Premiership II plans announced

kempstonblue wrote: So Bill wants more geographic spread. 12 clubs only goes so far. Bit radical, no silly cups. But 16 team league. Cambridge is the furtherest East club in the region. London Irish henceforth Norfolk Irish (helps Bill spread out issue). Wuss, might be best in Worcester. Mystery club in North. Wasps in Kent. There we go Bill, just slip £10 behind the bar when you come to town.

It seems we are in the realms of 'if you build it they will come'

What makes people think Wasps would be viable in Kent when they weren't in previous existences?

Raider999 wrote: It seems we are in the realms of 'if you build it they will come' What makes people think Wasps would be viable in Kent when they weren't in previous existences?

What would we want for the Championship?

Better coverage, ideally on Terrestrial TV
But given that there are Premiership games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, any live coverage offered is likely to be mid-week.

Could we schedule a week, when the TV company wants games on Mondays or Thursdays?

How much would your club need to move two home games to one of those days, and provide sufficient lights and camera positions.
I think it might be possible for a club to move their televised game or swap their games if the opposition has better facilities.
 
And would that differ if we were on BBC2, E4 or Talk Sports

I am sure that if we were on BBC TV, then BBC radio would mention us in the sports bulletins. SO I think that is worth much more.

If we were not offered live coverage, would we accept a weekly round-up programme - Rugby Special style - on Sunday or Monday?

Again, what could we offer, and what would we need?

And in either case, how much extra do we think we would get from our individual club sponsors by getting their logos on TV?

Talking of sponsors, what about a league sponsor.

How much would we sell that for - given the RFU may well cut their funding to match.

Of course, we are in a catch 22, the more eyes on the Championship, the more it is worth to a sponsor.
But we cannot run a marketing campaign without sponsorship money.
We are also going to find it easier to get sponsorship if we are on TV, and more likely to be invited onto TV if we have sponsors and larger gates.

I hate to give Bill any credit, but to some extent I know what he means by wanting an investable league.
Unfortunately that is not where we are, and you can only start from where you are, not where you want to be,

But, where I disagree, is that I do not see revivifying dead brands as a route to success.
And I blame lack of investment by the RFU over the last 20 years -and more importantly, the lack of coverage - as being at the root cause of the decline.

Camquin wrote: I hate to give Bill any credit, but to some extent I know what he means by wanting an investable league. If the Championship contained 12 clubs with large crowds, it would be much easier to sell. Unfortunately that is not where we are, and you can only start from where you are, not where you want to be,

In my mind all of this is hogwash. The Premiership is not investable as a business so on what basis could the Championship become investable.

Edited by Big Eddie - 24 Jan 2024 at 16:52

Halliford wrote: Raider999 wrote: It seems we are in the realms of 'if you build it they will come' What makes people think Wasps would be viable in Kent when they weren't in previous existences? Probably the same approach that made them think they would be viable in Coventry.

Agreed, although moving to Coventry they had the stadium and more local rugby fans.

The RFU has made its position pretty clear. They are not going to restore funding to pre-Covid levels, as they promised to do when cutting it, but will provide small sums to reimburse the cost of clubs taking on Player Development Pathway players - i.e. young players who the Prem clubs may or may not have to shed because of the need to cut their own costs. 

Big Eddie wrote: Yup Breakdown…. all smoke and mirrors and chicanery from King Billy. He must think rugby people are too stupid to see through his spin and dissembling bol**cks

Richard Lowther wrote:   Until we break this monopoly and restructure to allow automatic promotion and relegation and time and space for new entrants to develop to a minimum standard which suits them - both crowd and finance wise, everything else is just rearranging the deck chairs.