no they couldn't - they are having enough trouble sustaining te present LER with Lezignan,Villeneuve,Limoux and Montpellier really struggling to find enough sponsorship to keep going - any talk of a Pro League is poppycock unless a major tv company comes in and funds it personally which ai't gonna happen - not in my lifetime anyway

Don't let Lox4Pres or the East Coast Tiger here you say that....they're Aussies, they know it all and they'll brand you a Union Troll

Not true. We only call union trolls union trolls.

But saying the pro league won't happen unless they get a big TV deal is the "no sh:t" statement of the decade. The whole point is that they are trying to get such a deal. Whether they will or won't nobody knows yet and anyone who makes outlandish statements either way is a fool. Not necessarily a union troll though.

Whilst the preoccupation with the size of TV deals is on the table, where will the players come from if the NRL gets cashed up next month.....will the French be able to compete with SL for players? Will the TV deal be for a local comp with local players? There already 4 clubs struggling to make ends meet in France.....how much will this mega-bux TV deal be for?

Maybe we need to promote rugby league to some French Billionaires that might be interested in funding a league, sort of like the Formula 1 rival A1 GP...but run much better...(please don't take this statement too seriously).

I'd hope to God that French clubs wouldn't be competing for our English players, there's hardly enough to create a competitive Super League at the moment.

sticks and stones mate - water off a ducks back

i've been following both Saints and Wasps since the mid sixties along with Essex CCC and THFC even earlier

the basic premise of a Pro french league sounds good but the volume of fans required to make the idea anywhere near viable or realistic will never happen - you can't make the french public in Nantes or Lyon or even Paris etc turn out for something they don't want and no tv company is going to bankroll a league with no interest from Joe Public

The FFR13 s latest idea is to take the France v Wales autumn international to Lens in the far north FFS !!! about as far from any RL heartland as you can get !

completely bonkers !

www.rugbyforumxiii.com/forum/vie ... =8&t=52124

www.rugbyforumxiii.com/forum/vie ... =8&t=52124

Probably eventually



Basically French clubs are looking at a proper, stronger domestic league from 2014, with more clubs added to those in the south, some of them being new teams from existing football clubs. It looks like they want spread it across France and the guy pushing it, from RC Lens, is a big fan of RL

Your an amazing linguist, you managed to distill a half page article into 2-3 lines, lol.

Mods might want to merge this with the last 'french league' thread.

your wish is my command

Basically they're looking to make a league out of franchises selected from existing clubs plus 4 clubs linked with northern French soccer clubs in the top 2 leagues (out of Lens, Nantes, Valenciennes, Strasbourg, Paris or PSG). They'll choose between existing clubs and maybe Albi and Lyon. Albi and Realmont may be entering a joint team in this year's Elite. They'd like Lyon and Montpellier to be linked with soccer.

any possible link between the QIA's links with PSG and Al Jazeera/bein sports getting the RL rights with a possible PSG affiliated RL side?

how are any of these clubs expected to survive without at least 5-10K crowds ?

there is no way Nantes,Strasbourg & Valenciennes not to mention Limoux & Villeneuve and the rest will get anything more than the Broncos at best so who is going to fund the set-up ? Bein Sports ?

total pie in the sky

the idea of making the France v Wales international at Lens, about as far away from the french RL heartlands as possible is an insult to the fans - it's like having England v NZ at Plymouth FFS ! - it's just an old pals act between Larrat & Dayan - absolute joke !

Its great having Catalan Dragons in SL but wouldn't they need to head up any professional French league to get it off the ground and be successful / promote the game there?

do you think any other broadcaster would be offering the same money as SKY ?

why should Catalans want to leave SL ? it would be suicide!

still would be nice to see PSG back

The problem I can see is that Cats have the money and prestige of SL and the rest don't, how would dropping any of the top 6 SL teams into NL1 work? Unfortunately I don't see a way for the French teams to be able to develop as there isn't enough space in SL unless the model is that the EU Nations all have their own leagues that are essentially feeder clubs for the SL clubs.

That's a lifetime away!

The French really need to get to a point where they have their own SL, and then the international comp exists. At the moment it's like Cat's are the national team in SL taking the best French tallent (and others) but how do you do that in SL, particularly when many are calling for a reduced SL?

Well unless there is a lot of money in place to seriously set up a professional full time league then obviously no advantage to Catalan Dragons jumping ship. It is unlikely that anybody would be able to offer the same levels of funding as Sky, but who's to say that a combination of broadcaster, established sports clubs and money men couldn't get something going.

Catalan would have to give up about eu$1.75 million a year of funding...unless they were to be given this by the new league. Then add the other 7 teams and you have a $14,000,000 a year requirement from TV, before you even kicj a ball. I can't see the Dragons jumping ship for anything less than a 5 year guarantee, so there's eu$70,000,000 to start with.
Then you have to promote it, ensure the lower divisions are not totally excluded, have a development plan for player development, self sustainabillity etc.....

I reckon there would need to be in the region of eu$200,000,000 needed for the first 5 years of this comp....as well as 8 really rich benefactors willing to match that level of investment.....so eu$2,500,000 each per year over 5 years with no assurances that you will ever see a cent of that money back.

So, it's simple really, a TV company willing to take a eu$70,000,000 punt and 8 nutters each with $12,500,000 to spend over 5 years for no return....as well as another $30,000,000 in sponsorship and merchandising revenues....

...I can't believe nobody has thought of it before hand

If your figures are correct or even close, then its pretty much an impossible task / dream. It does frustrate me that with such a great product the game of rugby league cannot market itself better, be it here or in France. I don't have the answers but do have the desire to see the game flourish and expand where it can be sustained.

if the figures from GF are only half accurate this venture will never take place with the Catalan set up, maybe thier second team though ?

'moneymen' ren't usually that stupid - they are either able to make it tick over like at Leeds or knowingly make big losses like at London just for the sake of it

no one has mentioned the lack of fans - what's the point of a fully pro team at Nantes or Valenciennes playing in front of 1000 people ?

even Montpellier, in the RL heartlands would be lucky to attract 2000 for their home games

Luckily I don't take offence easily



I would love to see RL get a strong foothold in France.....but without proper foundations, it's really all pie in the sky.

Anyone remember the European League for American Football....LOADS of TV dosh.......didn't all the teams end up in Germany (where the US airbases were)?

yes, well...

the way it's going I can see maybe two or three LER clubs going bust and not taking part in next seasons LER...there is a great lack of sponsors except for UTC,ASC, TO13, Pia & Avignon who seem to be ok for the moment - I can easily foresee an LER of 6 teams soon !