https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... gby-league

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... gby-league

Looks like the Broncos will be on the move again to find a stadium to hold 20,000 fans. Or of course IMG could invest to increase the capacity. There is planning permission for 20,000 by replacing the three temporary stands.

Alternatively I'm guilty of creating tabloid style headlines by deliberately selecting throw away comments out of context!

The article does though suggest that the London Broncos would be the preferred option for a London franchise. Also refers to a topical point, a competitive team. I suspect IMG will find a way to make a franchise in London work. It's hard to see how any strategy they have won't include the sport in London. It's being handed to the London Broncos on a plate. I have the impression history suggests we may see some monumental cock-ups from that starting point.

The hope must be someone like IMG drives this. If it's left to the club we pretty much know how it will end sadly. We'll rent a new superdooper stadium, probably on the opposite side of London, bung some posts in, announce the first match date via posters on trains during a mandatory work from home, wonder why no-one turns up and start slashing the match day experience and playing wage bill to save money.

Hopefully this time someone with half a clue and a decent budget will be involved. This must surely be last chance saloon.

Seems to me reading that, nobody has told IMG that although there is a market in London for big games, the hoards of exiled RL loving northerners only turn up at Broncos when their team is in town. They in the main don't transfer their allegiance. Also the large Kiwi/Aussie contingent don't bother to come to club games either. Will be an uphill battle for IMG, Hughes or anyone else to breath life in to this drowning club. Can't see the northern clubs being happy with London getting the sort of support Melbourne did which is what it needs & as Half says someone at the helm that knows what they are doing.

Once I’d re-read it as I initially thought it said Sh**house not powerhouse I suspect it’s all about potential. If they can upturn our realisation of London’s potential audience then it’s all good. In other news we await news of our kit, our sponsors and (I hope) the 3 or 4 new signings we desperately need to push on from last year. My guess ...we’ll hear more about the Gold Lounge. Happy days.

“The demographic from both participation and interest is very positive but we are going to need a club that’s competitive,”

No Sherlock, take a look at London's crowds over the years. The problem is the owner can't see this.

I know it’s not much but did you see on the Broncos newsletter but the club is launching a bobble hat with Odballs who sell them to raise awareness and donate funds to testicular and other cancer charities. The hat is black, red and white in colour which I’m hoping is a sign of a return to those colours this season.

I suspect that’s right. The training kits in various videos etc seem to be red and quite a bit of white. A toxic mix for the middle aged replica wearing supporter but at least in line with recent away kits.

I got home today and my partner said, "I've got an extra Christmas present for you this year which has just arrived. Given how cold it is, you can have it now: it may come in useful".

I think you can guess what the present was. And it's a quality item: I'm genuinely impressed. They must have posted it super quick too.

Quality merchandise, despatched quickly: maybe this [iis[/i the dawn of a new era!

(Sent from Parkshot House in Richmond. Do we have an office there now?)

I don't care about the quality of the squad anymore or anything else really; I'm happy enough with this hat.

You know the old saying Benny, if you want to get ahead get a ..........hat!

I got a woolly hat last season it was part of the all black range or some such. It too was a good quality item. I think it’s safe to say when it comes to hats Broncos are super league standard. My concern is this is not one of the metrics for Cat A as far as I know.

Well, it should be. Absolutely.
Is Cat A defined by northern monkeys? Do only flat caps count!?

The club have a REGUS office there. I believe it's been that way since Loubser became CEO (he lives just down the road).

On the topic of IMG & London. A blind man can see that there's "potential" in London, but who will pay for it?

I wonder if a better run, more competitive club attracting more fans would cost much more ?

for all our talk of poor/ineffective marketing and poor match day experience (both true). I went to see Haringey Huskies ice hockey team at Ally Pally for the 2nd time. Yet again despite a rail strike it was pretty near the I would guess 1000 capacity. Ice hockey especially lower tier IH is almost invisible, much more so than RL. The players aren’t paid, there was no match day experience, 1st time a mascot 2nd time nothing. At half time they did a competition for the kids a £1 a go whoever gets nearest the cone with a puck wins a shirt. That was it and yet the crowd came. Ally Pally is in Haringay nearby are well heeled areas and very poor areas. My guess was fans came from the former. There were loads of kids and families, couples, mates on a night out, Haringey Borough football club sent a few fans over. I think there was one group of scouts or some such. Basically at £8.50 for adults and £4.5 for kids they were as packed as they hoped to be. I have no idea why they would come to IH but not to RL both fast and non standard sports. Price is one thing, location another, the fact they win most games another, match day on Saturday more of a draw? As Key and Eagle are sponsors of the team maybe LB management could see if there are lessons to be learned because we are a million miles from 5k gates and the more often we lose the worse it will get.

The legacy of Hughes inept recruitment as well as his refusal to accept that he is 100% WRONG in terms of his marketing strategy (Field of Dreams just doesn't work) is that we had a competitive side with 4,000+ regulars back in 2007 and that was costing £4,000,000 a year to bankroll. Sky paid about 1.8 of that, leaving £2,200,000 to find. I was told the income per entrant was approximately £14.00, so 50,000 over the season delivered £700,000 of that and Hughes to oft quoted £1,500,000.
As the years went by and he eroded the side and fans through mismanagement and neglect, he continued to bankroll the club at the same level but for a diminishing return until in 2014, his opus (part 1) was completed and we were relegated with 1 win under his belt. 2015 saw him continue to bankroll the side, which continued to underperform. I genuinely think that Covid gave him the perfect excuse to cut back his level of funding back, but the reality is, this has been a slow death and so as to answer your question, regeneration of London back to a competitive side playing to 4,500 fans would cost considerably more than it did on 2007. I'd guestimate nearer to £10,000,000 per year over 2 decades and you'd get a 10K average delivering £3,250,000 on the gate, the same in residuals with SKY and sponsors covering the rest, but until you get it up and running, there's the matter of another source covering the missing £6.5 million on the gate and merch/beers, as well as the Sponsors.
I'll say it again. IMG should bankroll it if they think it's a "sleeping giant", but Hughes should be allowed nowhere near it.

If it were me. I'd return to trailfinders as an investment partner, helping underwrite the new stand they need, but on a long term lease, with full and equal distribution of the match day costs and incomes. I hardly recall a single "offer" to entice me into the corporate area at Trailfinders, the Hive or the Stoop, whilst before that, Stripes was never anything but rammed!

It would seem to me that Loubser championed corporate income as a key fact in the farcical move to PL and Hughes called his bluff by saying if he was that confident, he could pay his wages from the corporate takings

......Oh how I wish that were true

It would show that a lesson about consequences of failure was being taught!

Capacity at Ally Pally rink is 1,250 from memory.

When I lived in London I often nipped to the Pally for a game.Haringey Racers used to fill the place in Tier Four with free admission. Then they introduced a £1 chargee, gates collapsed overnight. Racers morphed into Haringey Greyhounds and built the gates back up. A name swop back to Racers coincided with declining gates and Racers ceased to exist. Huskies were founded and have done a good job building up their gates

South of the water, Streatham have also seen big gate increases, as have Haringey Borough FC.

It's hard work but with the right strategy, you can build a crowd.

What is most frustrating is that through the efforts of Chris Warren, Broncos knew this too once.

Actually I should have said with the right strategy and right product...

Not sure Broncos offered either last season. The off field plans do sound like they may offer something this season. On the field remains uncertain.

We go and attend Guildford Flames when we can, and its usually at about 80% capacity, even with rail strikes etc. I really feel if Basketball / Ice Hockey can manage it with a lot less funding than RL in the south, it should be possible for a RL team for London.

Interesting debate. It strikes me you could really do with two southern teams. Maybe one in London and one in North Kent? Get a derby going.

I don't think having a derby would be a key factor. The main thing is having a competitive team and a decent match day experience.

We have had much better crowds in the past but it takes hard work. The current ground provides all the facilities required to provide a good experience but last season the club put in very little effort to welcome and retain fans (unless you wanted to go in the lounge). Seems some lessons are being learned for next season but it ain't rocket science is it.

Maybe IMG has prompted more than Leigh's rebrand. RLFans has a new look too. These new user badges are making many of us look reminiscent of a tin of Azera coffee. It is to be hoped that Nescafe are paying a premium for this?

Not sure that can really be called a derby & things didn't go well for Kent Invicta all be it in Maidstone, did they?

I see the club are tweeting the IMG stuff out now. Hmm.....reading the blurb thus far, the missing word that matters is Broncos. London is a great place for event games, but the sick puppy that is the Broncos have never been able to grasp the idea of events.