Limited posts Alan, but onto the quote. It is up to each club to decide its fate, but I can see SUPER clubs drawing 20k gates being in it, with the traditional smaller clubs in a domestic league - Like Super Union in NZ

But a lot of those heartland clubs are only just surviving as it is and I'm not sure why things would suddenly get worse for them if some new clubs arrive into the league structure? They'd still survive.

The one thing I hope for is that promotion & relegation is kept. This allows for the cream to rise the top, and ensures that every club can aspire to get to SL. If the ladder gets pulled up behind the SL clubs again, I think we may see issues - one of the main things the Super 8's system has done is revitalise the Championship IMO.

Ultimately, an expanded league structure including French & North American sides, will see knock-on positive impacts.

Broadcast deals, media coverage, corporates & sponsorship are all valued base on brand perception. A competition who's teams are based solely along the M62, watched by predominantly working-class folk is unfortunately not worth as much to broadcasters & sponsors as a competition that covers three countries and some huge metropolitan cities (namely Toulouse, London & Toronto). That's just the reality, rightly or wrongly. Ultimately, that increased investment will see all clubs benefit.

Leigh and Salford will merge to become Manchester Reds or Manchester Miners or some other name, playing at the LSV. Salford's ground will be bought by Sale Sharks' owner. It's the only way forward if you want to watch SL in Leigh.

Manchester v Boston
Manchester v Toronto
Manchester v Leeds

It's what SKY want and it may not be what the older fans want but the young ones will accept it.

Probably get shouted at for this but looking at WYSIWYG post about manchester merged teams seems to following the idea of whats called super rugby in the southern hemisphere (Yes its union) then they also have a heartland competition, eg Auckland, north harbour and Northland are seperate teams but in the super rugby they play as Auckland Blues or Otago and southland play as Highlanders.
So you keep your local teams playing in a different competition and then the super dooper comes together for competition which includes New Zealand, South African, Australian plus an Argentinian and Japanese team.
The plus to these is the seasons run 1 after the other and covers February to Novemeber.
Its just a thought but personally I'd be uncomfortable watching a team made up of Leigh, Salford and Swinton, it would take some getting used to.

Can't see that happening. For a start, Leigh is probably too far away for a Manchester club. I think the preference would be a team based at the second stadium at the Etihad.

Plus, would a pool of Leigh's and Salford resources be a match for that other club in the borough anyway...

I will have a £1 that LSV will host SL next season.

Who, Salford?

There are a side, Manchester Rangers, based out of the second stadium at the Etihad. Apparently they have ambitions to join L1 in the next few years.

Eric Perez sold the Toronto Wolfpack TV rights to Premier Sports last season as well as other TV cable companies based in North America I wonder if they will cover Toronto next season in the Championship? Also wonder if the Championship and League 1 as a whole could be sold to a TV company? If so it would bring in welcome income to the two lower leagues and add competition for Sky TV next time the Super League rights are due for negotiation.

Unfortunately, Sky currently own the rights to the Championship. They just choose to not show any games.

Do the Championship clubs receive any Sky TV money?

Of a fashion. I think the increased central funding for the teams in the 8s qualifiers comes from sky.

Of a fashion? The championship funding for the lowest placed club doubled, for the highest placed it was something like 10x what it was, percentage wise far greater than SL

The income from a new Tv contract purely for the lower tiers,given they would receive more media coverage could 10 fold what they get now.

So who would pay for the privilege? The cost of showing the sport correctly would be huge or do we do a cheap LCTV type coverage for the diehards willing to pay for it, how many paid for it last time on premier? Time to get real, Sky pay a lot of money for a few games in the 8's that only 4 clubs appear in, how many clubs can't muster 1000 home fans - who would want to show that

Exactly the demise is Sky. They don't pay for games in the mid 8's. Let SL stick with Sky.Let the others have their own choice or alternative.. BBC wouldn't say no.

Now you're getting it. This is just a small example of the financial opportunities that come when expansion is done the right way. Increased interest in the media & a better brand perception = broadcast opportunities, better sponsorship deals, more corporates etc. I imagine Beaumont will be looking at it like this too.

Then we have the financial impetus created with the Westerman deal, which made us way to Leigh/Cas.

The Championship on the face of it looks like it's going to be a cracker next year, plenty of competitive sides, and there'll be a lot of games well worth televising.

The problem is the RFL allowed Sky to take the rights over. Not sure what Sky will do! Will they sell the rights? Will they use another network like TSN. They struggle to show two SL games a week at present.

They promised Championship games on the tender,beginning in 2017,never materialised. One things for sure the lower tiers need the rights back.

Completely agree

Looks as though the Toronto Wolfpack deal Eric Perez did with Premier Sports was a two year deal so the home and away matches for the 2018 season will be shown live like 2017.

Well I suspect that contract was drawn up on L1. Sky hold the rights for Championship.

Lets see what happens.

BBC reports that plans for a team from New York have been submitted to the RFL and hope to get the go-ahead in time to enter in 2019 at Championship level. They are confident of building a fan base of 10,000 in the first year.

Be interesting to see where the players come from, can see NRL players being drawn into this - obviously it's years before Canadians/Americans of suitable quality become available

Not really sure what the RFL are looking for here, but let's see where it goes

The way to look at this is that the RFL are providing the UK leagues as an incubator for the fledgling clubs in the US and Canada. Once they are grown in number, financial stability, player and fan base, they will be able to operate their own league successfully. Who knows how long this process will take - 3 years? 5? 10? If it doesn't work, we will be looking back with wry, knowing smiles but with no real harm done. But if it works, the upside for the sport is incredible. Where will it leave Leigh and (to be honest) half the current SL clubs? Hopefully getting a smaller piece of a much bigger pie. Could this be the one thing that the RFL actually get right? Time will tell.

Well, as this rumour gathers momentum, I think you could be right, given the horror stories from elsewhere.