Completely agree it's a sport wide issue but not sure the format is entirely to blame. If the comp were decided by who finishes top with 1 up 1 down for relegation that would be worse on the dead rubber front with Saints champions and Widnes down and nothing else to play for - I actually don't mind this format. I agree the club's marketing is good and that's borne out in the merchandise sales. It seems like we're right up to the cap but other clubs with deeper benefactor pockets have bigger backroom staff numbers and money for marquee players.

As has been said, leeds RL owned all of the headingley site and rented the cricket side out to Yorkshire CCC until a few years back when they sold that side but retain ownership of the rugby side. I think caddick also owns the RU side so presume they're not paying rent but it could be a source of income from them

I agree that a stadium comes with upkeep and running costs but with a modern stadium these won't be excessive plus you then get the opportunity to sell the use of these facilities 365 days (and nights) a year rather than 13 Friday nights/Sunday afternoons and have nothing for the rest of the time. A well run, modern stadium with multiple function rooms should be making a tidy profit on non match days.

Which brings me back to my other point about match day income, which we make very little from. I do think the corporate side makes us a reasonable amount (and it's good to see that this has taken off again after it fell away completely under rule/hetherington) but as for the rest of it, we make virtually nothing from food and drink sales. Add in the £1/2m a year or so cost of stadium usage and I have to disagree with your views. Yes, we do OK, but our earning (and profit) potential is way below the likes of saints, wire and Leeds even though our fan base isn;t much different

I'm pretty sure leeds are borrowing several £ millions to fund the rebuilding costs

An investor is not a benefactor, you need to understand the very significant difference between the two (I actually mentioned a benefactor in my comment and gave you a big clue). Pearson did not have enough of his own money or more accurately did not want to buy the club solely with his money even IF he indeed had that which I do not believe he did given his previous forays. Either way he didn't buy the club on his own and the other investor/s nor Pearson are benefactors, they are in it to make money, hence the word INVESTOR, the same as the Hetherington's were/are.
HTH

Unless you have any evidence of that then it's pure speculation. pearson has said many times that it is his money alone that bought and fund the club

Thankyou that was the point of my post.

Back on post, yes we can compete but and it’s a big but, because of the millstone of the KC, which has been discussed many times, the clubs profit will always be limited. Adam Pearson has to be praised for taking on the poison challice of FC in the shared stadium with the Allams running it, espescially after his ingracious parting of the ways with said Allams at City. He must be very thick skinned or a true Bel13ver to want to deal with that despicable duo. He always said his aim was to make the club self supporting which I believe has happened the last 2 seasons with the help of Challenge Cup wins, not so sure about this season but the Aussie venture was supposed to be lucrative? People speculating about his aims or personal finances are out of order IMO.

In Adam we trust
Trust him to act like any businessman
We can only hope that success is what he needs to make a profit and thus he’s hell Bent on success
The team has been to inconsistent since he took the reins to be considered a raving success

Name a team in the SL and probably the NRL that hasn't been inconsistent the last 5 years, its the nature of the sport especially with the salary cap?

Wigan and Saints - only finished out of the Top 5 once in last 9 seasons and average finish place is 2-3rd plus CC and GF appearances to boot and WCC etc etc

NRL ? come on - Storm are the model of consistency with the greatest coach ever to coach the game. Wayne Bennett has a 10 -23 record against Bellamy.

Not sure why you asked me who's been consistent

Rovers - consistent shoite

Storm pretty much cheated there way to the top.

I might be wrong but I'm sure since Pearson took over we have been as consistent as Saints and Wigan certainly over the last two years, where we have won more major to trophies than either of them.

You are also forgetting that Wigan, Leeds and Saints had a big head start on Hull, due to serious mis-management over the last few years

Without the injuries to key player we would easily be in the top 4 IMO.

Wow - that line is incredible. You asked who had been consistent in recent times. Well the Cap breach finished 8 years ago so for recent times Melbourne are still totally consistent disregarding the Cap breaches.

why do we go on and on about injuries ? Radford in the Mail today saying we are as good as anyone with a full team out.
Well we had a full team out in Wollongong and ????
Also he's living in cloud cuckoo land as we had a better team in 2016 and we were full strength almost every week - finished the same as last year with loads of injuries. So what does he want ?
Injuries are a smokescreen and a poor excuse. We are no unluckier nor luckier over a 5 years period than anyone else.
We have them ! get on with it FFS

Interesting to note the RFL have posted a £2m loss for 2017. No international home games explains some of the loss, but 3 home tests doesn't explain the full gap.

They are claiming they have invested for the future, but as much as I love this sport it has felt on a downward spiral for a while now.