Yes and no.
The problem is that there's no holistic game. Everyone is at war with each other and there's no one banging heads together. For me, we need to adopt an American NFL style conference system as soon as possible and leave it as that. 24 franchises and the chance of regular glamour ties for the likes of Halifax, York, Newcastle is likely to swell attendances in those areas. We have too many sides in too bigger area, and dwindling fan bases. No longer are people parochial and tied to one location, people move around.
At the moment everyone INCLUDING ourselves is deriding the game. We're going to get a rubbish TV deal? Sky ARE going to offer less money? Well, what bloody incentive have they at the moment to offer us a bigger deal if we all believe it's going to be rubbish. Someone in the Super League PR department really needs to get this by the scruff of the neck and starting promoting the positive message. We want a bigger deal, this is what we can offer, this is how we're going to do it, this is how vision, this is what we can bring to Sky.
Why does a 24-team (6 groups of 4) conference system work?
1) Intrigue - randomly drawn groups at the start of each season could see mouthwatering clashes and the chance for new people get to OT plus an opportunity to get in front of press and create excitement
2) Reducing games - play your own conference home and away and everyone else once - 26 games a season plus play-offs
3) Bigger crowds and growth potential in expansion areas - someone like Halifax is likely to get a bigger attendance (as shown by Super 8s) by playing in the top table and by being able to support a fully professional side, with bigger visiting fans. Also chance to bring in Toulouse, York, Newcastle, and a second Canadian team/New York plus any other franchises for any spare spots
4) Exposure - we can sell the game on getting brands exposure across 24 grounds rather than 12 SL grounds, we can tell them we're going after a Gen Z and Millennial audience in bigger city locations, and not just that internationally too. We can inflate the money into the game based on this and also target Canadian and French sponsors who want to appeal to the UK, French Canadian, French audiences.
5) Holistic - we're all in it together. There's no Super League and the Championships, there's no them and us. Everyone knows what they're playing for and what they're getting.
6) Broadcasting - it all starts with a vision but they get 24 teams eyes on games, and they get the lure and intrigue to attract bigger advertisers and sponsors. We have to benefit them - sell it! And this goes for international broadcast rights too - let's get money pumped in from France and Canada into the British system.
Some will no doubt say we haven't the money to support a 24 team system but this is where we need to sell it. We need to be able to increase the salary cap to £5m for each club and we need to show Sky the value of doing this? For this to be achieved, we need £5m for each club or £120m per season for clubs. This will bring in the world's best players for rugby league, rugby union and possibly even from the NFL. We can go out and sell these games as events, get people in local areas to come down and create a huge brand push.
It starts with a vision and at the moment we're going around in circles with the same old, tried, tested and stale ideas and it's time to start thinking ahead, and big, than looking at the here and now. Get everyone briefed in in on this and get them excited now. The others teams still have their place underneath the 24 team system and will still contribute to the Challenge Cup, and they will benefit from the trickle down effect fingers crossed.
The 24 teams I imagine at the moment are:
Bradford
Castleford
Catalans
Coventry
Huddersfield
Hull KR
Hull FC
Leeds
London Broncos
Newcastle
Salford
Sheffield
St Helens
Toronto
Toulouse
Wakefield
Warrington
Wigan
York
Plus 5 from the rest. For this to work, sad as it is sentiment needs to be thrown out the window here but I think we need to evaluate the value of having a Welsh team (Crusaders) and a Cumbrian outfit (Workington since they're getting the World Cup?), possibly, Halifax, Doncaster and one other Canadian/American team? There's always Widnes if they recover from their current plight too.
Someone like Featherstone is probably always going to be behind Cas and Wakey in terms of size, and Dewsbury and Batley are good honest local clubs. Would leave a community league underneath of:
Featherstone, Oldham, Hunslet, Whitehaven, West Wales Raiders, Keighley, London Skolars, Swinton, Rochdale, Leigh, Dewsbury, Barrow, and Batley
I'd imagine that these could all partner with two of the main Super League clubs for loans/dual registration like we already have and for player pathways e.g. Featherstone - Cas and Wakey; Hunslet - Leeds and say Hull KR.. These clubs could all be set specific KPIs they need to meet in order to be considered for further promotion as part of an expansion.
In terms of player numbers, we already have 12 Super League teams already with good players. Toronto and Toulouse only need to add to theirs and I'd imagine Bradford would be the same. There will probably be more of an influx on players from the NRL in the short-term and that's a sacrifice we need to make but there's plenty of good players at Championship clubs (e.g. Widnes, Fax, Leigh, Fev, who could play in Super League too).
Either way it's time to take a very big, radical and overarching punt. We can't show any mercy now - it's time to go with what broadcasters and sponsors want, not smaller clubs who aspire but realistically can never achieve.