Pro D2

this comes up all the time, but it's IMO a bit apples and oranges really. Arguably what the RFU were trying to do all those years ago when they made the Championship fully pro (ahem) was really 'the French have got two pro divisions, we should have two pro divisions' rather than there being a plan...

The French clubs also *tend* to benefit from municipal stadium construction and ownership.

So it boils down to three questions:

1) would it make sense *for the Championship clubs* to be in the second tier of a two tier set-up owned and run by the same organisation?

2) would it make sense for the Premiership clubs to take on the management of the second tier? 

3)Is there any will or cash on the part of PRL to spend money on another 12 clubs and think about how to divide income 24 ways (even assuming it increases)? 

I'd be starting with the likely answer to Q3 myself before I worried about 1-2 

On a self interested point however, though I think I was saying this when we were in the Championship too, what we *actually* IMO need is a whole-game solution that deals with rugby from Level 1 to the bottom of the pyramid. All your suggestion will do is *potentially* narrow the gap between levels 1 and 2 while *almost certainly* widening the gap between levels 2 and 3.

About the only way to make English rugby worse is to replace a cartel of 12 self-interested and self-satisfied clubs with a cartel of 24.

Jersey played a D2 team pre-season - a brilliantly contested match with just under 3,000 attending.

We discussed this not long ago. Yes, there would be cost and logistical issues, but the main stumbling block is scheduling.

While Champ clubs would probably be quite happy to give up the unloved Champ Cup in favour of something more meaningful/worthwhile, the ProD2 clubs play 30 league games, with up to 3 additional PO games for the top teams at the end of the season. In recent seasons this has made arranging a single friendly game between a Champ/ProD2 club quite challenging, let alone a whole new competition... unfortunately.

It's like the possible cup competition involving Champ clubs & the A-teams of Prem clubs that's been discussed a bit over past season or three. Generally people on this board and among Champ circles were keen, but the Prem clubs weren't, so it went nowhere and is no longer being floated by anyone. I fear the same will apply in this case, given there's no indication the French clubs would want to a) add extra games or b) reduce the size of their league. It takes two to tango...

Only five clubs currently top 20k. Several are below 10k, includine league leaders Bournemouth.

I'd say it's nearer a 15000 average.

(France Ligue 2, for comparison is currently at about 4500).

But, apples and oranges.

Yes, they were - at the time when we had AD Prem 1 & 2 (1996-98?).