Darts, horse racing and cricket would barely exist if it weren't for alcohol and betting.

Not much booze flowing at the Betfred World Snooker Championship, yet the prize money is very generous........with the winner receiving £400k and runner up receiving £180k.

Perhaps without any consultation, agreement or consideration of the rest of the League Clubs & perhaps another example of positive discrimination in favour of another overseas Club to the detriment of R.L Founder Member Clubs !

To treat one group differently & with favour over another is discrimination whether you like it or not, this is just another example of discrimination in the pro expansionist wet dream.

Dig a little deeper & I would suggest that more is being hidden by Red Hall than we can possibly fathom.

Think we have gone off track a little

Basically, Toronto roll into town with a camera crew behind them - EXPECTING to broadcast the game.

They did it last year with the league 1 clubs and it payed off for them.

The higher up they get the more "savvy" the opponents.

End of the day they are nobody special

Be great if Sky showed SL games with a highlights show. And PS bought the Champ rights and broadcast all TW games plus one other game per week (with all Champ clubs getting a slice of the broadcast deal). With SKY retaining Summer Bash and Middle 8's. In an ideal world anyway!

I may well be completely wrong as I don't know the ins and outs af the whole situation, but, for example if PS buy the rights for the Toronto games off SKY what right do the clubs have to refuse entry to PS? They'd technically already be 'expecting' a TV crew as the rights have been sold to SKY and could potentally be broadcast by them.

However, I may well be off the mark with this

Selling on tv rights to other broadcasters happens occaisonally. It depends whether the RFL deal with Sky has any clause within it about that but I imagine it's pretty flexible as the championship rights aren't the most valuable in the world and they would most likely welcome any coverage.

then it's fair to say that if the championship clubs knew this,and agreed to this, then there is no argument. On the other hand,this issue has been brought up,so yes, i'm guessing there is some issues concerning the rights regarding the broadcasting. Hopefully, It'll all come out in't wash.

The bigger picture is that TW are trying to develop the game in a new territory and that their 5away/5 home match fixture schedule does them no favours in maintaining the attention of new supporters. By arranging for all their games to be televised they are maintaining a connection with their fan base. Personally I can't see there being a big impact on the attendances at what are likely to be one of the home teams biggest games of the season against the glamour side in their competition. What the Championship clubs need to do is market the matches against TW properly and sell additional advertising off the back of it.

^^

Nice idea in principle (sell advertising) but the reality of convincing companies that advertising at a Championship RL game against a Canadian team broadcast on a niche channel is a pretty tough sell. Might get them a few hundred quid, but can't see any significant thousands pouring in.

But then again can't see them losing thousands in gate money. With a bit of promotion in the local towns they might even get a few more through the gate for a match against what looks to be a very strong TW team, some of whom might like the game so much they become regular fans.

Alternatively they could just sit there whinging and try and leach money off the back of the work of clubs who are trying to get more fans through the gate by promoting themselves in the local community.

Yep, they'll take option 2, followed by a "save our club" bucket collection in a couple of years.

I dont think that anyone can deny that this helps Toronto and gives them a higher level of exposure.
However, can you imagine if Man United or Liverpool were playing in a non televised game in a cup game and their opposition turned up with camera crews, trying to broadcast from Old Trafford or Anfield



There has to be formal agreement with the other Championship clubs. If not, regardless of impact on crowds etc, they are taking huge liberties and whether or not this happened in League 1 is irrelevant.
These things should be done properly or, not done at all.

So should TW take matters into their own hands to ensure the former outcome? Or argue the toss with each and every other Championship club which would probably result in the latter. There really is no point whatsoever in admitting TW only to leave their future dependent upon the petty squabbling and low aspiration that are all too prevalent in the game.

That's not to say I think the venture will work, btw. But having run with it, where's the logic in applying the handbrake over what is, essentially, a pretty minor issue?

Just for clarification that would be an 11 away/11 home fixture schedule. Plus I believe the pitch will not be ready for the Halifax home game - now being played in the U.K., plus they have given up home advantage for the Toulouse game to play at the magic weekend.

So in essence that is a 13 away/9 home fixture schedule - which I would not expect to be an easy sell to TW supporters, and you can see why televised games are essential, as pretty much all interest would be lost otherwise before they saw the team in the flesh so to speak

Storm in a teacup , the RFL should have formally told the clubs about the TV deal , they didn't , not surprised though , they have history of getting stuff like this wrong

......12 away fixtures on the trot in 2018 then at home for the rest of the season...yeah...that's a hardship!

They are over the cap without a doubt and now they have skewed the fixtures to give them a straight run in at the business end of the season.........I'm all for expansion but this team was "sold" to us as paying for away travel, no favours, pulling their weight, new TV markets......Premier Sports is a basement channel who'll have paid little if anything for access to the rights but "it looks good" that Toronto are on TV, they never EVER had more than 5k in their stadium for a home game and their "sponsor" is saving hundreds of thousands by not having to fly the team every week and an away team every other week...........I can see the wheels coming off this bandwagon pretty soon once the 12 SL chairmen who now run SL smell the rat.......they have reduced the playing pool by 30 and have delivered nothing else.

Absolutely spot on

Why in RL do things have to deliver within 12 months or declared a flop? Patience of RL fans is embarrassing.

It has nothing to do with patience. As a London Broncos fanatic I applaud expansion, but with every turn, twist and wriggle, I feel that Toronto are a classic case of Smoke and Mirrors and they are now playing with an extremely stacked deck for nothing other than winning an amateur division with a lower SL grade side that cost them more than the other teams in C1 combined!

2018 They get all their home games in a row......really good for getting a brand established whilst when they are "away" the vast majority of their squad will actually be able to live at home in the north of England.....their TV deal delivers NOT ONE BRASS FARTHING to the UK game and their PR stunt of a TV show delivered not one recruit.......I don't expect a LMS or a Tony Clubb for at least 15 years, but the REALITY is that Toronto are a rich blokes experiment that to date has delivered nothing other than inflated gate announcements and a SL standard side whipping part timers over a season.
We were assure of no favours being given....so why not make them play 1 home 1 away and let them find a suitable ground? Home advantage means little to this side or mercenaries......but travel at that level will have an impact on both the players and more importantly, the sponsor, who as far as I can see is about 720 flights better off due to this skewed fixture list.

I think they tend to 'forget' that RL exists outside of the Super League and the expansion teams...

I think they tend to 'forget' that RL exists outside of the Super League and the expansion teams...

Beaumont bends over to expansionism: https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2018/01/1 ... -from-lsv/

Beaumont bends over to expansionism: https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2018/01/1 ... -from-lsv/

Quote ="Wigg'n"Beaumont bends over to expansionism: https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2018/01/1 ... -from-lsv/'" Or, Beaumont agrees to live coverage of the game, after dialogue with the opposition, the RFL and the broadcaster. That's really the way it should have been done in the first place, surely? Coincidentally, at the same time, Toulouse have announced that their home game with Leigh has been switched to Albi - 'only' 75km from Toulouse - with no consultation with the Leigh club, whose supporters have been told that 'there is a good train service between the towns'! Apparently, Leigh are waiting until nearer the date of the home fixture with Toulouse, to advise them that the venue is being switched from LSV, to New York, as a promotional exercise!

Quote ="Wigg'n"Beaumont bends over to expansionism: https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2018/01/1 ... -from-lsv/'" Or, Beaumont agrees to live coverage of the game, after dialogue with the opposition, the RFL and the broadcaster. That's really the way it should have been done in the first place, surely? Coincidentally, at the same time, Toulouse have announced that their home game with Leigh has been switched to Albi - 'only' 75km from Toulouse - with no consultation with the Leigh club, whose supporters have been told that 'there is a good train service between the towns'! Apparently, Leigh are waiting until nearer the date of the home fixture with Toulouse, to advise them that the venue is being switched from LSV, to New York, as a promotional exercise!