https://www.rugby-league.com/article/57 ... ary-return You would think behind closed doors. Early start.

https://www.rugby-league.com/article/57 ... ary-return You would think behind closed doors. Early start.

How are they going to manage that financially - PPV will be very limited I would think, ST sales will be down because off all the uncertainty, no walk up fans, corporate, catering etc

Well the Bulls have announced their season tickets and part of that includes games being streamed.

Desperation to keep clubs from the wall I think. I'm amazed none have gone under already.

From the Fax website:

"Clubs have already agreed that games played behind closed doors will be streamed live on the RFL’s Our League platforms (app & website) on a pay per view basis, allowing supporters to watch fixtures even if they cannot attend in person – with home season ticket holders given free access to the live stream packages for their club’s league games."

Fax have also announced that Season Ticket sales are up on this time in previous years.

I do think this is the future of season tickets especially in the championship at least. Clubs sell a traditional season ticket and a ‘virtual’ season ticket for perhaps 2/3rds the price allowing access to all home games on a streaming service.

Saying that the OurLeague streaming has been a bit poor for me the odd time I’ve tried watching so might need improvements if they want people to pay for it.

The games I've watched on Our League weren't bad, but it's going to be hard to cover all 7 games over each weekend? £15 for Premier League matches proved to be far too expensive (iirc with very low take-up) and scrapped, and ppv for RL has to be at a sensible level for streaming with just a couple of cameras covering the match.

Per Fax Machine's response, the re-branding of Fax seems to have had an impact, with the hashtag #panthersareintown apparently generating over 700m impressions [urlhttps://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/12169971/halifax-panthers-championship-club-on-the-hunt-for-a-new-audience-with-rebrand[/url with season ticket and merchandise sales going well.

That will likely be the case for most clubs but, the "hit" on revenue is just huge - unsustainable.
Bizarrely, some of the so called poorer clubs, with smaller wage bills, will be better able to cope than some of the big boys, unless their owners have very, very deep pockets.

Noting:

"This 26-round campaign will provide the first fixtures in 11 months for the 14 clubs, which lead to a play-off for the top-six clubs and a '£1m Game' promotion final to decide the champions."

Does that the mean bottom team of SL will be relegated, and have Leigh been given any exemption (should they end up there - not saying they will)?

The SL bosses indeed said P & R will happen in 2021.

There is no exemption for Leigh. They have to aim for at lest 11th. which they secured last time they were in SL but the rules were different then......

They were silly rules.

I think closing down and mothballing their clubs worked across the board. Covid will no longer be a problem with immunisation, funding for 2021 is already there......

You will probably find 2022 with no SKY money at all could threaten a number of clubs, but many have bucketloads of resilience.

Seriously ?
When do you expect that clubs will be able to have "meaningful" numbers attending games
It's probably going to be April / May and IF this is the case, a later start may have been better?

Once they immunise the old and infirm that may include us

it all apparently opens up again. I assume the start date of March is in line with that?.

According to some RL crowds are only made up by the old and infirm. It's a dying game remember? So all RL fans should be done sooner rather than later



Very recently the idea was that there would not be a vaccine until sometime in the new year, however it came in very quickly and 1 Million at risk people are already done.

Once the "at risk" are done businesses can apparently open up fully and it will be up to the fit under sixties if they want to go watch Trinity at Belle Vue. I would guess the hospitality rooms will stay shut but there will be very little risk if any to fit under 60's standing on the terraces in a cold winter wind. Whether there will be spacing in the seating - well maybe??.

Remember fans are already back at soccer? Liverpool yesterday??

I don't claim to know the ins and outs but I presume that a lot of costs are still incurred by clubs regardless of whether there are games or not. Grounds to maintain, remaining staff to pay, offices to heat and light etc. I'm glad they have all found a way to cope.

No "exemption", if Leigh finish bottom they are relegated & I won't have any problems with that as a Leigh fan.

Looking forward to watching some of the Championship games next year, might even make the trip out to a few games if and when fans are allowed back in. Not sure if you can class it as lucky as I'm a Wakefield fan but I did get to watch some of my club in action last year and I can't imagine what it was like for some fans not having the option to watch their team.

Only 2,000 or a tiny percentage of football fans allowed in, a Season Ticket holder 'roster' being run by most clubs on rotation ! It's not like 55,000 allowed in Anfield & 75,000 in Old Trafford !!!

It's never been more important to be a Season Ticket holder *if you can afford it* IMHO.

There will be no fans at superleague games this season.

You're wasted on here .......

Ever fancied being a party planner ?

Appreciate that entirely Ste.....

But March/the spring is a different scenario, if all the "at risk" people are vaccinated then it seems that it will be back to normal even moreso where people are in the open air. Anyway we shall see.....

Not a chance that all of the "at risk" people will have been vaccinated by March, not a chance.
There is more chance of Trinity winning the GF and Challenge Cup double and we both can agree how unlikely that is



The NHS will be "all on" to cope with the huge increase in demand on their services and while "some" will be vaccinated by March, clubs will be lucky, very lucky to allow all of their S/T holders in by April by, which time the Championship will have hopefully completed maybe 10 of their fixtures.

It's going to be a huge, huge test for everyone.

Sorry Wrenners only passing on what a doctor friend told me mate





.... Also.....

"Coronavirus: ‘Majority’ of vulnerable to be vaccinated by end of February, says No 10 If sufficient vaccination can be achieved across at-risk groups, 99 per cent of Covid-19 deaths will be prevented, according to government vaccine group

Samuel Lovett The Independant
@samueljlovett
Monday 07 December 2020 17:04

Since the article another massive shipment of vaccine is on it's way and more people are being trained to deliver it. I asked my Doctor friend should we wait whilst everyone is vaccinated and he said they aren't going to do this, under 50's etc aren't at any great risk, they need the economy fully back up and running as that too is causing lives to be lost e.g. postponed cancer treatment......

The most logical thing to do is vaccinate everyone in tier 4. Then we can get on with the new norm.

As I understand it, the plan is to vaccinate 60-70% of the population and for "herd immunity" to take care of the rest but, in terms of sport and in particular RL, it's just a matter of how long this will actually take and what may be possible as more people are vaccinated.
It sounds really simple but, given that there have been less than 1% of the population vaccinated in around 4 weeks, its going to take many, many months, even with the new "Oxford" vaccine now approved.
Clubs and supporters need to survive long enough for the "majority" to have been vaccinated.

[i"We don't need to jab everyone to end worst of pandemic.There are 12 million over-65s. Once significant numbers are vaccinated, the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed disappears and the high number of excess deaths being seen across the population dwindles.How long will that take? Well, GPs alone managed to vaccinate the over-65 population against flu in a little over two months this autumn - 77% came forward for the jab.

The flu jab is given in only one dose, but doctors believe it should be perfectly possible to finish immunisation for every person over 65 who is willing to have the vaccine by the end of March, availability permitting.That would then trigger - or at least give the option of triggering - a major relaxation of restrictions.

It is what the UK government's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty referred to as "de-risking" His point was that we could quickly reach a situation at which the level of death and illness caused by Covid was at a level society could "tolerate" - just as we tolerate 7,000 to 20,000 people dying from flu every year".[/i

You are right in what you say Wrenners, but they aren't going to do this as the shut down economy is starting to cause more misery and medical problems than covid . Going to the soccer or rugby may be at your own risk, if you don't qualify for the jab in January/February. A risk will remain you are right, but it wlll become a personal risk....

I suppose one can attend many games and "avoid the crowds" by not getting caught up in queues, and standing in quiet parts of grounds etc. The keepmoat in Doncaster will be ideal for watching live RL March onwards?? Just avoid any queue (I guess grounds will insist on 2M spaces for queues?) Go into Belle Vue after KO through the late gate and stand on your own? Wait for the crowd to leave before leaving yourself etc.....Or wait for the summer?