Quote: dubairl "There was more than one reason to;
Both was struggling
Both was losing money
Both had fading attendance's
both need a new stadium
But Castleford seem to be turning it around.'"
You forgot to add the some of the original reasons behind the merger proposals which were to do with too many teams in too small an area and the way that affects potential for growth. The population of Castleford is 38,600 with Featherstone and Wakey next door with Leeds hardly a long way off.
The fact Cas are currently enjoying on-field success doesn't make the off field issues go away and good start to one SL season doesn't mean much. It meeds to be maintained long term over several seasons. Hudds took years to be considered part of the top flight.
That doesn't mean I think they should have or should merge because I just don't think mergers would ever work for the supporters. Just look at Cumbria. The idea of a Whitehaven / Workington merger is mentioned almost annually and no one is up for it.
Under the upcoming reorganisation and new Sky deal [igiven the salary cap won't be going up[/i both Cas and Wakey will be able to survive as SL clubs despite a smaller support base to draw on as their entire wage bill up to the salary cap will be paid whether they can generate the revenue to cover it or not.
However the sport has to decide if a salary cap of £1.825m is enough to maintain RL as a viable professional sport in light of the competition from the NRL and RU but also is a wage limit of £1.825m going to allow the players to remain full time and of an adequate standard. It has effectively been stuck at this level or lower for years so players wages have been eroded by inflation. It well be stuck at the level for the duration of the new Sky deal as well so this will only get worse.
If the sport ever sees sense and decides to up the salary cap then unless the TV revenue covers it (which thanks to the inept RFL it can't for several years) clubs like Cas, Wakey and others such as Fev would struggle to compete once again because they just can't generate the income required.
Mind you I can't see that happening anytime soon. They effectively have a veto on increasing the salary cap and have IIRC voted against things Koukash's marquee player idea.
