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Fairleigh Good! said:
I'd guess it wouldn't be back and forth every second week. More likely, three consecutive weekends away (staying on in an English base), and three consecutive home games with only the visiting teams having to fly in and fly out in the space of a few days. Of course cost would be the single biggest risk. Not so much the air travel, which by staying three weeks per away trip will minimise flights, but more the accommodation. It's one thing flying a team to away games and putting them up in a hotel for one or two nights, but twenty or twenty one nights is going to add up real fast.Y2Eel said:
I think this is almost certainly being looked at as a short term stepping stone. A way to prove to the NRL that they can build and fund a stable club and put a decent team on the field at that level - similar in concept to the Reds playing in the Jim Beam Cup or the Lions in the Premier League but more emphatic (and ambitious). If successful they could enter the SL in 2009, play three seasons and then move to the NRL in 2013 with the commencement of the next TV deal. This would also give the SL some breathing room in their expansion to 14 teams. Accept Toulouse and Wellington for 2009, giving another expansion team like Celtic three more seasons to develop before moving up in 2013.
The game can't afford to lose the income of a cut to 22 rounds, let alone 17. Well not if we're to maintain a $4m salary cap. Television will get fewer matches, clubs will get fewer gates each season, and sponsors will get fewer opportunities for exposure. All that adds up to less money in the bank but you can bet the players aren't about to take a 1/3 pay cut.Razor said:
The battle for hearts and minds at Fox Studios? Yeah, I could see that. Certainly a lot of the Gold Coast bid's success was based on profile. Wellington were never really in the running on that count.bartman said:
Yes and no. There's still a sizable number of expat Kiwis playing in England that might find the idea of being closer to friends and family attractive while still being able to play in the Super League economy.
Perhaps not. But would they travel from London to Wellington once per *year*? That's the real question. Other than that one away trip for each European based team, the rest of the travel equation is really only the concern of the Wellington franchise. If they're cool with it and can provide the necessary guarantees that they can fund it without going broke mid season, what's the problem?novacastrian_panther said:
novacastrian_panther said:
