Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:10 am  

I’m by no means a marketing expert but Clubs need to make more effort pre/aft game to pull more families in ,not just rock up with 10 to go watch the game then tootle off like most do now .Advertising, apart from the faithful how would anybody know we are playing ,unless you are driving past belle vue .We’ve got a fantastic product which is one of Wakefield’s best kept secrets, oh and when you get newbies/stay aways in ,play like we have done these last home/away games (omitting Leigh of course)and they’ll be hooked .

Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:23 am  

1315trinity wrote:

This is just an idea that is being thrown around at the moment, and money is, as you say the problem. Would Sky give more for what I think would be a more exciting league structure?
As for player shortage it may mean initially some clubs struggling but if it was persevered with it can only lead to better homegrown player .quality.

Regarding player shortages.
We were struggling pre covid and it's difficult to see, particularly in the short term, just how that position changes.
Schools will take the easy option and go for less contact sports, which will further reduce the numbers going down to their local club.
Back to Sky and their reduced financial input, I just dont see how a smaller less diverse league will generate more interest.

As we are, they have 6 games per week to select their games from but, this would reduce to 5 in a 10 club top flight.

The clubs need to vote to protect the 12 club SL and find other ways to make up for the shortfall in Sky monies.
At the moment, RL is like an ice cube in a teapot

Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:43 am  

vastman wrote:

Just had a look at the Shay Stadium in Halifax and it's a cracking ground for RL and fit for SL. Halifax used to be a well-supported club with some success so I have to wonder why they now struggle and have done for over ten years.

If we had half what they have at the Shay I reckon we'd be laughing, anybody knows the reasons why they are not better than they are. I'm aware they have done ok this season and are in the playoffs but I expected them to come back years ago. Shame, a real RL town.

It is a nice ground.
When I go and watch the mighty Torquay United, its the first of my "local" away matches I look for on the fixture list.
Nice facilities and the bonus of the fabulous Three Pigeons pub a five minute walk from the ground!

Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 12:56 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

Aside from the visit to and from the "expansion" sides (Toulouse and Newcastle), it would be reasonable to expecct a higher number of fans to travel to away games and this does on the face of it, seem a better proposition than just having a 10 club SL.
Also, the play offs should have some extra "spice" as the clubs may not have played one another all season.

However, the elephant in the room is TV cash, which would be massively diluted.
Plus, as the season developed, support for the sides at the lower end of each "confrence", would inevitably drop away, just as it does currently and there is also a risk of some blow out score lines. In addition to this, there is a shortage of SL quality players and the likelihood of fewer youngsters coming through, due to heavily reduced numbers wanting to play contact sports post covid - I think this could be a major challenge for the next few years for both codes of rugby.

Absolutely but there are variants. Say a 2 x 8 team competition, with a seeded play-off between all 16. That's only 4 more clubs than now but with far more revenue-producing games.
So even the bottom team still has a chance, all be it an outside one. We get blowout scorelines now.

I forgot to add that this setup will have no P&R for a minimum of 5 years and probably only a franchise application system after that.

The truth is there is no perfect solution and the elephant in the room is money but not just SKY money, the game has not been this poor for decades.

Our one great hope in the short term has now gone, a WC win would have been our best shot at re-launching interest in the game but that's now lost, at least for now.

Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:32 pm  

The Halifax stadium may look good now but the main stand .was without seats for years Can remember J R playing is first game there for us and it was just a shell

Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:03 pm  

https://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/spor ... ff-3401664

https://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/spor ... ff-3401664

Re: Wonder why? : Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:01 pm  

Same old Wakefield Express old news Mr Carter said this 3 week ago ,at the presentation night ,also said there will be clubs who will feel the pinch more ,, because some are over a million in det . And said a big thank you to the fans for not asking for there cash back on S T as it as kept the club stabel

Re: Wonder why? : Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:50 pm  

vastman wrote:

They read the deluded nonsense you get on total RL from the self appointed intelligencia. This crazed desire to be a national sport like football isn’t just impossible it’s not what most fans want. I like RL being a regional game with its own unique identity. I like being in intimate grounds in crowds of less than 10k. The atmosphere is good yet never threatening, just good fun.

There is nothing wrong with being small but strong. I’d love to see Fax, Bradford, Widnes and even little old Fev back in the fold.

…..which is perfect for the “second division”. Can’t imagine the US owners of Sky (Comcast) will be falling over themselves to pay decent money to screen matches between small northern towns. Just can’t happen in SL. Expand or die. We need new blood in the top league at least, then just let nature take its course in terms of promotion and relation to/from that top league.

Re: Wonder why? : Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:39 am  

DallasMead2 wrote:

…..which is perfect for the “second division”. Can’t imagine the US owners of Sky (Comcast) will be falling over themselves to pay decent money to screen matches between small northern towns. Just can’t happen in SL. Expand or die. We need new blood in the top league at least, then just let nature take its course in terms of promotion and relation to/from that top league.

What a load of tosh, what are they paying for now! You expansionists live in a fantasy world.

25 years and not one successful team from outside the heartland and please don’t include Catalan, that was a rebranding.

In the real world there are two actual reasons Sky pay up. It’s a decent product that’s cheap. The M62 corridor has a bigger captive population than Belgium so it’s worth it to advertisers. It that simple and they don’t give a stuff about teams in London or Birmingham. The only people who do are northerners with an inferiority complex. I remember years ago a Sky exec stating that Sky had no interest in whether the game expanded, that was purely a RL issue with the initial amalgamation ideas being a Lindsey creation.

In 1995 the game based totally in the north was on a high within the regions of the North and had a decent international set up. That’s what got Sky’s attention, now we are failing on both fronts. We don’t need expansion, we just need to get back to where we were 25 years ago, then and only then can we look at expanding. Anyone with any common sense can see that.

Can I point out that Wigan, Warrington and especially Saints are small northern towns, are they first on your list to be replaced by cities where nobody gives a stuff about RL?

I await the nonsensical answer.

[PopTart]

Re: Wonder why? : Sat Oct 02, 2021 10:50 am  

The point of expansion isn't to move the game geographically, it is to open up new income streams.

You are right about Wigan and Sts. They are small, but they are established brands.
It's not just big cities that are needed it is an area that can host a successful rugby team.
Any businnes wanting to expand puts that work in and starts small.
To me as with many things in RL, it isn't the idea that fails, it's the execution.