Next season

I would suggest that the Aspirational Championship clubs , Ealing , Jersey, Doncaster, Coventry, Bedford will want a Prem 2 with 10 teams and ground criteria to equip them for Prem 1 (Possibly 5000) to switch to a 14 team league and add a ground criteria will probably exclude many of the current lower sides and prevent a number of the aspirational Nat 1 sides getting promotion. This would effectively lock the top 20 sides into a closed shop leaving level 3 and below as the community clubs, I would also suggest that firm Salary caps could be introduced at level 3 and below with firm penalties, points deductions not simply taking away International tickets and Loan or grants, if a club has enough money to ignore the salary cap then the current penalties are meaningless. There are many clubs at level 5 and below who pay their players to get up the ladder even though the RFU say they cannot. Any club that gets promotion should be subject to an audit. 

Very true. We were told this would happen for season 2024/25.

However, it was confirmed at the recent NLR AGM that this is now not so definite and, is only one of the options on the table.

I am now looking at some comments where people want to do this again by " ring fencing" the status quo of leagues as they were two season ago, this is not helping the club game grow, it is another form of protectionism, the very reason the game is in trouble. Trouble is, to make the game grow it needs to include folk, not exclude them, talk of clubs facilities not being good enough, yet the same people criticising the Premiership from doing exactly the same thing. The whole game seems to be populated with snobbish behaviour where clubs are terrified if their cushy number is upset. Nat 2 West is often raised as an example of "watering down" or "weakening the standard", yet it gave clubs a great opportunity to see where they were, a chance to visit grounds that they had not visited before. 

I think the point is that the RFU don't want payments to be made to players outside of the top two leagues. 

Surely that's impossible to enforce with players down to Level 5 relying on occasional income. As to Level 3, no chance.

Monthly audited accounts for a start. 

The RFU attitude is if you can afford to pay players, then you don't require RFU money for Travel expenses or ground redevelopment etc. 

It depends on whether the RFU will allow a budget per level or just decide that level is zero at all levels below the top tiers.