I would imagine the interest from Toronto will more than make up the tv deal interest. In fact- with both Bradford and Leeds in the championship perhaps the deal could be made for that too! Could strengthen a tv deal not weaken it. In fact Could be better for the game as a whole if Leeds go down. As for the rest- leeds’ money .......goes to Leeds. Leeds Sponsorship money......goes to Leeds. The rest of the SL don’t get it.
The only difference Leeds makes to my club is a big crowd..... just once a year..... but a thousand rhinos fans buying a ticket for £22 once a year (and some of that goes back to Leeds anyway) isn’t going to make a huge amount of difference to my club. Won’t even pay the wage of a youngster. Close a stand when London and Toronto are in town and save a bit in stewarding costs - the difference ain’t going to break our bank!
Id be very suprised if you could keep a straight face when you were writing this, if you arnt on a wind up and believe this nonsense, your clearly letting fan/club rivalrys get in the way of your common sense.
Like i said, as fans we love to see other big clubs struggling, id be the same if Wigan were in a relegation battle, my heart would love to see them relegated, my head would relise that Wigan are a big, famous club and that the game in this country, which is already on its knees, needs its big clubs in its premier competition, because theyr the clubs who attract the tv deals and sponsors. Sky dont pay a fortune for the premier league because of Bournmouth and Burnley, they pay it for Manchester united, City and Liverpool, just like they dont pay for superleague because of Salford and Huddersfield, they pay for Leeds, Wigan, Saints. Toronto do draw interest, but that needs to be on top of the current teams that draw interest, replacing one for another is standing pat, bringing in additional interest is moving forward.
Iv already said, im not saying Leeds should be rescued from relegation, if it comes to that, because of the reasons above, but to say Superleague wouldnt suffer if Leeds were relegated is extremely short sighted
Id be very suprised if you could keep a straight face when you were writing this, if you arnt on a wind up and believe this nonsense, your clearly letting fan/club rivalrys get in the way of your common sense.
Like i said, as fans we love to see other big clubs struggling, id be the same if Wigan were in a relegation battle, my heart would love to see them relegated, my head would relise that Wigan are a big, famous club and that the game in this country, which is already on its knees, needs its big clubs in its premier competition, because theyr the clubs who attract the tv deals and sponsors. Sky dont pay a fortune for the premier league because of Bournmouth and Burnley, they pay it for Manchester united, City and Liverpool, just like they dont pay for superleague because of Salford and Huddersfield, they pay for Leeds, Wigan, Saints. Toronto do draw interest, but that needs to be on top of the current teams that draw interest, replacing one for another is standing pat, bringing in additional interest is moving forward.
Iv already said, im not saying Leeds should be rescued from relegation, if it comes to that, because of the reasons above, but to say Superleague wouldnt suffer if Leeds were relegated is extremely short sighted
Did the game really suffer when Bradford were relegated? Can’t say as I noticed it did. Cant see leeds being relegated will be any different. Leeds drop down Toronto come up- perhaps someone else wins the GF, in a couple of years New York are there, no one misses Leeds. I do have a straight face because all that happens are the same players play and interest will be in a different team.
Did the game really suffer when Bradford were relegated? Can’t say as I noticed it did. Cant see leeds being relegated will be any different. Leeds drop down Toronto come up- perhaps someone else wins the GF, in a couple of years New York are there, no one misses Leeds. I do have a straight face because all that happens are the same players play and interest will be in a different team.
Yeah superleague does miss Bradford, Bradford were in an absolute state financially at the time though and no ammount of help was going to change that at the time.
Leeds are among the big names in this country, everybody loves them or Loves to hate them, it dosnt matter if theyr doing good, bad or indifferent, everybodys interested in them, that sells.
Take Huddersfield, you could take them out of the league right now, it would take most people a few week to relise they were gone. Them and a couple of teams like them are the epitome of whats wrong with the game, no one looks for there results, barley anyone watches them, if theyr doin well...no one notices, if theyr doing badly...no one notices, its why theres not more money in the game, why throw money at sumthing that dosnt move anybodys needle. Teams like this should be thankful to the big teams for the equal share of the pot they get, they certainly dont deserve it.
Agree that Toronto will be good for superleague though and any further expansion teams will bring an interest.
Yeah superleague does miss Bradford, Bradford were in an absolute state financially at the time though and no ammount of help was going to change that at the time.
Leeds are among the big names in this country, everybody loves them or Loves to hate them, it dosnt matter if theyr doing good, bad or indifferent, everybodys interested in them, that sells.
Take Huddersfield, you could take them out of the league right now, it would take most people a few week to relise they were gone. Them and a couple of teams like them are the epitome of whats wrong with the game, no one looks for there results, barley anyone watches them, if theyr doin well...no one notices, if theyr doing badly...no one notices, its why theres not more money in the game, why throw money at sumthing that dosnt move anybodys needle. Teams like this should be thankful to the big teams for the equal share of the pot they get, they certainly dont deserve it.
Agree that Toronto will be good for superleague though and any further expansion teams will bring an interest.
Very good post indeed. Well said. The short sighted nature from a number of people is why this game has regressed in recent years. When will people finally look at the bigger picture and look to make the game better for all which will include their own club. Stupidity it's best
Toronto WILL Implode like Celtic Crusaders did and PSG. You cant run a SL Club on free tickets and a sugar daddy long term i'll give them 5yrs max.
London Broncos have done. David Argyle is in it for the long run and The Wolfpack get more paying fans than several Super League clubs. They are very different to Crusaders and PSG.
Bradford dropping out of SL was a bad thing for the game. I said that at the time and I stick by it. I'd say the same about Wigan, Sts, ourselves and Wire, and Hull too. We could lose Salford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and replace them with Leigh or Widnes and SL wouldn't change markedly. But lose one of the few genuine big clubs and the game would be impacted massively. Sky would laugh their collective backsides off if you suggested SL was the same value without Leeds and with Widnes/Leigh, or even Toronto in the short term..
The fact that fans of clubs mentioned will get upset by that doesn't change the reality.
Having said that, the only way for the sport to grow is via TV deals and that most likely means more clubs from outside the M62 corridor. Ideally we'd be able to expand the competition, but I doubt we have the players to do it. But if we had decent negotiators, being able to pitch a sport with a presence in London, France and even north America backed up by a core of 'big' traditional teams makes a lot easier sell than without them. What makes no sense at all to me is keeping P&R to salve fans of yoyo teams.
Its all a bit moot - right now the rules are we finish bottom we get relegated. We have to assume that will be the case regardless of any longer-term plan.
Toronto WILL Implode like Celtic Crusaders did and PSG. You cant run a SL Club on free tickets and a sugar daddy long term i'll give them 5yrs max.
You may be right although I don't think the free ticket/sugar daddy model was ever their long term plan. It might ultimately boil down to how badly Sky want them in - and given how some teams are presenting in 3/4 empty stadiums there must be some interest at least.
Bradford dropping out of SL was a bad thing for the game. I said that at the time and I stick by it. I'd say the same about Wigan, Sts, ourselves and Wire, and Hull too. We could lose Salford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and replace them with Leigh or Widnes and SL wouldn't change markedly. But lose one of the few genuine big clubs and the game would be impacted massively. Sky would laugh their collective backsides off if you suggested SL was the same value without Leeds and with Widnes/Leigh, or even Toronto in the short term..
The fact that fans of clubs mentioned will get upset by that doesn't change the reality.
Having said that, the only way for the sport to grow is via TV deals and that most likely means more clubs from outside the M62 corridor. Ideally we'd be able to expand the competition, but I doubt we have the players to do it. But if we had decent negotiators, being able to pitch a sport with a presence in London, France and even north America backed up by a core of 'big' traditional teams makes a lot easier sell than without them. What makes no sense at all to me is keeping P&R to salve fans of yoyo teams.
Its all a bit moot - right now the rules are we finish bottom we get relegated. We have to assume that will be the case regardless of any longer-term plan.
So we will make it that big clubs cannot be relegated then? Leeds brings more to Leeds and it is relative. The income is much bigger than other clubs but it can only spend the same ATM other than marquis signings. Other clubs don't generate the same income but compete. It's what's on the pitch that counts not off it and at the moment Leeds are pretty sure for a high income club perhaps arrogance and it will never or can never happen to us breeds complacency where smaller clubs it's it won't happen to us. Now take football big teams suffer the threat of relegation like the smaller ones and on occasion a big one goes down the sport survives. Now Leeds are in a rut it's up to the club to get out of it not the rest of the league to make way!