This is my theory people go on about a pool, well the pool grows to the size of the fish it has to sustain we increase the amount of fish ergo opportunities and in time the pool will grow. It won't happen overnight tho.

If the restructure is a starting block and SL2 is to be credible then it would need its own TV deal with assurances of games broadcast weekly. I would prefere a 2 up 2 down system with the 10 teams, this will improve the quality in both leagues, and also keep the two leagues linked there will be 4 sides moving between the leagues eascj year so especially in SL1 every game will count a few bad games and you could be drawn into the relegation battle.

some one has to sit back and review the where damage has been done with the lack of players making it through the system it so bleeding obvious that its as junior level why we are not achieving this, if schools aren't allowing RL to flourish within the curriculum then junior clubs away from the schools have to be supported, flood the junior levels with the players then over the years the will be more, the stop gap is at the age when they reach 16 to 18 when they decide the career direction, not all want to take continue suffering injuries, in my personal situation having recovered from a broken leg I then had enough when I broke my ankle in which I was just left at the hospital to sort my self out and then paid a pittance in insurance to cover my time away from work, It was this that at the time made me thing about finances and chose not to continue something I do regret

:yep63tf4

[i:yep63tf4[i"More people playing the game"[/i Is of course what we want plus more fans watching, more money men buying into clubs, and more media outlets buying into Rugby League.

But with respect you offer a solution without a plan to get there.

Most kids don't want to play Rugby or Soccer any more, nor do adults, the world has been changing and they don't "run off to other sports"

Now that parents can see the head knocks, and see the damage done to RL players RU players and Soccer players they are less enthusiastic to encourage or support their kids in these sports. It's not the game that makes the path harder it's social change, and health awareness.

Playing rugby and soccer is now a choice, people are free not to choose to do it.

Think my solution is not a quick fix that the RFL looks for.
1. All teams should be supported in building academies.
2. Clubs should be supported in community engagement summer and holiday rugby camps. Take you point about the head knock concerns so touch rugby could be the start for the kids.
3. Focus on building the support back up at all clubs after COVID so some marketing around this to pull fans back in.
4. More money into marketing generally if you don’t oromote and product you won’t sell it.
5. Get the World Cup scheduled for 2022 now .
6. Set up a 9s tournament that can be sold to another network.
I don’t have a magic answer but the moves we make seem to be wrong.please stick with a structure so clubs can plan.
With regards to sky what do they want be good to explicitly know their view.

RL is played primarily in one not very wealthy region of England and is heavily reliant on money from a medium (television) that is starting to diminish in importance and value. On top of that there is the general economic malaise that has already lasted more than a decade now and doesn’t look to be ending any time soon, with the fallout from the pandemic.

Agonising about about 2 x 10 vs 12 vs 14 is a bit like being chained to the tracks as the train speeds towards you and wondering what type of sandwich you should have for lunch.

Agree with all apart from the 9s. We used to have a 9s tournament. No club took it seriously.

Main way to increase quality is increase numbers. Only way to do that is for clubs/rfl/whoever else to do some advertising. Only a few weeks from one of rl biggest events and nothing/v little on social media/radio/TV (though I get TV would prob be too expensive). Clubs seem to think by sending an email to subscribers they will fill stadiums. They need to be targeting schools/colleges/unis/wherever groups go

Main negative for me though is sky. Yes they pump in money but get exclusive rights to games they have no intention of showing. Why buy championship rights if you only show the summer bash? With the new deal being less its time imo to get some games on free to air TV. When challenge cups on BBC a lot watch, but there are too few cup games to make a supporter.

Agree with you about Sky has been great but too much power over the game.Think a new marketing strategy is key I hear about events as I am an RL fan but neutrals see no publicity at all. Radio advertising would be good and more use of social media, breaking out of the current fan base should be the target.

Yep. If the game was as big and popular as the delusional on here think it is, we'd have a 16 team SL with all clubs getting 10k+ attendances and a similar sized league below full of teams that could effortlessly move up....

Wow? Really??







The current fanbase of fans have a history of generations of over 100+ years of supporting M62 clubs which has got us our 125 years of history.

You can't really believe that's a solution?

I've spoken with many people who run businesses and lament they don't have the number of customers who like and buy their product/service they would ideally want. but have never heard any of them suggest they get a totally new customer base...

Tell us how this works??

I am suggesting growing the fan base that doesn’t mean neglecting the heartlands and existing fan base, they need to be encouraged back after Covid.

Not unless they play one another 3 times and i can't see that happening.
My opinion is that we will have 3 leagues of 12 with 1 down from Super League and the Championship Grand Final winners getting promoted and 1 team getting relegated from the Championship and one team up from league 1

I am suggesting growing the fan base that doesn’t mean neglecting the heartlands and existing fan base, they need to be encouraged back after Covid.

What can I say but "more fans" is something every commercial department in every Superleague and Superleague wannabe club have been targeting for decades.

I've heard this suggestion many times but the fact always is that you can sell rubbish to your diehard core of fans easily enough but to get the casuals in regularly you need to spend more on marketing and probably concede less money by offering cheap deals to non-fans, paying fans resent.

You don't get much better than Hetherington's commercial department at Leeds who have a very good operation, what's your message to Gary?

Where is he getting it wrong?

The reality is the reliance on SKY is everything and so it's not really possible to move away from what they want. Proof of that is their recent reported comments that they were not happy with some games, and these were not likely to be ones from the top teams. Further to that there's been comments about how SKY like the loop fixtures as they increase the number of big games for SKY to show. I think

that when it's Saints and Wigan again

NOT AGAIN

SKY look forward to big interest TV and a great match, and a big crowd still rolls up.

Meanwhile purists feel that Toulouse.v.Featherstone before 900 would be much the better game to show. That is absolutely fine all entitled to their opinion.

But the bottom line is does Superlague give up £££Millions of revenue to placate their small purist fan base????

That's the tough £50 Million question, think carefully before deciding??

Yes it does, by focusing on a 'new' area you take that money from an existing area.

The opposite must be the way, focus on the low hanging fruit and when you have maxxed that move onto new pastures which will automatically be more responsive due to larger crowds and the better spectacle as a result.

Foundations are critical in any expansion, how we include them is the key to future success for all stakeholders, including Sky. That is why 2 x10 is essential - but it must be funded to be a FT second tier with p&r between the two and the best way to get there is 14 clubs in 2022 before inviting the T6 in the Championship to show they can fund a FT club in SL2.

If the Turkeys in SL vote to keep the vast majority of the money leaving too little to become FT in SL2 then change should not happen as it becomes a championship name change only - 5/600k min should filter into SL2 which should have a 1.2m salary min spend.

OK so late season thousands of telly fans look to who is on the Rugby league tonight, and it's a choice of Wigan.v.leeds or Whitehaven.v.Halifax

Wigan.v.Leeds is the fifth meeting this season but not all the other four matches were on TV anyway...

And of course thousands of fans don't remember the other two times this fixture was on as it was months ago, those that do, remember a top class cracker.......

Anyway Leeds.v.Wigan attracts only 10,000 fans at the gate as it's for the 5th. time, but Whitehaven only get 900 got their first clash with Halifax.....

Perhaps you can finish this off by suggesting which fixture would get the biggest TV audience with eyes on the adverts......

Adam Pearson is quoted in the BBC website saying something akin to press the big red button to save the sport. He is right about vested interests and about needing to get bums on seats. Most of what he is quoted as saying has been said before with mergers and geographical spread being mentioned but no new ideas.
He seems to be going down the outside investment route but I cannot see us getting anything like the venture capital that TO have had.
I cannot help but think that we are in for a tough ride.

Does that include his own.

Who`s Neil Pearson?

Whatever new structure comes into play, it will only be for a few years anyway, before the inevitable re-restructure

Perhaps some of those "self interested" clubs should take a long hard look at themselves, you know, those that wouldn't release players for the recent England game and those who seem to regularly fail to complete their fixtures.

Sorry, Adam. Just not paying enough attention.

A lot of bluster and big statements from Pearson but nothing of any real substance. Again there’s a focus on cosmetic stuff. I keep going back to it, the quality of the product simply isn’t as good as 10/15 years ago and because of that you’re gonna get less bums on seats, less viewers and less revenue. Finding a way to low key improve the quality on the field should be the base of decision making. No need for radical knee jerk changes but subtle things to gradually steer a better long term path.

[urlhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/07/super-league-clubs-transformed-adam-pearson-hull[/url

Great post. There absolutely isn't the need to panic. the crowds 15 years ago were 9K and that's down to 8K now but Bradford's demise is a big part of that and not a general malaise. If we keep going on about the "old days" being better, and talk about a "current malaise" we will create our own self fulfilling prophecy.

Just getting Bradford right again and relaunching SL2022 with the biggest and most ambitious clubs will do the trick as it's likely a lot of lapsed fans will fancy geting back out for regular live rugby league after this long lockdown.