Not wanting to be one of those annoying people who says they're in the know but doesn't reveal their sources, but in this case I have to be. Super League is going to 12 teams as of 2015

Is twitter your sauce? London and possibly widnes to go down for me, depending on recruitment

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/23264272Was it the BBC?[/url

hadn't realised it was in the public domain, the person who told me would be likely to get the odd inside scoop. I'd agree with you there. I'd bring in Tolouse and shift London, Widnes and either Cas or Salford (depending on whether they either start performing on the pitch or people start actually watching them)

Very much doubt them having the stones to relegate 3 and bring in Toulouse but that's what I'd do.

Glad the decision has been made. I just hope we stick to two leagues of 12 now with 1 or 2 up and down each year. We also need to go back to a 5 or 6 team play off system and move the CC final to May/June and we'll be on a better track.

If they go to a 12 team structure and keep an 8 team playoffs I'll give up on this sport, seriously.

About time tbh.

Just hope that the TV deal money left over from the 2 relegated clubs will go to the clubs and not on some RFL scheme.

So we're going back to a system that didn't work for years? Sure franchising has it's problems but I fail to see how giving clubs less stability in the current financial climate is going to improve matters. A 14 team SL wouldn't be a problem if we had 14 well run and competitive teams. This isn't going to increase playing standard it is merely going to increase the gap between the top of SL and the bottom.

I agree, hopefully getting rid of 2/3 of the poorest clubs will allow them to up the salary cap abit too. If it's affordable to the richest 4/5 then it's alright IMO, let's give clubs more scope to retain their stars. Not only is that better for the fans, it will also make the game more attractive to sponsors, investors and broadcasters

Bottom 3 at the end of next season go down, winner of the Championship GF comes up, no matter who the clubs are.

Surely by reducing to 12 teams the number of playoff places will reduce from 8?

It's already farcical as it is without giving a team that may have just avoided relegation by a point or two the chance to become the Champions.

You could end up with a team avoiding relegation on the final day then going on to become champions!!!

It's going to be 5 or 6, I prefer a 5 team playoff. The harder it is to qualify for, the better it will make the regular season

I hope they bring relegation back, I can't wait to watch the same two or three teams yo yo up and down every year.

Bit like watching the top 3/4 win everything and the bottom 3/4 having nothing to play for, oh except they have now.....

Franchising was supposed to help clubs financially and to bring more young players through. It's done well on the bringing youth players through, however not so financially.

It probably would have worked if The RFL had some balls and threw clubs who went into administration out. If relegation was in place now Koucash would just pay for some journeyman and not bring the best of his youth set up through.

As I was typing the bit above I have BBC breakfast on and the reporter said it MAY bring back relegation . I thought it was already confirmed is this not the case.

I hope they do keep franchising. I just don't think we can currently sustain promotion and relegation.

I agree London need to be ousted however the Sky contract states that we must have a team from london in super league unless it has changed recently so i cant see them getting shut of them, even though it would make sense!

Cas and Wakefield will be odds on to be moved because of their grounds and dyer financial situations.

I think one of the RL journos said no such clause exists re: London & Sky.

Are you sure about that clause?

We won't see the same teams yo-yo up and down each year as they won't last that long. It won't be more than two or three seasons and one or two clubs will have gone broke and into administration.
Thing is when clubs like Widnes, Wakey and Bradford with Salford almost, the three year licence brought in non RL buyers.
With P & R no one is going to buy a club where they can purchase it in January and it drop out of the League in September.
A 12 club SL didn't work previously so they've voted to reintroduce it.
P & R was a disaster for the sport of RL the last time around, so they've voted to reintroduce that too.
The best of all was this new players union bunch! Under a 14 team licencing structure there weren't any redundancies. They voted for P & R which means that each year 25 of their members will be made redundent and their contracts of employment made null and void.
Who the hell voted for all this nonsense?

I was under the impression P+R hadn't yet been confirmed, no?

Complete farce!!!! They need to sort out the playoff structure first. Not revert back to a system that has failed in the past.... P&R isn't the problem and its certainly not the answer.

good move, frees up 4 weekends.

start season 2 or 3 weeks later , restructure CC rounds evenly spread, have an internation warm up game 3/4 way thro season?, get rid of 2 "dead wood" teams, leave P and R as it is with review of franchise every 3 years getting rid of the "dead wood" reardless of area, stop trying to sell the game at top level to areas that have no interest, cut play offs to top 3 , top going to GF, 2 and 3 contesting other spot, this would also free up weekends and stop the ridiculous spectacle of meaningless play off games that hardly anyone attends, scrap the farce of friday/monday over easter (the games tougher than used to be, before the traditionalists shoot it down)....have i missed anything out?



going for a lie down in a darkened room

There's no way any weekends will be freed up or the season made shorter. There'll either be a mis-matched fixture list as there was previously with a 12 team league so you play some teams 3 times, or there'll be this split in to 3 leagues of 8 which adds 7 extra fixtures. There will still be a maximum of around 35 games a season as it is at the minute.

I do think 12 teams is the way to go, but going back to automatic P&R has been tried and failed before. The franchising idea was a good one, it just wasn't applied and policed properly (unsurprisingly, given who is in charge).

Promotion via on-field performance is all very well, but isn't sustainable without also taking into account things like attendances, facilities, youth development etc. Perhaps some sort of conditional promotion, based on minimum standards in the other categories, something similar to the old "framing the future" concept?