Quote ="Sir Kevin Sinfield"How about a cross between promotion and relegation and franchising.
Any team finishing Super League in last placed over a 3 year period will be considered for relegation while any team winning the championship over the same time frame will be considered for promotion, everyone else is safe.
This would mean we can offer Toronto protection (as long as they are well run off the field) and any club that loses a Super League franchise will have finished in last place.'"
So, you are proposing promotion and relegation every 3 years on a points system, based on certain criteria ?
The elephant in the room here is whether N.American clubs will actually benefit the game.
Clearly there is the potential for some new revenue streams.
However, there wont be significant media interest over there and the new clubs will be "Aussie" clubs in disguise for the next 25 years as, even if the game were "successful" over there, the home grown talent would take a generation to start to come through the system.
In one sense we want to clear the history of the game and destroy many of the heartland clubs and experiment with teams of mercenaries in another country, which actually seems bonkers, apart from the Yankee dollar ??
The bottom line at the moment is that in the Championship there is only Toronto that can offer something "extra" to SL and the potential of Toulouse (if they were playing in a larger stadium).
Featherstone will remain SL a quality SL outfit but, would really struggle to survive in SL.
Leigh have potential but, you could argue, blew their chance
and then Sky's wet dream of a resurgent Bulls side, who are at present, miles away from being the force that they once were.
We then have another couple of N. American clubs who are staring at the bright light's of SL
Again, for them to "make it" into SL, they will need out spend the rest of the comp and fill their side(s) with "Aussie" players.
Is this really what we want for the sport and $64000 question, will their inclusion really elevate the game to the lofty status that some pretend will save the sport ?
