Its obvious they want a quick decision, as he mentions that all the TV deals are up for renewal at the same time. Imagine, with NRL's massive influence, on getting the sport on Netflix. It would be a game changer. However, what would happen with the Challenge Cup? 10 teams in NRL Europe, then the rest in kind of a reserve competition - would the cup be redundant?

I thinks Richardson is talking a lot of sense. It's a great vision and aside from the egos of some of the British club owners, there's not much I can see that should get in the way or not to like about it. Everything else has failed so what's to lose?

So , Manchester Roosters if the NRL take over . It never gets any easier for the Salford fans but a rebrand would keep the game alive in that area assuming they would still 
play at the AJ Bell .

The main thing I'm against is this 10 teams idea, loop games are dull I'd rather have seen us play Bradford, Toulouse, London etc at the weekend then Wigan again. 

Yes more teams means less of a slice of the TV deal but if the NRL are serious they'd put enough cash in to cover that shortfall and more teams means more subscribers for SKY in the long run surely?

Salford Uni put Manchester on their adverts long ago, the idea being the much more famous place name draws people in. 

If Beverley was the bigger and more famous population than Hull and we'd been bankrupt several times with low crowds I'd have no issue being Beverley FC if it meant giving the club hope for the future. 

At the moment, there isn't the player pool for 12 competitive teams, super league at the moment is split into rovers and Wigan at the top, the chasing pack, then the bottom 3 clubs that are miles off the rest, 10 teams would make it more competitive, which would in turn make for better TV. I think they're open to expansion in the future, but only see 10 viable clubs initially - FC, rovers, Wigan, saints, Leeds, Warrington, Catalan, Toulouse and two others with the best business plans. 

The other two would probably be London and the New Manchester franchise . I couldn't see the Roosters throwing money at Salford if they aren't part of the new NRL league 

I wonder if they would make UK clubs pay for their own travel to France? All those 8 UK based will be financially sound and afford to pay their own travel expenses 

Is there any appetite for rugby league in Manchester or London?


Far too much competition from football. We need teams who can realistically get five figure attendances.

How much of that is clubs not spending the full cap though? Salford clearly aren't, I'm not convinced Cas and Hudds are. Also there are/were good players not getting a game down under, such as Pryce, Amone, Hastings etc. They'd come and play here if the money was right.

Maybe the NRL will cover it from a much improved TV deal? Presume this is the case in the Nrl currently? 

Difficult to gain attention in these places. A big problem for London has been moving ground, travel time wise it'd be like us moving to Donny, Grimsby, York, Scarborough etc every couple of years and hoping the hardcore support we've built up at the last one still want to bother. But the big concern there is Richard Branson, Offiah and Edwards couldent make it work so dubious a new effort would work either.


Frustratingly for Salford their Grand Final was followed by a lockdown season without crowds then a behind closed doors CC Final, will always be a what if in terms of boosting crowds.