Todays News 5 teams to be relegated !!! : Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:36 pm
Only nine of the 14 clubs will keep their places at the end of the season as part of a new structure designed to introduce incentives and excitement into the domestic game.For the first time for eight years, clubs will have the chance to push for promotion to Super League in 2015, although Mark Aston, coach and chief executive of back-to-back champions Sheffield Eagles, dismissed that prospect at the launch of the new Championships season at the MediaCityUK in Salford on Monday.
The nine survivors will be joined by the two clubs relegated from Super League and the winner of a five-team play-off in Championship One.
In 2015, two divisions of 12 will split into three of eight, with the middle tier playing off to determine the make-up of Super League in 2016.
"This is the gateway to a brave new world," Rugby Football League chief operating office Ralph Rimmer told the launch.
"The return of promotion and relegation across the three top divisions from 2015 has been welcomed by everyone and the Championships clubs remain genuinely enthusiastic about the new structures that will deliver a fully integrated competition."
The RFL is increasing the central funding to Championship clubs to enable them to compete on a more level playing field with the lower end of Super League but Aston believes the odds will remain stacked against the part-timers.
It is thought the top two clubs in this year's Championship will receive £500,000 and £450,000 respectively, with the pay-out dropping to £200,000 for the third and fourth-placed sides, £175,000 for fifth and sixth and £150,000 for the rest.
The clubs are currently on around £90,000 but they will still be worse off than the two relegated clubs, who will receive £780,000 "parachute payments", while Super League clubs are expected to receive around £1.8million in 2016.
"It was near-on impossible before and it's not going to be any different," said Aston.
"The four teams that come down from Super League are going to be on £1.8m and the four from the top of the Championship will be on significantly less so how do you compete?
"There's no such thing as promotion and relegation. Stop kidding ourselves. What we will do is focus on how we make Sheffield Eagles that little bit better than we were last year."
From next season the Championship salary cap will go up from £300,000 to £1million, although to spend the maximum amount clubs would need to generate around £2.5million in revenue.
Aston, who reformed the Sheffield club following the ill-fated Super League merger with Huddersfield in 1999, has masterminded Grand-Final victories in 2012 and 2013 on a shoestring budget and insists the club remain determined not to overstretch themselves.
"We will never ever change what we do," Aston added. "We're building from the bottom and, if that means we don't spend money as much as some other clubs who are in a fortunate position to try and get success, what we will say is Sheffield Eagles will always be here.
"Dangling the carrot, as they did 14 years ago with the merger doesn't sit with us.
"What we've achieved over the last few years hasn't been down to money. We're not going to speculation to accumulate because the club is worth too much.
"The players love it. They stop with us. Misi Taulapapa turned down a mammoth offer from a club in the same level. Those things are very important to us."
Aston's men will launch their title defence against Rochdale at the Owlerton Stadium on Sunday, having returned to their roots following the closure of the Don Valley Stadium.
There will be no live television coverage of the Championship after Premier Sports pulled out following the unveiling of the new Super League deal with Sky Sports, although the League is exploring the possibility of Sky screening the play-offs.
It has been confirmed that a neutral venue will be used for the Grand Final on the weekend of October 4-5 after the Leigh Sports Village hosted the 2013 finals day.
