The suggestion is the MPG will still be there (hopefully with a less cringeworthy name) with the winner being promoted.

Looks like they are going for a top 2 play off game to decide who goes up. That will not last long I would imagine folk will be up in arms when the team that finishes second wins the one off game to go up.

I would rather we had a club that was sustainable in its own right but we seem a long way from that now.

I seem to remember Lenegan saying at one point that break even would require an average gate of around 5,000. We were achieving that at the start of the SL era and had the potential of doing so towards the end of our time at Griffin Park and in the early years back at The Stoop.

Since then attendances have steadily declined and while costs in the Championship are less so is the income from away fans and TV.

Our attendance history suggests that being sustainable in London requires a competitive SL team. Clearly DH is no longer willing or able to make the sort of investment required for that and perhaps will only fund a part-time Championship side going forward.

In the absence of a new owner who could make the required investment (clearly at considerable risk) we will continue to rely DH and possibly decline further.

Having said all of that, I would rather watch a reasonably competitive Championship side than a poor SL team like we had during the later years at The Stoop and at The Hive.

I'm always intrigued as to why Cas seem to be looked upon as more sustainable, bigger, and with more potential than, say, Wakefield? They both have dumps for grounds with promises of new ones going back many years (over 40 in the case of Cas), neither has a sugar Daddy with real wealth and both have been in the financial mire in the not too distant past (Wake with a CVA[?] and Cas within 15mins of going out of business, both during the licencing period that was supposedly going to see the end of that sort of thing). Cas are some £3million in hock to the Fulton family and have been quite fortunate that when Jack Fulton died his heirs didn't demand the money back as was widely expected to happen. Furthermore, Wakefield is a city of some 100,000+ people, whereas Cas is a town of around 40,000 and by some distance the smallest metropolis of all the teams in SL.

So the assumption on here is when DH eventually goes then the club is doomed. The club has had different owners previously and will hopefully have different owners in the future.
As for being self sustaining, not many clubs are! They all need input from somewhere else on top of gate receipts.
As for the 5k required to break even, as a club when did that happen? Early days of SL! Potential of doing so at end of griffin park days is a bit of a strange statement, potential is still not achieving it.
Think a lot of clubs teeter on the edge of existence and rely on someone to bankroll them, sadly until RL as a whole learns how to hit the headlines London Broncos will always struggle to get folk through the door, SL status or not.
Barry Hearn anyone? Let him have a go atpromoting the game, if he can fill stadiums with folk watching darts am sure he could increase the profile of our game.
For Broncos who knows how longer DH will keep the wallet open, let’s hope someone out there sees something that will tempt em into putting money in and we do continue full time.

In 1996 (finishing 4th place) we averaged around 5,700 and in 1997 (2nd) over 5,000. For 2005, the last year at Griffin Park it was just over 4,000 (6th). Back at The Stoop in 2006 it was almost 5,000 (7th) but I think that figure may be distorted by a double header crowd if memory serves correct. Anyway, back then, there was potential with a competitive team and more marketing (which DH never seemed that interested in) to grow the attendance to a sustainable level.

Just saying that griffin park was not 5k.
Potential for 5 is always there, as we have done it in the past.

I recently spent some time in hospital. A friend bought me in The Rothmans RL Yearbook 1997 to read. Contained within are Club attendances from seasons 1988-89 through to 1996.
London average crowds were 588 in 88-89 rising to 5699 in 1996.
What surprised me most was in 1996 our attendances were the sixth largest in Super League. Bigger crowds that year than. Warrington, Castleford, Halifax, Sheffield, Workington and Oldham.
We did market ourselves then. Five pound vouchers in The Sun for example. Plus we had a good team getting good results. Happy days.

My first live RL game was Broncos first ever home game (under the new name, obviously) v Keighley at Hendon FC. An interesting experience having only watched the game on TV until then! The growth from that position over the following few years was fantastic and I thought the club was really going places.

INgOUT

Oh those days of average crowds of 588. Must have been the Chiswick/Crystal Palace era I think..and I’m glad we never had mobile phones in those days ..some of the players antics then makes the Tomkins brothers sound like choirboys !!

Can think of a dozen or so players that liked to socialise as I write !
Fun days

9,525 was the average attendance at Castleford in 2017.....5,289 was the number at Wakefield...one club is closer to 10k than the other and those extra fans make them closer to self sustainability.
10k average is the self sufficiency number....and that's with the SKY cash.......every fan below 10,000 means £15/£20 less income and £15/£20 needed to be found from elsewhere.........thus, currently, Wakefield aren't as close to sustainability as Castleford and therefore by association are bigger and are more sustainable whilst filling more of their potential.

I don't think I said it was 5k at Griffin Park, but 4k is clearly a lot closer to it than 500. Different times have different potential to be sustainable. We are a long way from that now not least because there is very little attempt to build the crowds.

So Cas are currently attracting 22% of the town's population - a figure that is not only going to be difficult to grow but also a bit of an outlier in terms of their usual numbers over the years - a very good season last year on the playing front having I'd say a pretty significant effect on those numbers and once their on field success wanes (at it will) numbers will drop again. Another factor against them growing much more is that even if they do actually get a new ground the published plan is for a stadium wirh a capacity of 10000 so they will have to be selling out EVERY week to become sustainable (based on your figures). If the plan really is to grow the game and attract new, significant money, it won't happen with the current incumbents remaining.

If you want to p!ss on Castleford, either do it on their board or on the Wakey one, but on here....and as a 100% NEUTRAL....... Castleford are the bigger and better supported team to the outside observer....this is based on facts and not what you or any other bar room annalist and their mother think.....just facts......like cash, the things you can touch, feel and take to the Bank!