Quote ="Pumpetypump"I can understand that for fans of the better Championship clubs this is no real replacement for the opportunity of getting in the top flight, so I get why they may be feeling annoyed. However, there's perhaps 5 clubs in that boat and the rest of us (because to me the Bulls weren't promotion candidates) have to carefully weigh up the costs of restarting versus the reward.
There's so many things to consider such as whether we can welcome some fans back to the grounds, the financial impact of furlough potentially stopping etc. What support if any would the clubs get for the day to day costs of getting back up and running, and is the £250,000 a winner-takes-all sum or a pot that will be spread thinner. At the moment, although it's a decent sum, it doesn't feel like the appropriate reward to mitigate the financial and logistical risks of entering.'"
A good assessment of the situation facing the 25 clubs. I would expect the far flung clubs like West Wales, London Skolars, Coventry and Toulouse will opt not to take part due to the travel costs. London Broncos could be a different case as they would have a good chance of winning it. For those less likely to contest the latter stages such as League 1 clubs and lower end Championship clubs the way the prize money is distributed may make their decisions for them. If those exiting early get little to nothing in prize money then I expect those clubs would also opt out.
I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a round robin format followed by a final contested by 8 clubs or fewer.
