Hedgehog is spot on!

And London fans should start opening their eyes.

We will be in the 2nd tier, especially if the likes of MacKay stay in charge, therefore the 3x8 P&R system actually works in OUR favour, we wouldn't have a cat in hells chance of promotion without it. THIS gives US a chance in the future!

In fact you could argue that the RFL has come up with it, specifically for London's benefit, let's face it, throwing money and exemptions from rules our way hasn't helped (largely because of the pratts in charge, true, but it's failed nevertheless).

I'd also add that although Danny Brough is the Man of Steel in 2013, he failed to make the grade in SL first time round and only got back into the big league after a stint at Dewsbury and York.

RFL struck a five year deal with Sky for the 2012-2016 Seasons when they were the only game in town. Now BT, Premier Sports, ESPN, French TV companies (and even the BBC wanting to hang onto a bit of sport) are now in a bidding war for sports rights.

This long term deal now appears very poor news. I think it was vital to re-negotiate the overall TV deal before 2017, and they would only get away with this was after a radical format change. Not a surprise we have one and that the change is unanimous, but with a lot of wrangling in the background about what it might be.

There might be as much as £1-2M a year per club extra from a new deal, pretty attractive to most SuperLeague clubs who lose £1-2M.

Yep, the money from TV is vital, and I actually approve of the RFL spreading it to the middle order, as this is were a lot of talent comes from, also it gives those who never quite make the grade a second chance and gives some old pros somewhere to have a last season or two.

The 3 x 8 with P&R, effectively means that even if London slip back to what we started with at the birth of SL (which last season with 2k averages looks to be pretty much the case), we should still be in with a chance, perhaps a better chance than the old 2 up and 2 down system.

When you play about with it, it makes sense.

As people look at the details more, some claim it could end up with 4 Super League clubs being relegated, and some Championship clubs saying they will need to go full time with some players to get promoted. I still do not think it has been really thought out, the same system was taken up abroad in Swiss football, because of falling attendances, lack of sponsors and not sufficient TV money, have we heard something like that here? Of course it was dropped, and it was the Swiss who advised the Scots to reject it.

What concerns me is if the SL sides finish 1-2-3-4 in the middle 8 in the first season. How seriously will people take the middle 8 after that?

It sums up rugby league when Danny Brough says today, they do not want to win the league, they want only to finish in the Top 5, and concentrate on cups, it makes our game look a joke, even if true!

I've thought the same. You can imagine the howls of protest from the likes of Featherstone and Halifax claiming the system is biased towards SL clubs

Er, what money have the RFL thrown at us?

Reading on TRL that the finances haven't been agreed yet. The RFL want to take the money saved from dropping two SL clubs and give it to the Championship clubs. The SL clubs, however, are saying that it's their money because they generate it and want to keep it.

Truth is they do generate it because Sky pay for SL, no-one pays for the Championship. And Sky aren't gong to show games from the Championship, even under the new format, at most just a couple after the split occurs. The SL clubs need that money, we all know that, so why should they give it to the Championship clubs?

We could well end up with a middle 8 that sees 4 SL clubs on 1.3million central funding meeting 4 Ch. clubs on 90K central funding. That'll be interesting to watch!

LMFAO!

How long have you followed the club?



err........at one point, to stop us collapsing, the RFL actually OWNED the club!

But they only paid the players wages for about four months, and I am sure they got it back when Maranta bought the club!