If the majority of the current 12 Super League clubs get their way at the EGM on Friday, they will play 29 League fixtures next year. The other 11 home and away. A Magic Weekend match. Then play 6 out of the 12 three times!! How, when and who decides who plays who, where and when? Do they get to make it up when the time comes or is there a fixed basis for this published in advance? Can't imagine Premier League soccer carrying on like this.

Whilst I don’t want to see loop fixtures, the best way to organise them would be based on the previous seasons finish

So 1st plays 2nd-4th-6th-8th-10th-12th
2nd plays 1st-3rd-5th-7th-9th-11th
Etc.

That way you can have you full league fixtures sorted and revealed in one around November.

I don't see any long term benfit of loop fixtures. It's just a money grab designed to get an extra few quid out of existing fans......and didn't wigan just have their first sub 10k gate in decades when they played Wakefield for the 3rd time this year? Fan fatigue will see yet another system scrapped after a few years.....and if your team get the joy of paying for 2 trips to Toronto a year before the pay-offs, I am sure the novelty will wear off quicker. Toronto claimed £300,000 over 7 games, so if you get them twice in the regular season and then again in the play-offs, that's £129,000 you'll have to find......imagine if you're a side like Wakefield or Salford, living hand to mouth on a strict budget...£129,000 in travel costs will cripple you.

The play offs are also set to go back to the top 5 system (despite the hissy fits when Leeds won it from 5th), which often results in the same two teams meeting twice in the play offs.

This change along with loop fixtures means you could look forward to playing the same team 7 times in one season, how ridiculous. Get 14 teams in Super League and stop the loop fixtures nonsense.

Teams to meet 7 times.
1 pre season friendly, 3 times in the regular season, 1 cup game, 2 play off games.

This has all the indications that we are creating another temporary fix for want of any real idea of what to do.

Would it not be the top/bottom 6 of this year playing each other - similar to the NRL I believe, sure someone will correct me if not

A lot of the clubs in SL require at least 14 home games a year to survive, so loop fixtures are inevitable unless the number of teams is increased.

I love the hull derby with me been a hull kr fan but the only games between us I want to see are home and away and if we meet in any cup games not 7 bloody games it will kill the gates

'Loop fixtures' (playing some teams twice and some teams three times) makes us look Micky Mouse compared with Soccer (& even RU).

23 league matches (11 home, 11 Away & Magic) in Super League should be enough if the club chairmen get their marketing investment and effort right. Then the season could start in the Spring (not Winter).

If 11 home matches are not enough for them then the EGM on Friday should decide on a new structure from 2020 with a 14 team Super League (not 2019) so they have plenty of time to prepare for the reduced split of SKY money per club for the last 2 years of the current contract in 2020 and 2021.

So, keep current structure for 2019 but agree from 2020:

14 team Super League: Top 5 play-offs leading to Grand Final. Bottom 2 relegated.

14 team Championship. Team finishing top promoted. Teams finishing 2, 3, 4 & 5 play-off for 2nd promotion place. Bottom 2 relegated

League 1: (to include 'new' teams on applying for RFL membership) Team finishing top promoted. Teams finishing 2, 3, 4 & 5 play-off for 2nd promotion place.

'SKY' money allocated to Championship clubs to be split equally
'SKY' money allocated to League 1 clubs to be split equally

It's up to SL clubs to decide if they want a system to allocate any of their money to one or both of the relegated clubs as 'parachute' payment.

To achieve this structure, the Middle 8 Qualifiers at the end of 2019 season would involve the clubs finishing in the Top 6 being in Super League in 2020 without the need for a 'Million Pound Game.'

After agreeing this on Friday it would be over to Mr Elstone to negotiate the required TV contract from 2022.

Isn't this kind of what happens in the NRL? It's not a straightforward set of fixtures over there either but they don't seem to have an issue with it.

Loop fixtures just dilutes the competition even more and already mentioned starts to really make us as a Micky Mouse sport.
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Raise the intensity and quality of the sport and you will get more people attending games, an increase of 10% would get rid of 2 loop fixtures.
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The game from the RFL and at Club Level are pathetic in marketing the game it’s more money funding we need not more fixtures.
We already seeing the deterioration in our game by overloading players, what we get now is a lot of time wasting in games and most clubs playing a large part of the season with 30 to 50% players injured.
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That situation does not make our game a good product.

Giants have played Wakefield 6 times this season.
1 Pre Season Friendly
2 Weekly Rounds
1 Magic Weekend
1 Challenge Cup
1 Super8s.

By your thoughts we could up that to 8!

1 Preseason
2 weekly rounds
1 magic weekend
1 loop fixture
1 challenge cup
2 playoffs

Would cheapen the LLS shield even more with some teams having an easier run of fixtures towards the end of the season than others

bad bad idea hardly any (if any) fans want loop fixtures it will result in even poorer crowds either 12 teams home and away or expand to 14 clubs, said before next years format could be crucial to the future of the game and looks like they are going to cock it up. no way am i renewing season tickets if 8's stay or loop fixtures are introduced i will just go to which ever games take my fancy and wait for the ones that matter, and i dare say quite allot of fans will do the same.

I would agree - and I'm of your view that a significant number of fans would do the same thing; watching WT play the Giants twice is bad enough - 6 or 7 is too much to bear.

I wonder what the issue is with expanding the league to add 2 more teams - is it simply that there aren't 2 more teams who could make a decent fist of it, or is there some protectionism around Sky money for SL clubs behind that school of thought?

This proposal seems like the worst of all worlds.

The worth of boast worlds.

trying to keep the money all for themselves, but when they are hemorrhaging crowds they will lose more than the loss of revenue from sharing the tv money over 14 teams. tragic greed that could be the start of a decline in the game.
is it 1.8 million each club gets, going to 14 would be a loss of 300k surely only a minor increase in average with flat home away fixtures would cover that. Thats like an extra 1000 supporter per match that is all. wigan lost like 2k against against wakefield and average attendance way down, across the whole league.

You really need to ask?

This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The clubs only "need" 14 games because they're not working hard enough to generate more income from the games they have. It's easier / cheaper to flog the talent and to keep tapping into the captive market than it is to find new revenue sources and new audiences. We don't need more games. We need new fans and new revenue models.

This is a perfect example of the club chairmen ruining the sport through their own laziness.

Their worth is worth… you know…

An imbalanced fixture program helps justify the play offs and Grand Final.

Having said that, why the hell dont we go with a 14 club super league, it's such an obvious solution.
It really hacks me off when, so often, we are being told of the great benefits that Toronto (and Toulouse) will bring to the game.
Let's have them in SL next season and find out just what they do bring to the game.
IF there is increased exposure and investment / sponsorship opportunities then lets just get on with it and if "we" cant persuade Sky that they will benefit, then, we may as well get rid of the folk in charge as they really cant be up to much.
Either they have been over egging the benefits of Toronto being in SL or they should be able to improve the TV deal.
No if's and no buts. Get it done.

Well said

Agree.
Surely if Toulouse comes up, Bein is it, will be able to offer something to the TV deal pot you'd think, plus maybe Toronto can sort something out as well if they get in SL. Just need an extra £3.6m a year between them to keep everyone happy. I'm not sure how this would all work with Sky though. I'd have thought though that they'd be happy for the extra exposure and new teams to watch if it can be done and maybe up the deal themselces by that amount a year to accommodate the teams.

We have loop fixtures now. The problem is that they are unknown until July, so affecting clubs finances - how can you market or sell hospitality for an fixture list you don't know.

One element of the proposed new structure, is to know what the loop fixtures are at the season launch.

No different to now, some teams play each other 4 times already.