin Walk - it's a fair way back to Bent for their teas. He also sees too many Salford shirts.

Leigh are suffering attendance-wise because, in 27 (is it) seasons of SL, Leigh have only been a top tier side for three. This will take time to reverse but survival next season would be a long stride in the right direction.

Now, about those props, Mo. Are they so enormous that they're actually jammed in the pipeline?

as a Wiganer, it feels like there are some really good points made here Septimus

has the rebrand directly led to increase in ST sales, IMO, no. You played some good rugby, some decent recruitment, although losing fergusson and Macdonald wont have helped your plans. The club has felt bouyed (i have family relations who are ST holders) over the last 12 months, and realistically, given how poor Wakey were last year (i know this gets said regularly) must be in with more than a fighting chance of avoiding relegation straight back down, and i reckon could finish realistically 10/11th

Club kit. we have people complaining every season at Wigan about the kits for a whole host of reasons. You cant always satisfy all fans, but with the full rebrand, it must have been difficult, as he really risk alienating a lot of fans. I personally dont like it, but i wont be wearing it. If Wigan did produce something like that i simply wouldnt buy it. It hits the club in the pocket with reduced sales etc, so, i would buy a retro kit or training kit

Attendance v Salford, always going to be a tricky one to predict. You've not had a home game for 5 months so the anticipation is building, but Salford dont travel, so you may get 500 from Salford there, and not the bumber 2k as someone else suggests. I think 8k 1st home game, is a realistic target, and if you perform / get a result, could be the benchmark for the season. The majority of fans of all clubs are fickle (not a dig at Leigh), so attendance for 2nd game, will depend upon performance in 1st game, especially when it comes to the floating fans(non ST holders). if you play well, the weather, time of kick off, costs all suddenly become less of issues, but perform poorly v Salford, and its any reason not to go

onto IMG, and i wouldnt read too much into the franchise thing in terms of it being geographical. I am all for expansion, but it has to be right for the game, not just for the sake of it. Catalan has been successful, have a solid home attendance, good weekend away for the away fans, so can be judge successful, flip side is lack of away attendance for our games, and lack of atmosphere etc that follows it
Could DB just pick Leigh up and move them elsewhere, because of the rebrand, IMO no, he could have done that with Centurions, so doesnt make any difference. i've posted on the Warriors fans forum previously that the criteria for franchise (if it ultimately goes that route) needs to be clearly defined, and what needs to be in place to achieve grade A, B C etc, but equally if a club is graded B, what do they need to do to achieve A. That should be the target for IMG and all clubs. How do we get the best out of the sport that we all love? lets set the bar high (we may not have any Grade A clubs), but that shouldnt stop us from aiming for that. For far too long RL has been getting a kicking from inside and outside the sport. We have a fantastic product that should be getting far better coverage, and players who earn more attractive salaries from being professional sportsmen

Good post Pieman, but I do believe 10k is very achievable with what will be going on. Salford fans get to LSV quicker than Barton, so always travel well to LSV - 2017 they brought as many as Wigan if not more. Hopefully Wigan travel this time.
Forget the rebrand for a minute - if we sell more than 2017 when most SL clubs are saying sales are well down then you look at whats different? Rebrand is the biggest gain as Fans will still buy irrespective of Branding, I know nobody who has not bought a ST due to the rebrand but plenty who wont buy the shirt and go 'retro' etc instead.
The rebrand is aimed at folk without allegiance with easy access to LSV and that is quite a number, the fairer sex seem to be more into the Leopard print btw and if you go to a kids game of any sport on a Sunday its the mums who are with the kids.