Re: Relegation : Wed Jun 12, 2019 4:01 pm  

bramleyrhino wrote:

One of the problems with the old franchising model was that the criteria and KPIs were so poorly thought out. They measured the wrong things and encouraged the wrong behaviours.

The attendances one was a classic case in point - clubs were graded on whether they averaged 10k or not (I think that's the number). For clubs that could sell 10k reguarly, it was an easy box to tick. But for the rest, it simply encouraged them to offer cheap and free tickets across the board, under-selling the sport and cutting their profit margin.

It was particuarly acute for a club like Bradford. They were on that 7/8k mark at the time (if I remember rightly) and introduced "The Pledge" campaign - cheap tickets if enough committed to buying them. It meant that they ended up giving massive discounts to people who would have happily paid full price, rather that offering more targeted and tactical promotions. It was a stupid idea, lazy marketing, but the franchsing criteria encouraged it. Whilst it wasn't the cause of their financial worries by any stretch, it certainly didn't help their cause.

We're still seeing the fall-out of that culture. The sport has massively under-sold itself for years to the point where, despite being one of (if not the) cheapest professional sports to watch in the UK, we have discount codes left, right and centre for England internationals, Magic Weekend tickets with extended "50% off" offers and clubs like Huddersfield still offering tickets for barely over £100 a season. And seasoned fans know the drill now - there's no 'fear of missing out' encouraging you to buy early, and buying later usually means you can take advantage of special offers and discounts to what we keep being told are showpiece or "blue ribboned" events.

It's one thing to say that we need to get more money into the sport, but this culture of under-selling has been practically giving money away for years.

I would imagine for most SL clubs, their TV money income is higher than gate receipts over a season. Of course you have concessions etc once fans are at the ground, but it’s not all about ticket sales revenue - although you’re right about the KPIs driving the wrong behaviours.

As with all KPIs, the devil is in the detail and often they’re just done wrongly. That’s not to say licensing/franchising can’t work though.

The world of professional sport has moved on lots with the power of media; a game rooted in an outdated view of gate turnout from local working classes is going to become less and less competitive.

The game needs some work to improve the spectacle,
and new markets need to be developed.

Re: Relegation : Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:46 am  

A basic problem with the KPIs/criteria again comes down to the fact that not all SL clubs are equal in size (actual or potential). In order to avoid having a league of 4, if you apply criteria you have to set them based on the lowest common denominator to let the number of clubs in you actually want.

In terms of revenues for most pro sports (excluding some like basketball and baseball) its around an even split between TV money, sponsorship and gate receipts. Too much in any one basket leaves you open to real problems if the income from there dries up. I suspect in SL far too much comes from TV, and not enough from sponsorship. For some clubs (London, Salford etc) gate receipts will also be much lower. Its a bit chicken and egg as they are all interrelated, but as a sport we need to look at ways of increasing other income sources and being less dependent on Sky just to break even.

Having said that we're not the only sport with issues. The other source of income, and where RU for example is far better off (not to mention football) is cash from rich owners. As I understand it most Premiership RU clubs are underwater based on revenue versus costs, and are entirely dependent on continuing support from owners. Bar a few cases SL team owners simply don't have the levels of cash (or willingness) to prop up their team every year.

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:49 am  

How badly does everyone think it would it effect the club long term if we were relegated?

Would all the players be out of contract? Would all the u19's still be contracted? Theres only a handful of first teamers who id be sad about if relegation meant there contracts were void, id be gutted if most the 19's contracts were void

Whilst we obviously dont want it to happen, would there be any silver linings, IE...dumping contracts, blooding youngsters etc.

Interested to know just how bad we think this bad situation would be?

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:54 am  

It's not an option Matt and not worth thinking about.

There is nothing good about being relegated.

The club is hopefully financially strong enough to cope but let's not think it can be a good thing.

We wont go down. The team is starting to show some spirit so hopefully we can get enough wins.

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 8:04 am  

Spoke to someone very close to GH last night, the individual didn't hold back in terms of what was happening.
They are not even contemplating relegation at this stage, Agar is on a contract until the end of the season, he will not be given the job permanently, they are desperately seeking a half back to come to sign.
What was not said was who is the new coach or which half back are they after. The talk about relegation was if we are bottom we will be in the championship, on the other side of the coin I have heard that there will be no relegation from SL this year, don't know how true this is

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 8:20 am  

Marty Grrrrrrrrrr! wrote:

It's not an option Matt and not worth thinking about.

There is nothing good about being relegated.

The club is hopefully financially strong enough to cope but let's not think it can be a good thing.

We wont go down. The team is starting to show some spirit so hopefully we can get enough wins.

Thing is though Marty, i cant stop thinking about it, iv been in the 'we wont go down camp' but im starting to be genuinely worried. I honestly think our halfs are championship level and by far the worst in the league. Theyr the most important players in a team and we'v got the worst in the league. We got beat by a very very poor wigan team last night, mainly because those two players ruined plenty of good field position, they got a good platform and were absolutely diabolic with it.

Im deffinatly not saying its a good thing, but bad things can somtimes come with a silver lining or two.

Do you know anything about the contract status of the players if worse come to worse, especially the younger lads and 19's?

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 8:47 am  

I was thinking about this yesterday after watching “the full eighty” broadcast. The new Premiership (?) could contain Leeds, Bradford, New York (?), York, Newcastle, Doncaster, Toulouse, Ottawa... I mean given GHs tensions with the other SL club owners, and separate TV deals, are we talking about a de facto split in the game if Leeds go down?

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 9:46 am  

Gotcha wrote:

I think that some people if not up to big boy pants, need to come out of their nappies and in to Tena pants. Seriously they are far too much not in control. By the time we get to play London in September, I very much doubt there will be less than 12 points between us, and probably a couple of teams in between. Relegation is never in a million years going to happen. What is more important is how we use the rest of the season to plan for next.

And that is not aimed at you Batley.

Gotcha wrote:

Relegation is not a threat. Go change that nappy.

9 games to play we are 2 points above relegation.

Is relegation a threat yet?

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:02 am  

I thought there was 11 games left?

Re: Relegation : Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:22 am  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

9 games to play we are 2 points above relegation.

Is relegation a threat yet?

No, and check your maths. Funny how you wait for another defeat before coming up with this again. If you seriously think London will win two more games than us, then that’s your problem to deal with. Not withstanding that I have always said the structure will be changed anyway.