Wigan supremo Ian Lenagan, the smartest and most personally accomplished of the Super League owners, has predicted that Catalans, Toulouse, Toronto and New York will all be in Super League within the next five years. He has also suggested that Perth might join Super League if the NRL don't create a franchise there.
Wigan supremo Ian Lenagan, the smartest and most personally accomplished of the Super League owners, has predicted that Catalans, Toulouse, Toronto and New York will all be in Super League within the next five years. He has also suggested that Perth might join Super League if the NRL don't create a franchise there.
“I’m heavily involved in football in the UK and the [English] Premier League, and [chairman] Richard Scudamore, have been trying for years to get two of their clubs to play what they call the 49th game out of the UK because they realise what the value of that could be."
Someone tell Lenagan it's the 39th game, thought someone "heavily involved" in the Premier League would know they currently play 38 games.
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Also quite interesting that he's using the occasion and opportunity whilst over in Australia to have a pop at them.
JESUS WEPT HOW MANY TIMES????? £20 a ticket and £15 on beer and merchandise.....so an away fan is worth £35. At best, 1,000 is the average away support split across 11 rounds and I am being really generous here, so Toronto, replacing say Wakefield will cost a SL club £35,000. The minimum turnover of a SL club is £4,000,000 so Toronto instead of Widnes is worth less than 1% of a SL clubs turnover.
There are many valid reasons for and against expansion into America, but "AWAY FANS" isn't one of them.
Super Rugby is a league made up of clubs from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and Argentina.
The Pro12 competition has clubs from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy.
International leagues at club level can work and is what we need to be aiming for to grow the game.
Super Rugby weren't afraid to "cull' 3 sides from their competition because it was diluting their talent pool too much.....the 2 culled South Africans now play in the extended Pan European PRO 14 whilst in 'stralia they have simply cut the West off with no pro rugby of either code there....explains why the Rabbits are dragging the warriors there in the season opener..... ....having the steel to cull clubs that aren't working for the good of the game is going to have to happen and sooner rather than later. Fans of some clubs won't like it, but for the game to grow, we need to look at mergers or simply cutting sides loose.
luke ShipleyRed wrote:
Or when Franchising returns. Why crowds are down.
The Years before Franchise protection 2004 - 8,570 2005 - 8,884 2006 - 9,026 (catalans saved Castleford Binned) 2007 - 9,855 2008 - 10,338
Average over 5 years 9,335
The years of protected Francises. 2009 - 9,861 2010 - 9,812 2011 - 9,615 2012 - 10,151 2013 - 9,048
Average over 4 years of Relegation excitement 9,021...or 7% down on Franchising which was 4% up on the preceding years.
Franchising failed on many levels but predominantly because it wasn't policed properly. Crowds were not an area it failed in. Leigh/Wakefield, Huddersfield, Widnes and Salford represented 42% of the 2017 Competition but only 26% of the crowds.......replacing these sides with well run sports franchises is how the game will grow...the minimum any team should get is 10,000 and whilst Castleford and Catalans are close, these 5 named above are light years away
Last edited by Call Me God on Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I've zero interest in helping other countries grow the game when the game is on its 'arris over here. The only thing that will happen is that games will have an even worse attendance and atmosphere and it will be 3 or 4 less away games I can't attend.
So-called expansionists will kill the game with their fairytale fantasies. We need to sort the grassroots out in England before we even think about introducing new teams from other countries that will take from the same limited pool of players.
People are acting like the current SL teams who would likely drop out of SL if the likes of Toronto, Toulouse etc. came up, actually bring thousands upon thousands of away fans to games.
People are acting like the current SL teams who would likely drop out of SL if the likes of Toronto, Toulouse etc. came up, actually bring thousands upon thousands of away fans to games.
No. They're acting like they bring a considerable amount more than Toronto and Toulouse would.
People are acting like the current SL teams who would likely drop out of SL if the likes of Toronto, Toulouse etc. came up, actually bring thousands upon thousands of away fans to games.
Of the current SL teams the only one that may possibly survive in a truly global, or even northern hemisphere league would be Leeds. Towns such as Wigan, Warrington and St Helens would be of no interest to NA TV.
Super Rugby weren't afraid to "cull' 3 sides from their competition because it was diluting their talent pool too much.....the 2 culled South Africans now play in the extended Pan European PRO 14 whilst in 'stralia they have simply cut the West off with no pro rugby of either code there....explains why the Rabbits are dragging the warriors there in the season opener..... ....having the steel to cull clubs that aren't working for the good of the game is going to have to happen and sooner rather than later. Fans of some clubs won't like it, but for the game to grow, we need to look at mergers or simply cutting sides loose.
The Years before Franchise protection 2004 - 8,570 2005 - 8,884 2006 - 9,026 (catalans saved Castleford Binned) 2007 - 9,855 2008 - 10,338
Average over 5 years 9,335
The years of protected Francises. 2009 - 9,861 2010 - 9,812 2011 - 9,615 2012 - 10,151 2013 - 9,048
Average over 4 years of Relegation excitement 9,021...or 7% down on Franchising which was 45 up on the preceding years.
Franchising failed on many levels but predominantly because it wasn't policed properly. Crowds were not an area it failed in. Leigh/Wakefield, Huddersfield, Widnes and Salford represented 42% of the 2017 Competition but only 26% of the crowds.......replacing these sides with well run sports franchises is how the game will grow...the minimum any team should get is 10,000 and whilst Castleford and Catalans are close, these 5 named above are light years away
Super Rugby weren't afraid to "cull' 3 sides from their competition because it was diluting their talent pool too much.....the 2 culled South Africans now play in the extended Pan European PRO 14 whilst in 'stralia they have simply cut the West off with no pro rugby of either code there....explains why the Rabbits are dragging the warriors there in the season opener..... ....having the steel to cull clubs that aren't working for the good of the game is going to have to happen and sooner rather than later. Fans of some clubs won't like it, but for the game to grow, we need to look at mergers or simply cutting sides loose.
The Years before Franchise protection 2004 - 8,570 2005 - 8,884 2006 - 9,026 (catalans saved Castleford Binned) 2007 - 9,855 2008 - 10,338
Average over 5 years 9,335
The years of protected Francises. 2009 - 9,861 2010 - 9,812 2011 - 9,615 2012 - 10,151 2013 - 9,048
Average over 4 years of Relegation excitement 9,021...or 7% down on Franchising which was 45 up on the preceding years.
Franchising failed on many levels but predominantly because it wasn't policed properly. Crowds were not an area it failed in. Leigh/Wakefield, Huddersfield, Widnes and Salford represented 42% of the 2017 Competition but only 26% of the crowds.......replacing these sides with well run sports franchises is how the game will grow...the minimum any team should get is 10,000 and whilst Castleford and Catalans are close, these 5 named above are light years away
Your analysis is far too simplistic but fitting of you.
I'm still struggling with the concept, that a successful launch of a number of North American clubs would want to include any of our clubs. With all respect to the top clubs in the UK, including Mr Lenegan's highly successful Wigan, how may of the big cities of North America will have even heard of them?
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