SmokeyTA wrote:
It is a business in every sense. Until we stop pretending that sport is magically different from every other business and our sport is different to any other we will never make any headway.
But sport IS different to a business. That's just a simple fact of life. And running A sport is more different still. As I said a business has ultimate power at the top. All the major decisions come from there and nobody else in the business can do anything about it. That isn't true of RL is it? Name me a business that has the equivalent of what Koukash has just done?
That doesn't mean it shouldn't be run "like" a business but you have to recognise the differences. In the end the RFL have little power over the SL clubs.
SmokeyTA wrote:
Not having somewhere to play organised early enough to sell the games property isn't unfortunate circumstance it's just bad business.
So which venues were available? It isn't difficult to do. It's not like it takes a great brain to book a venue. It's obvious what the issues are. We don't own any of them. We don't have significant influence over any of them. And we don't bring in any more money than any other event. Why would the venues bend over backwards to accommodate us? The fact is they won't. And they don't. As I said, why would Liverpool be keen to book an RL game in? It's one game, it's unlikely to fill the stadium and it could affect when they play a far, far more lucrative and important premier league game.
Like it or not. We are 2nd choice. And it's got sod all to do with who is organising it.
[/quote]Not having value to Blue chip sponsors isn't some conspiracy or bad luck it's bad business creating a bad image through bad decisions. [/quote]
It's a combination of bad business and of history. Look where our clubs are based. It's in areas that are generally poor. Our supporter base is and always has been relatively poor. We have to overcome that and change that. But our clubs are so weak from the excesses of the past that we also need instant money. But that bad business is from the clubs. It's they who bring the fans in. It's they who market and produce the deals. And it's they who bankrupted the sport 20+ years ago and have done sod all in terms of improvement since.
You can't discount the history of this sport. Sadly we nearly killed ourselves and we're still reaping the whirlwind of those disastrous, calamitous short term decisions by the clubs.
SmokeyTA wrote:
It's no wonder that blue chip companies don't want involvement with a game that thinks marketing begins and ends with tickets for a fiver and a free beanie hat or some soup.
And blue chip sponsors aren't going to be involved in a sport that can't get decent crowds. There's no point whacking up ticket prices when you've done no development work to establish a new, richer set of fans. You'll just end up with fewer of the same fans watching the games.
SmokeyTA wrote:
The RFL is the centralised leadership of the game. What is the sports failure is there failure. That's what they are taking millions of pounds out of the tv contract for. If all they are responsible for is to put on the cc final and organise referees then we can do that for a hundred grand.
Theyre the figurehead for the sport but they don't have the clout or teeth to be a centralised leadership. The sport doesn't allow it and we don't have the centralised income for the RFL to get the teeth necessary.
They're responsible for lots of things but don't have the funds to properly do them.
By comparison to the RFL's income of £19m (which without government funding would be pretty much the same as Leeds Rhinos income) the RFU's is in the hundreds of millions and last year spent over £50m just on overheads.
SmokeyTA wrote:
There is a point at which we can no longer blame what happened 35 years ago.
Well it's not quite as long ago as that though it appears the bad decisions started around then at the clubs and have continued through to today. We had Wigan and Leeds all but go bust 20 years ago. Of course Bradford more recently and you can see some of the current owners itching to go out and spend on players yet bizarrely won't spend on building their club infrastructure and development in their local areas.
The sport suffered a major heart attack and stroke combined in the 80's & 90's. Sadly we've kept stuffing our faces with bacon sarnies and cakes ever since and wondering why we're only still struggling to get out of bed.
Ever since Super League was inaugurated and Uncle Mo lost his way on mergers etc etc the sport has increasingly shifted power away from the RFL and to the clubs.
If we're in a mess (and we are) then the clubs bear AT LEAST equal blame for getting us here. And it's they, with the £120 million from the TV deal who will have to get us out of it, one way or another.
