But its not all about the grounds is it, it is about the whole package they offer.

After the first round of franchising it is to soon to judge the success of franchising either way, but there are signs it is working. Look at the young players now being brought through at clubs like Castleford as they can now plan for the 3 years rather than having to look for quick fixes to stop them being relegated that season.

At the end of the new round of franchises I would hope we would be very much seeing the benefits at all levels, if not then perhaps it will need to be reconsidered.

what if it was 16 team league split into a top and bottom 8 teams where everyone plays each each other twice with MM matches contained within the tiers therefore playing a competing 3 times . top 8 go into plays for the GF and the lower 8 go into a play off to get into the top 8?

not sure how the team to be demoted to the lower 8 would work if there was a play off system, what if the 8th placed club had a really good run in the play offs?

GF at OT and the lower final at bolton, blackburn or leeds.

obviously this could reduce GF sales but the league could do a deal, by one get one half price kind of thing

not sure if it would work but it could be an idea.

you heard it here first

Wouldnt work in a million years. Fans from the lower half of the draw would get sick of only playing the other teams in the bottom half and never getting to travel to places like Wigan, Warrington, Leeds etc. Which is why all of the lower sides want to be in the top flight, to compete against the better sides. Look at all those Widnes fans immediately after their license announcement yesterday, one of the 1st things they mentioned was they couldnt wait to be mixing it with the big teams again. Huge disappointment if all they got was 3 games a year against Salford, Cas, Crusaders etc.

The bit in bold, I like how you have come up with a system and then are questioning yourself how it would work

each team would play every team in the whole system twice. resulting in 31 games a year

I tell you what, this post is an absolute farce. Stick Wakefield in the championship for 3 years plus and we will see about those bigger crowds and academy, because I recall our academy teams were beating all the super league teams last season and our crowds were 500+ greater per game than anyone elses in the division. It's not actually that easy to get the crowds in in the championship, so the chances of us beating an established SL team are effectively zero. Our away fan contingent is usually roughly 50 people, and fans are not as attracted to games against Batley as they would be Wigan.

It's about potential, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being consigned to the championship should not be a death sentence. We've earned our place at the top table and Wakefield will have no one to blame but themselves.

I think you'll find of us, myself included, agreeing with that - it's only one or two people agreeing with the OP.