Quote ="Saddened!"We're probably going to see clubs disappearing over the next couple of years. It'll start in the lower leagues but eventually there will be casualties in Super League as well. Several clubs are just not sustainable on any level. Huddersfield are the glaring one. £2.5m in losses, no real plan in place as to how to improve that either. Every year they seem to come out with ridiculously low season ticket offers and yet their crowds just never materialise. Once Ken Davy is no longer around, you do worry about what would happen. There can't be many multi-millionaires amongst the 2,000-3,000 fans they have and there's absolutely no glory or potential profits to be made there.
The lack of ability of a lot of clubs to grow revenue or operate sustainably is related to their stadium arrangements. If you don't own the ground you play in, it's very difficult to grow revenue. If it's old and crumbling, it's almost impossible to keep costs down. Making RL facilities multi-use and hosting things like public services like the NHS at Warrington and Saints and becoming a concert and social venue (Weddings, corporate events, white collar boxing nights etc) is the only way a lot of clubs can improve.
The original frameworks laid out for Super League recognised this and one of the key criteria initially was ensuring all Super League clubs owned their own facility and that it was up to standard. Obviously that was watered down to accomodate clubs that didn't have ownership of their own ground and the tinpot Yorkshire sides who resist all avenues for progress, but had they stuck to it, we'd have 12 clubs in Super League with their own conforming facilities. Instead they let all the Yorkshire sides get away with it and it's not a surprise the league is largely organised by those that have invested in infrastructure and those that never bothered.'"
"All the Yorkshire sides" is this a thinly veiled pop at Wakefield and Cas (rightly so) or every club, including the likes of Hull KR? Hkr own their own ground, have held multiple and more concerts (Than Saints for starters) over a few years now barring covid of course, the Craven Streat concept which is yet to be beaten on a match day earner elsewhere, the club's building training facilities that will be up there with the best, have a primary owner and power board with multiple well off people but not only in financial clout but expertise to also rival the best if not as a collective be out on its own. (I could be writing this and youll reply with the old outdated adage Humberside isn't in Yorkshire and you wasn't sweeping us aswell !
but still! It's a bit of an ignorant statement yours. All from a fan of a club that's posted the 2nd most losses for starters.
but still! It's a bit of an ignorant statement yours. All from a fan of a club that's posted the 2nd most losses for starters.
