The Virtual Terrace • The Key to Success is...
Donnyman wrote:
1. Because SKY themselves require this as part of the contract, they require nine English clubs on the basis that English content attracts the most subs. They will allow other content though.
As far as Superleague go they want to drop to 10 clubs ipso facto there is room for one overseas club if SL wants such a club.
2. I'm not suggesting these things and consequently awaiting to see if I am right.... I'm not considering any "point of view"........ I am pointing out the facts of the matter which are the SL bosses said SKY want nine English SL clubs and SL want a ten club Superleague.
These are McManus, Pearson and Lenegan's comments. Simple as. They run the game, so what they say matters far more than any opinion. To finish this off yes that 10th. club could be Toronto...... trouble is Perez himself said NA rugby league will not grow if there is only one NA club in Superleague - he said there needed to be 5-6 NA clubs in Superleague to at least get a TV contract.
I thought the overseas club quota commitment came from Elstone not Sky? And was in anticipation of our negotiations for the next TV deal. Nice of him to undermine our negotiating position in advance. This is what annoys me about the offcial approach to expansion - there is one foot in and one foot out. Either they have faith in the approach or they drop it. This 'on the fence' strategy is set up to fail.
On your second point - the clubs, especially the big ones, will always want a bigger piece of the pie and they obviously foresee a smaller TV deal and less money. That doesn't guarantee we go down to 10 teams though as a new TV deal may be reliant on a minimum number of games/teams. If they follow the Toronto model we could end up with 9 current teams taking central funding and 3 expansion teams funding themselves as one example. Championship funding could also be cut as another. Many questions to answer and absolute no guarantee we go down to 10 teams.
Statistics: Posted by notorious — Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:18 pm — Replies 47 — Views 2186