Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Sat Sep 15, 2018 6:50 am  

jinkin jimmy wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but what are loop fixtures?

It's the normal 22 games in the league and then 6 additional and 1 magic weekend for a total of 29 games.

I don't like the loop, would prefer to expand the league to 14 and have 26 regular games with the magic weekend being something different like a 9s tournament or something that isn't a double away game for teams.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Sat Sep 15, 2018 7:37 am  

With any loop fixtures, I'd bet that Saints and Leeds will play the lower-end teams three times, and maybe four. They seemed to last time it was used

I dont get why they didnt go for 14 teams, 27 rounds, inc Magic, 14th gets relegated, 13th joins Championship 2, 3, 4 & 5 in a relegation play-off, at the same time as the SL top 5 have their play-off, with a survival/grand Final double header as a climax to the season.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:56 pm  

If we have to have loop fixtures it has to be determined by the previous years league position as to who plays who. As others have said the magic opponent has to be someone who is not in the loop fixture list.

If it was just down to me I’d have had a 14 team league and a simple top 6 play off with 1 & 2 having the first week off then playing the winners of 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 for a GF place. I didn’t really like the top 5 last time as there are too many second chances and potentially too many weeks off.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:15 pm  

IMO the reason for dwindling crowds is a lot to do with how the RFL run the sport.

Constantly changing structures; if we can’t keep up, how can we expect a neutral to? It looks totally amateurish and laughable.

Short notice fixture changes; it’s happened with Salford and us recently and it’s ridiculous. Fixture changes with less than a weeks notice in Salford’s case.

I’ve lost complete faith in the RFL to run our sport and I genuinely believe they will ruin rugby league in this country if they’re allowed to continue with the utterly inept, ridiculous and embarrassing way they run the sport. I hope Robert Elstone can turn it around from a Super League perspective and then make the RFL see. Otherwise our sport is done as a professional sport in this country.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:21 pm  

I'm thinking that Ellstone (and co.) will be waiting for the current SKY deal near it's end and then go back to them with a revised plan of a 14 team league which includes Toronto (who I think will go up this year anyway) plus Toulouse and London, in search of an improved deal.

We're never ever going to get many more £millions playing in and around the M62 area.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:29 pm  

muttywhitedog wrote:

With any loop fixtures, I'd bet that Saints and Leeds will play the lower-end teams three times, and maybe four. They seemed to last time it was used

I dont get why they didnt go for 14 teams, 27 rounds, inc Magic, 14th gets relegated, 13th joins Championship 2, 3, 4 & 5 in a relegation play-off, at the same time as the SL top 5 have their play-off, with a survival/grand Final double header as a climax to the season.

From memory, it will be odds v evens based on league fixtures the previous year

1 v 2, 6 and 10 at home and 4, 8 and 12 away.

2 v 3, 7 and 11 at home, 1, 5 and 9 away.


Also it appears that the Magic fixtures will NOT be against any of the teams in the loop fixtures to avoid over saturation as in Wigan v Wire this year.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:45 pm  

MattyB wrote:

I'm thinking that Ellstone (and co.) will be waiting for the current SKY deal near it's end and then go back to them with a revised plan of a 14 team league which includes Toronto (who I think will go up this year anyway) plus Toulouse and London, in search of an improved deal.

We're never ever going to get many more £millions playing in and around the M62 area.

I was concerned when I saw that, on the proposals they put to the Champ clubs, the highest potential tv deal scenario they listed was the same as what it is now. They included scenarios where the deal is reduced, but not where it is increased. I really hope you're right.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:26 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

I was concerned when I saw that, on the proposals they put to the Champ clubs, the highest potential tv deal scenario they listed was the same as what it is now. They included scenarios where the deal is reduced, but not where it is increased. I really hope you're right.

Even the recent premier league deal is down on the last one so it doesn’t look good.

I saw a stat earlier that said overall viewing figures across all sports on Sky are down 12% over a two year period. In that same time Rugby Leagues viewing figures are down 27%! If they reduce the TV deal in line with that drop then the game is in trouble.

No wonder they’re considering things like a shot clock and golden point extra time.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:21 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Even the recent premier league deal is down on the last one so it doesn’t look good.

I saw a stat earlier that said overall viewing figures across all sports on Sky are down 12% over a two year period. In that same time Rugby Leagues viewing figures are down 27%! If they reduce the TV deal in line with that drop then the game is in trouble.

No wonder they’re considering things like a shot clock and golden point extra time.

Both Sky and BT realised that they had been played off against each other and as a result had vastly overpaid during the previous football contract negotiation. The football deals fell as they didn't force each other to pay more and more this time. I'm not saying that Sky definitely won't offer less come the next deal for RL but the falling cost of football rights link is being oversold IMO, any fall in the RL rights deal if there is one will not be to the same extent as with soccer. If people (the media included) repeat something often enough others will begin to see it as fact and you get a self fulfilling prophecy.

IMO the shot clock is more to do with all the cramp outbreaks that occur whenever a goal line dropout is to be taken. Did anyone except the Sky team suggest introducing Golden Point? Was that just not an example of Phil Clarke (or one of the others) spouting nonsense to fill an article? Golden Point ruins a game anyway as it is always an awful spectacle.

Re: New Format (Well old, actually) : Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:26 pm  

The latest “brainchild” (copied from the NRL) is for a shot clock to be introduced to reduce game times and golden point added for draw games.

Only the inept RFL could come up with a plan so ridiculous and laughable. Reducing game times whilst potentially adding time on?

The sooner this mob are out of rugby league the better. They’re destroying our game and have been for far too long.