I agree the top 4 playoffs is far better. As for those in 9th putting their cue on the rack.



Well in 2013 the Bulls could have done that with 2 games left.

In 2012 they would only have known 1 game before the end of the season.

In 2011, there was only 1 point difference so a team putting it's cue up would have gifted a playoff place and possible relegation.

In 2010 again you could not have done it.

2009 1 point difference.

In 2008 when we last had 12 teams. Both 9th and 10th could have made the top 8 dependent on the last fixture.

In 2007 (again a year with 12 teams) 8 -11 were covered by 3 points.



So in effect with a 14 team league you have the best opportunity to rest those last games. But even then it would generally only be for the last game of the year.

The points from the "regular season" are carried over so the team finishing first are already well ahead of the 8th team when the playoffs start, clearly giving them a massive advantage over the team in 8th.

I think the split is more like a continuation then a playoff - like making the cut in golf ( I think - I know nothing about golf!)

I think that what all these threads show is that few people have read the whole document.



I know I haven't. But when people make statements I find hard to believe I go and check them.



Now they may have changed the document during the meeting as it says the details will be produced later in the month.



But from finance, people have been saying that games will be one sided not realizing the cap is increasing for championship clubs.



People talking about a top 8 playoff, when last time I looked it was top 4.



People saying the top 8 start again, when they don't.



People not realizing that the middle 8 do start again. Although I accept this is one of the flaws of the new system.

I took it to mean that the bottom 4 from superleague will get only 3 home games in playoffs and 4 away games.it doesn't neccassaryily mean that they'll be playing all the championship teams away from home.

All clubs will get either a guArenteed 14 or 15 home games per season depending on finishing position.

So similar to now ( including the playoffs) so not overly long.

Yeah, I think you're correct.

Can we expect and increase in crowds in SL2?

Can we expect a decrease???





Measuring crowds would be tricky given that some teams will have more home games than others. But in the end I suppose you could take an average per game. Assuming you can get anyone to agree what a fair average is.



Look to the RLWC threads to see a debate about averages.

Attendances for the top Championship sides should rocket !

really?



So how many games will clubs play in a league season?



SL top 8 32 if they reach GF and mid 8 30 games all up?



I can see the income of the bottom 4 SL clubs nose diving with games being played at championship clubs and presumably a pay at the gate and shared basis.



Season ticket prices will need to be cheaper as they will only be selling 11 home SL games



Great idea RFL, I suppose its one way of whittling down to SL to probably ten teams left standing within a couple of years.

I don't understand why people presume STs would be sold only for the first 11 home games (before the split). Currently season tickets are for 13 games. They could be similarly priced and count for either 13 or 14 games, with only the PO semi finals and Grand Finals/promotion qualifier being extra paid games. You'd hope so anyway, if fans are asked to pay extra for 3/4 extra games before the POs then the attendances will be similar to what they currently are in the early weeks of the top 8 POs, even in the top tier IMO.

Had another read and I am still trying to figure out how the mid 8 games work in terms of home and away fixtures. Anybody cast any light on how many home games against SL and how many home games agains championship clubs SL clubs will have?



It's 7 games so how many of them are at home for Sl clubs and how many of those home games are against other SL clubs?

The SL clubs dropping into the middle 8 will have 3 home games. Probably 2 against SL clubs and 1 against a Champs club