Critically important we show up strong with a win too in that game. Make them see something to come back.

I checked and it does say broadcast Live in some press releases but they haven't agreed who will broadcast or on what platform.
Sponsorship won't be big on Our League. It will be more about the in ground visible to TV advertising I guess and we'll have to find a way to push that.
If our social media team does what IMG want them to, they will still have a massive reach.

I'd go so far as to say that, moving to the IMG grading system and away from on field performance, effectively means that RL at the top level is no longer a "sport".

For a club to be relegated or promoted due to a box ticking excercise is fundamentally wrong and far from "elevating" the game, it's more likely to have the opposite effect.

Sure, lets set some minimum standards and more importantly enforce them but, the future of the game looks very bleak just now.

I disagree. If we only want to talk about signing the good scrum half at the expense of infrastructure and 'fandom', we'll end up a really nice amateur sport where the best players are playing other sports.
Time has moved on since the days when people are happy to watch sport in a 100 year old wooden stadium.

IMG require certain minimum facilities for the media . I don’t know but would this be in the East stand or staying above the portocabins. The former could be a problem because any tv coverage would look straight at the West Stand which is not a pleasing outlook.
The other problem we have no control over is that IMG are tasked with expanding the game away from the heartland.

It's only size of the area for cameras. The more detailed criteria is for press and media which is covered by East.

Picking up on Lampy's point about having 3 teams in Wakefield area, it definitely works against us. None of us will ever get full 1.5 score on that. We all have 0.5 because of the population divided by 3 being less than 130k.

It works in Featherstones favour as they would never draw from the wider Wakefield area as it does for a team like Hunslet. They effectively get 1.5 points because they can draw on half of Leeds.
Which is quite unrealistic.

Minards tried to argue the case but clearly lost.
I'd also say we should include the Barnsley areas to the south. Both Cas and Wakefield draw from this but it isn't counted because its outside our postcode despite there being no competition.

York would get a point as their population is over the second threshold of 130k

Leigh and Wigan would each get 1 point as they divide the Borough but are still just over 130k

I agree that they should include wider. I live in South Yorkshire but still travel in.

Long term, IF IMG are successful in expanding the game, this necessarily impacts on many existing clubs, especially clubs like ours.

I don't think they 'tasked' with expanding the game.
They are tasked with strengthening the game.
Some scores benefit a team outside the heartlands but IMG aren't going out to find those teams.

It certainly doesn't work in Featherstone's favour, Fev will get the minimum 0.5 points whereas the likes of Keighley, Bradford, Newcastle, London Broncos etc will get the full 1.5 points.

That whole section of the scoring system is a farce tbh, teams should be rewarded for extending their reach/attendances/sphere of influence by their own efforts, not for theoretical/"potential" progress. London Broncos have been around for nearly 50 years, and in their current guise for around 30 years, but are currently playing in front of around 400 fans, the "potential" there is imaginary.

The local catchment area grading is only for the tier 1 and 2 clubs, so if Hunslet stay in C1 they won't count towards the Leeds Rhinos score. I'm not sure what (if any) points Hunslet would then also get.

I also don't think it's fair to say that it works in Featherstones favouras they have the same restrictions as both us and Cas, and perhaps the reason they have less of a wider reach at present is because they are currently not a top tier club. That might change should they be promoted and gain a wider viewerahip