Oh we'll if London have small crowds its entirely clear that fev are the new brisbane

All this talk about Magic weekend not been able to go ahead with an uneven number of teams is rubbish.

They could do two days of three matches with he other team having a match somewhere else in the season or even just have magic weekend for the top 8 teams and do it over a day.

No worse than when London play there, maybe better since they have some local players who have some passion for the club.

London Broncos share with a top class RU outfit and the behomoth that is England RU are within spitting distance. In comparison I think Castleford, Fev and Trinity being in close competition is small beer.

You can't have an uneven number in a Maguc Weekend format. It's mathematically impossible and it's been done to death on these boards. Get a pen and paper and pretend to do a season in that scenario. It won't work.

Smokey for your encyclopaedia of all RL knowledge - at least two teams currently in the championship will be FT in 2015, and I will support that with a £500 charity bet if you disagree

Foxy Bingo and Brut will be rubbing there hands together knowing they will be getting more coverage around the socials clubs of Yorkshire.

Correct.

There is no view of the bigger picture in this thread. It seems to me it is another old established M52 club or nothing. Personally I'd like a NEW midlands SL team spreading down to London and it's surrounds.

I'll explain that one if I may. Catalans use the Magic Weekend as their "bye". 6 games with 12 teams. Magic weekend will be the same as any other SL weekend.

the Topic started with a comment about Nahaboo's pitch to replace London Bronco's with Fev , if ... perchance they don't participate in SL XIX , ??
I think that 's the topic , though I've just had to plough through 8 pages of a geography lesson about Cas's population ... doesn't bear thinking about .
with a side helping of 7 into 13 won't go ( Carry one , not so magic Weekend ).

there now you don't have to read the previous 7 pages

The top eight in 2015 , yes, but 13 clubs in 2014 , doesnt work, do the maths

So Catalans play 1 game less than the rest ?

Do the maths

Starbug - I've lost count of how many times you've pointed people in the right direction over this topic

Are we seeing witnessing the slow death of SL as a full time professional league outside of the top 8?
2011 - Crusaders & Wakefield in Admin
2012- No major sponsor for SL- Bradford in Admin
2013 - No Major sponsor for SL - Salford avoid Admin at 11th hr - still Money worries at Bradford , Wakefield rumoured to have had an advance on 2014 funding , now rumours with London walking away ? how many other clubs are ' just getting by '?
An Exodus of the Better UK players & Quota players back to the NRL which is awash with sponsorship.
World Cup ?

Nahaboo's press release random / speculative unless he was party to some news that 1 of the 14 SL teams may not make it to next season?

The problems at London are well documented, but the fiasco currently unfolding there is 100% down to the narrow minded nature of RL in the Northern Hemisphere.

Firstly, if you're going to expand, then support the entity you supplant into "enemy territory". Don't just leave it there to fend for itself, because London wasted the majority of it's TV money up to 2005 on trying to be competitive, whilst scrimping on development.
Then, in 2007, after Ian Lenegan had come on board, the RFL insisted he relinquish any interest in London RL if he purchased Wigan. Rupert Murdoch owned majority shareholdings in Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, together with a massive bail out loan to NQ Cowboys...all at the same time. The NRL understood that for their business to grow, they needed to let this happen. The RFL essentially [uput[/u David Hughes in charge of running a business.....something he has no experience of and the results on and off the field since the end of 2008 when IL said goodbye are as follows:
2008 - 9th place, 3,909 average...bye bye Ian.

2009 -11th and 3,436
2010 - 12th and 3,380
2011 - 13th and 3,124
2012 - 13th and 2,807
2013 - 14th and 2,213.

A 44% less in fans in 5 seasons and still the RFL sat back and watched it happen.....that's 5 x SKY revenue for a club down the pan and about £7,500,000 of David Hughes money.

I add a word of caution to the Dr K's of the world, as well as the gobby death riding w4nk3r at Fev. Don't rely on RL fans to turn up to games based on a couple of big name signings....the days of sticking posts in the ground and announcing KO times are long gone. England v Exiles this year had arguably 17 of England's best 25 players on the park as well as the best 17 imports in SL...THE BEST 34 GUYS IN THE COUNTRY AT THAT TIME...all for £5 a ticket and they got an attendance that HKR's owners reckon isn't enough to sustain a SL club.

Putting a 7 figure sum in place in escrow means all other than it will be gone within 12 months.....Ask the curry chef at Bradford who's ploughed £1,740,000 on top of a £200,000 council loan into the Bulls inside 12 months and as a result has an 8,700 average and no Play-off games!

I think we are witnessing the death throws of professional rugby league being governed by the RFL.
After this final attempt to keep everyone happy fails,the top 7 or 8 clubs will "quite rightly 'throw themselves at sky tv and ask them to govern and finance a fully franchised league.
The rest of the sport will then be able to chill out,relax and enjoy RL at all levels

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
spot on!

And guess where SKY will drop a NEW club at their own expense but this time, without the RFL inactivity and localised whining from smaller clubs, make it work

I would predict sky would want two clubs based in London,and i would say rightly so

10 teams, 27 rounds a season (rotating 14 away/13 home on year then 14 home/13 away the next) 135 games a year.
5 Games a Week, starting off Fri eve 1, 2 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday then when the Wendyball finishes, Thursday, Fri, Sat, Sunday, Monday with Thursday and Monday fixtures allocated DERBY GAMES.

Season runs from March 1st to Mid September.
London 1
London 2
France 1
France 2
Yorkshire 1
Yorkshire 2
Yorkshire 3
Lancashire 1
Lancashire 2
Lancashire 3


Top 4 play off
Weekend 1
Game 1: 1 v 2
Game 2: 3 v 4
Weekend 2
Loser game 1 v winner game 2
Weekend 3
Grand Final.

30 weeks of top flight RL freeing up 22 weeks for recovery, operations, Tri-nations, World Cups TOURS etc....

Salary cap 3 million, TV grant 2 million, minimum standards monitored by competition owners. Franchises up for "sale" through the completion owners....further expansion or encouraging bids from other areas (midlands/Scotland etc) responsibility of competition owners. 5 Non EU BORN players per Team allowed.....none of the training/federation bollox.

Minimum 1 exhibition game taken on the road each year to a pre-allocated non heartland area to grow interest on the game...subsidised by the Competition owners.

The RFL can fight BARLA for control of the game under this level and when the RFL lose they can all get jobs flipping burgers, because it's all they are qualified for



IMPORTANT: The Clubs from the lower tiers that are responsible for the development of players for these top 10 Franchises would be richly rewarded with funds from the Franchise and the competitions owners with a strong development ethos being richly rewarded.

The Competition owners and the 10 Franchises would also be responsible for assistance with fundraising for the semi-pro/amateur/schools level of the game by incentivising cash back ticket sales as well as a shed load of promotional activity in allocated non-heartland regions.

Failing any of the above happening in my lifetime, why not just promote Fev and see how they go



...although the Idea of big Nigel flipping burgers has cheered me up no end

Yep love everything youve wrote there.
Baring in mind this is a sky owned and financed league I personaly would replace one of the lancashire clubs with a south wales club and i would add another french club.

Bidding process starts with a letter sent to every club, outlining the plans and highlighting the Franchises available and the preferred conditions:

Total cost of a Franchise is 10 million investment guarantee with 5 million paid up front and released back at 1 million a year over the term of the Licence....Money held in escrow by SKY!
2 Million in TV revenue guaranteed from SKY for each Franchise.

I suspect if the financials stacked up, as in guaranteed 2 million a year TV cash for 5 years in return for a guaranteed 2 million a year investment per year from the Franchise owner, then these 10 owners would be scrambling around to get their clubs up to speed by the end of the 5th year. 10,000 ST holders at 200 quid a pop should be the target.....if the Franchises swallow the direct debit costs then that's less than a fiver a week for fans.

Attendances, Sponsorship, corporates etc...all of these would be down to the Franchise owners. No more hobbyists, but hard nosed businessmen you can see the benefit of 130,000 customers a year paying 15 quid each at the gate, 15 quid each at the bar/shop and the sponsors and corporates they would attract....

It only becomes complicated if you start playing politics.....ie, a few chairmen moaning about 1 game a year when away fans don't come....that's why SKY would own this lock stock and 2 smoking barrels. If an owner wants to whinge, then he can off and play with BARLA/ The RFL.

If the Hull Franchise knows that they have London 1 coming once this year and London 2 twice, then that's when you look to attract NEW FANS to games.......buy 1 get 3 free if need be..at a tenner a ticket, that's a tenner more than you would have had if you don't do anything and the chance of money being spent in the ground and potential returning customers. In the scenario above, if Hull attracted 1,000 new fans paying a tenner to each game and brought 3 mates for free and they all has a 3 quid pint, then that's 66k in revenue and 12,000 potential new customers.....it's how Wigan under Lenegan have grown their base....not whining like a bitch from St Helens



Desired Regions:
Liverpool/Manchester/Lancashire
Leeds/Sheffield/Hull/Yorkshire
East/West/London
France.
Wales
Midlands

I Suspect that with the exception of London's 2 teams, the other 8 Franchises would be snapped up in a flash. The 5 million up front (top be returned 1 million a year) would sort the wheat from the chaff and if any RL fans wish to complain about the fairness of it all, then I suggest they turn their ire towards the RFL and their own clubs owners!

Depending on performances in years 1,2 & 3, Franchise owners would be advised of areas that were of concern, whilst potential new "owners" could be courted if required. It would be evident after 3 years if a Franchise was in trouble, but they would still have 2 more years of 2 million in cash and their own 1 million back to see out their Licence period....if they walk, they lose their up-front cash....ie failure costs them.

6 northern based owners with 10 million each to invest over 5 years into a business that already attracts 70,000+ customers a week to games in its heartlands, with 2 more in France where the potential is massive and 2 more in London where their is a potentially massive audience.....they exist and whilst the RFL couldn't find them in years, SKY would ATTRACT THEM!

Sport is a Business and sentiment has no place here!

So what about the succesful clubs who don't have rich owners but that bring in enough revenue to be doing ok? You really want the top flight of British/French RL to be nothing more than a play thing for mulit millionaires owned by News Ltd? You are John Ribot!

Keep dreaming boys.

BTW - London1 and London2 - Hilarious Gutterfax.

Never mind that , still waiting for you and ' Winston ' to explain the maths for an odd number of teams with an odd number of games ?

Away you go ?