Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:11 pm  

The Doctor wrote:

I do think it is by far the best thing to be frugal in this situation- there is no point breaking our necks for a stadium if it means we have no team to play in there! Admittedly it is very disappointing, but not wholly unexpected. I just hope the RFL see it in the same light as being a sensible decision- surely after the financial issues at Wakefield and Crusaders, they will appreciate the decision making of the board.

Well said.

err You do know this is the RFL we are talking about here.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:19 pm  

The costs for even getting in a position to start building are enormous. For a club of Cas's size and stature the commitments - without guarantee of a licence - could put the future of the club in jeopardy. We all want the stadium but we need that comfort zone and to sell our only major asset on the cheap would be ridiculous. We want to be in a position of strength going into the new stadium, ready for our assault on the top four.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:48 pm  

Fully wrote:

The costs for even getting in a position to start building are enormous. For a club of Cas's size and stature the commitments - without guarantee of a licence - could put the future of the club in jeopardy. We all want the stadium but we need that comfort zone and to sell our only major asset on the cheap would be ridiculous. We want to be in a position of strength going into the new stadium, ready for our assault on the top four.

I remember years ago a spate of soccer clubs spending millions on stadia and neglecting team building, only to get relegated and enter a spiral of decline. The RFL should not be forcing clubs to spend beyond their means to acquire glossy new stadia - and it seems to me that if it is beyond Cas's means for the time being then RW is being a lot more sensible than a lot of folk give him credit for.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:16 pm  

wakeyrule wrote:

I remember years ago a spate of soccer clubs spending millions on stadia and neglecting team building, only to get relegated and enter a spiral of decline. The RFL should not be forcing clubs to spend beyond their means to acquire glossy new stadia - and it seems to me that if it is beyond Cas's means for the time being then RW is being a lot more sensible than a lot of folk give him credit for.

There are some nice football stadiums in the Leagues but not many turn up there which is a shame. The RFL must think that clubs can magic the money up from somewhere which you cannot do unless you have a benefactor somewhere to help.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:39 pm  

Dead Man Walking wrote:

There are some nice football stadiums in the Leagues but not many turn up there which is a shame. The RFL must think that clubs can magic the money up from somewhere which you cannot do unless you have a benefactor somewhere to help.

Is this announcement the unveiling of such a benefactor?

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:30 pm  

Three weeks for the announcement is interesting. It's obviously been timed for something else rather important happening in RL soon.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:36 pm  

I can't fault the club for making sound financial decisions however whilst Wakefields position makes it likely Cas will survive this round of franchising decisions 3 years can go by very quickly. I'm somewhat concerned that without the impending threat of being kicked out of superleague to concentrate the clubs mind on getting the new stadium started they will relax and we'll be in exactly the same position come the next franchising decision. And our position then will be even more fragile with the only clubs playing in a worse stadium than us at the time likely to be expansion sides that we all know will never be evicted from Superleague!

As has also been noted, we're not building the new stadium just to satisfy the decision makers at Red Hall, we need it to move Cas to the next level. We are one of a diminishing number of SL clubs that are unable to afford to spend up to the Salary cap limit and all we can ever hope to achieve is a lower end play off place (somewhere between 6th - 8th place) and likely going out in the 1st round of the play offs.

Many people might say we should be happy with that but why? I remember watching Cas pre Superleague when we regularly finished in the top 4 and were a good bet for the cup competitions.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:08 pm  

wakeyrule wrote:

Its ridiculous that a team that tops SL (with a game in hand, I know, go on - rub it in!) is uncertain about its future in the league! I agree that as far as most of the paying customers are concerned WR is a great place to watch RL - but not our besuited superiors in their ivory tower. They are typical of 21st century management - quality is secondary to presentation! Honestly, I could spit! Its like Cameron and Clegg telling us 'We're all in this together' while their corporate chums stuff their already bloated carcasses and laugh at 'common people' moaning about the cost of living and having their rights and pensions massacred.

I'm afraid that FPP will probably NOT cut the mustard as far as the RFL are concerned. IF you've got demonstrably adequate finance and time-scales in place you may get away with it, but hoping for an increase in the value of WR is not a sound financial plan. I hope for both our sakes that the RFL see the light and realise that, yes they do need to attract more paying supporters BUT at least one current SL club is going to struggle to get 5000 in for most games. Wakey and Cas both average around 7000 and take a substantial following away. Qins average - what - and take a handful anywhere. THAT should be the major yard-stick for a franchise, NOT a stadium! (Although ours really is crap and needs something better!)

Sorry about the rant, but its something I feel passionate about - best wishes for the stadium and the franchise, if they're awarde in order I hope you get the one after us!

No apology necessary mate, like Phil Clarke said the other week the whole issue of stadia criteria should be secondary to factors such as progress on the field through youth development. And another thing that makes my blood boil is that SL appears to massively prefer to see a club lodging in a fancy stadium than owning a more humble ground over which they at least have full control. Just read that Hull City are threatening to move from the KC because the council won't let the soccer club owners buy it. If they are allowed to buy, Hull FC may become undesirable tennants, if they move out FC may not be able to afford to stay there by themselves. In any other area of franchising I'm pretty sure applicants who are property owners would be more attractive than renters.

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:29 pm  

We have a sport which is dictated to by a media group and i can only fear for the future of our sport as a whole. If we carry on as we are (i am using we as the whole of rugby league) we may well get to a point where we have clubs such as cas wakey salford who have lovely shiney stadiums but these end up like an albatros around our neck as sky sbuscriptions increase and more and more people become arm chair fans. We then have a situation where these clubs go out of business and yep there place may be taken by clubs such as Fev Halifax Barrow etc etc who themselves will put themselves into finanacial strife again by trying to live the super league dream, eventually we will be left with only the expansion teams and the likes of wigan and leeds. So your grassroots teams go out of business

So what happens if sky were to pull their money out of RL the expansion clubs would go (they couldn't survive withoug sky money) Leeds Wigan and a few others may have survived but clubs like Cas Wakey Salford Fev Halifax etc etc etc have all gone to the wall .... is it at this point where the powers that be realise that we have let a media group dictate what should happen within our sport and as such we have no clubs left. So yep the big clubs may survive but what they going to do ???? play each other once every month?

I have no solution however in my ideal world the RFL would grow a spine and run rugby league for the good of the whole game not just as a subscription filler for sky

Sorry Rant Over

Re: It's official - 2012 will be at the Probiz Coliseum : Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:19 pm  

I have to say its quite disapointing that only 500 tickets out of 2500 have been used.