It is BUT,
The reason in all probability is that they will be checking on ground availability for the semis and will also announce the venues at the time of the draw.

Is that One Show still going? An idea for the BBC to have done the draw on that Wednesday evening?

Ok back to reality. Done live on BBC 2 (North West and Yorkshire would probably be the ruling from the BBC) with local radio and, dare I say it, Radio 5 broadcasting it live.

Maybe.

But in all honesty the location at which the semi's will take place are a side note. All us fans care about is who were going to play next, they could announce the semi-final locations a week later for all I care.

We should be doing are best to keep the momentum of the CC competition alive for as long as possible, but we just deflate the whole thing by having the draw a few days later. And that's before we even get on to the subject for the massive gaps between rounds.

Typical rfl

That IMO is a major problem with the Challenge Cup. It'll now be two months before the semi finals are played. It becomes "the forgotten" competition.

At least one venue is already sorted, but I think they're better waiting to see what the actual draw brings before allocating venues (Batley v Bradford at Widnes wouldn't make any sense, for example)

I'm sure they try to make the game look smaller than it is.

With RU it's the other way around. Not saying that just because it's RU but they are just so good at this side of things.

Hopefully the draw will be.

Bradford v Barrow
Wigan v Batley

But in reality, id settle for

Wigan v Catalan
Saints v Warrington

As for the broadcast of it, the RFL is an embarrassment, this is no suprise.

The gaps between rounds up to this point have been okay - once every two or three weeks since the first one at Sheffield. The gap after tomorrow's game to the Semi is ridiculous, though. Totally ruins the momentum about the whole thing. Crazy that we have to wait days before the draw for the Semis if we win tomorrow, too - what justifiable reason can there be for that?

They proved that with the Round 3 draw that had to be redone. It's a joke!

Is there an actual reason to this or are they just doing it to take the p*ss? Seriously, i could understand if there was like 20+ teams left in the cup and they didnt have time to air it after the Bradford Vs Warrington match but surely it will take less than a minute to take 4 balls out of a bag?

Just for confirmation.....

I was going to ask which two teams but it wouldn't matter, would it?

Oh a nice time for all those in work

dont be daft, society is adapted for the jeremy kyle society that cant be d to work that if need a pay rise they have another kid. absolute joke.

The baboons at red hall really need their heads banging together

think colin clarke and mike ford drawing it(so i was told other week)will blame a work colleague if wrong

Edited for accuracy.

Colin Clarke is but Ford isn't (he did the last round). Arthur Bunting (Hull coach in '85) is doing the draw with Clarke

WHAT A FARCE HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME RFL

Always thought the gap between the Quarters & Semis was a complete joke, semis should be played in mid July. This would give fans of the finalists plenty of time to make arrangements for a weekend in London at the time of the final. Come on RFL ... get it sorted

Its a disgrace how this competition is being treated, its still the greatest competition in the world IMO, and I for one, want to win it more than anything.

I've covered this on a few threads before so won't repeat everything but the reason for the gap is the clash with much larger sporting events during June and July every year. The terrestrial broadcasters are all showing those events so will not have the schedule space for the Challenge Cup. With an August final we will always have that problem as long as the CC is on terrestrial TV.

There wasnt any major sport events last year or next year it only takes 4 hours for the two semis.

They aren't all huge things like the soccer World Cup, but are there every day all day on tv. Wimbledon Championships for example is every year last week in June and first week in July and gets wall to wall coverage. That is where the SF would naturally fall (midway between QF and Final). You may be able to fit the SFs in in the middle of July maybe every two years at best but would be mucking about with the schedule each year giving the impression that it is worthless as it gets shunted out of the way for other stuff. The RFL want regular dates for the SFs and Final.

The BBC doesn't have a sports channel and has to show a range of programming, even though as you say a two hour SF broadcast could be fitted in time wise they can't (or won't) get rid of a non sports programme to saturate the channel with sport.