Strategic Review

 

Hold on to your hats, it was 12 months in the making, but now the Strategic Review has finally been released. RL Club-Led Strategic Review v3 (1).indd

Most of the juicy titbits have already been released, but I will attempt to extract the content that caught my eye.

Salary Cap

I never mentioned the words Salary Cap before, so here is what is in the review:

42. The Salary Cap should be simplified to ensure all actual costs relating to players are covered within the scope of the regulations. It should be policed. The level of the cap should be correlated with the levels of central distribution. Actual costs, so this needs to include cleaning jobs performed (or not performed) by spouses. Marwan Koukash got hit with fines for buying cars for his best players.

43. The sport should consider re-introducing a live Salary Cap system once all commercial and investment matters are known. This should link to a strategic plan for player costs. I thought that a live Salary Cap system was already in place.

44. Clubs should be able to sign a maximum of two marquee players as per the current regulations, but such players must be made available to work with RL Commercial on commercial, media and other engagements. A maximum of two marquee players as per the current regulations - pretty sure the system was modified to allow a 3rd marquee as long as he was club-developed talent. French and Field are going to be very busy doing turns for the RFL. As a matter of transparency, every club should announce their Marquee signings.

Women's Rugby League

59. There is a need to improve the standard of player and athlete welfare offered in the Women’s Super League. There is a need to pay them properly, but that is not going to happen because the sport is not financially viable.

Challenge Cup

64. Men’s Super League clubs should enter at the round of 32. They should be seeded and drawn away from home. This has already been in operation for the last two seasons.

66. Across the centre and at clubs, more thought, budget and resource is needed to promote the Challenge Cup. Yes it should. The Challenge Cup has been neglected for years. For some clubs, the Challenge Cup is still very important. The Leigh Leopards spent a year taking it out into the community at every possibility.

67. Consideration should be given to the creation of a ‘Magic Weekend-style’ round of the Challenge Cup to truly put the magic back into the competition. This would ideally be the Round of 16, creating a new event and broadcast product. This is one of the better solutions to the Magic Weekend conundrum. Moving to 14 teams to eliminate a loop fixture and then putting one back in for Magic Weekend. The current Magic Weekend to be held at Hill-Dickinson stadium is selling very well, due to the venue and the rivals round format. 

69. There should be a fixed date in the calendar for the final. Nice idea in principle, but if they decide to move it away from Wembley, that would cause issues finding a permanent home at an alternative Football Stadium.

70. The sport should consider a new venue for the final. (see 69)

Player production

91 Consideration should be given to reducing the number of elite Academies playing in the professional structure. These clubs should have to meet strict standards of player development and output, and be properly staffed and funded. Reducing the number of elite Academies - this has created more inequalities in the game than anything else. Leigh Leopards have often been criticised for not producing any future stars of the game. At various times, the club has not been able to afford to run an academy and also the RFL have denied the club a license due to all the licenses being assigned. Why should there be a set number of Academies? Is it due to the proximity to the Piedome? It would be interesting if Brad O'Neill and Jack Farrimond had been through an Academy at Leigh. Let's reduce the Academies to Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and Leeds and then wonder why the Super League Grand final was only won by 4 teams until last year. No thanks. The sensible solution would be to take the Academies out of the club hands, into regional centres of excellence. This creates another problem when it comes to signing for professional clubs. If the current system is kept in place, there needs to be protection for the clubs that nurtured the young players. At the end of last season, Wigan and St Helens went to war over the next crop of youngsters, trading players in a tit for tat exchange. Under 21's should stay contractually under the wings of the parent club, as long as the big clubs do not abuse the system and treat the players like chattel.

92 Encouragement should be given to regional Academies being set up between consenting clubs to improve the offer to young players and to widen player pools. Yes, but who funds the regional academies?

95 In the short term, there should be increased access to overseas talent pools. Expansion in Super League and NRL has resulted in a land grab. Super League grab the Under 25 talent from the State Cup sides, and the new NRL teams raid Leigh and Leeds. The search will branch out to other clubs, but for now it was totally necessary to increase the overseas quota to 10.

97. There should be a review of the current welfare and support functions for players. A strategy to better fund welfare and provide a Player Association function paid for by those that use it should be developed and operationalised. This should be primarily funded by the players themselves or through commercial fundraising activity. A plan should include medical provision, welfare and wellbeing, and could act for players on contractual matters. An absolute no-brainer. Mandatory contributions from all players, Clubs and the RFL. If you are opposed to the term Union, then call it a Players Association. 

The contest, broadcast, product and season schedule

98 There should be new events and broadcast packages created to improve broadcast revenues. As a Rugby League fan, I pay for Skysports, but in reality I am subsidising Football fans. The large bulk of the TV revenue goes straight to the EFL Premier League. My household watches Rugby League, Darts and Cricket (no football). Put the sports on a dedicated channel and reduce my bill by removing the Football channels. The cost might not be so high if the Firestick users were caught and had to pay fines.

99 Consideration should be given to events that showcase different attributes of players including Rugby League 9s and other linked sports provided such events are strategically delivered and financially sustainable in the medium term. Not enough room in the season. No Club would want to risk their players in an exhibition-style tournament. Make it an Olympic sport, and then people might be interested. 

100 The sport should consider starting the season with a match between the Challenge Cup winners and the Grand Final winners to raise money for the sport’s charity, Rugby League Cares. Nice idea, but played in January (no thanks).

102 The sport must ensure there is a balance between free to air, subscription TV and streaming broadcast rights. Market Segmentation, this used to be about competition, but in reality, it is about the fan forking out multiple subscriptions for a product they used to get in one place.

105 There should be a new strategy for Super League Plus to make the sport a 24/7 accessible product and showcase additional matches from other Rugby League competitions, podcasts and other shoulder content, including press conferences, disciplinary hearings and other behind-the-scenes material. This should include using the platform to showcase players as fully-rounded people, celebrate history and traditions of the sport and create new programmes for younger audiences. More content, yes please.

106 The calendar should be redrafted to create peaks for the sport and ensure that data is used to place important matches at times of peak viewership. The calendar should also avoid clashes with other significant sporting or public events. Nice idea in principle, but good luck scheduling that. They have enough problems with resurfacing Football pitches and playing away for weeks on end. Starting the season at the same time as the 6 Nations is also not good planning, but it can't be avoided.

107 Tier 2 should consider amending its season so that it has a period in the calendar where that competition has all Rugby League eyes focused on it. Televised Championship Rugby in the winter months. Not sure there is a demand for snowy and muddy pitches.

109 Laws and Policy should aim to speed up the contest both in actual time and the speed at which it is played, and should attempt to make the collision as physical as possible whilst maintaining player safety. Faster ruck speeds - implemented.

112 Work should be done with broadcast and commercial partners to use technology and data during and after the contest to bring the sport closer to the fans, tell more insightful stories and drive new and better revenue streams. Yes

113 Changes to disciplinary regulations should be implemented with the aim to keep more players on the field whilst punishing repeat infringers and protecting players from serious foul play. The purpose of the disciplinary panels and processes should not be to re-referee each incident. Neither should it be beneficial to the bigger clubs.