bonaire wrote:I would like to see reserve grade R/L compulsory for Super League from 2020 funded by the RFL.
I just cant see that we have the squad depth for a meaningful weekly fixture list,and its no good clubs trying to run a reserve team when you play once every three or four weeks because clubs cancel fixtures due to not being able to raise a team.
The reserve league should be competitive with something to play for other than keeping fit with a trophy for the league winners.
When Super League re negotiates the TV deal lets ditch Thursdays and get back to Sunday afternoon matches with one live TV game played early Sunday evening when nothing on TV is worth watching and one live TV game is played on a Friday night.
All Super League matches are televised and can be viewed with Annual subscription without having to pay for viewing other sports you dont want.
Cash for a reserves comp would come from the same pot, however it is labelled. There’s no magic money tree at the RFL.
It might make sense to ring fence a chunk of the central distribution if they do decide to make it a priority.
Ditching Thursdays would likely reduce Sky’s offer, and cherry-picking only the sports you want is likely to be expensive - once you’ve bought one sky sports channel the rest are very cheap, and there’s a reason for that. Also, it gives SL the chance to attract interest from people whose main interest is in another sport, which in turn will help a little selling sponsorship and so on.
Sports broadcasting is maybe on the cusp of a big change. People have been saying it for a while, but maybe they’ll be right soon. Hopefully Elstone will explore a range of options so, even if SL sticks with Sky, we’ve at least got some leverage in negotiations.
