These things we know, or most of us do:
1. A local domestic competition will not bring in any net revenue. Just getting something onto FTA nationally would be a significant achievement in itself. .
I get where you are coming from Warberal (base on your previous comments I have seen but I tend to disagree.
One of the key issue that was the undoing of the S18 was the desire / need for more "local derbies" that did help on the revenue from with both rating but mainly gate (when teams were performing). The manipulation of the draw to accommodate this was partly to blame for where it is at now. What the Super Rugby did show us is there an appetite and supporter base for a domestic product. If there is a TV deal that could be derived from such a competition that would be of value is questionable but not impossible. The lesson from Ch10 going under was don' t get sucked in to rating centric metrics. Once the network abandoned it lower rating base but high advertising revenue of all the networks (yes, bigger $$ with less ratings!) to chase the other networks on ratings it killed the revenue and brought them down.
IMHO we tend to think in terms of replicating a Super Rugby type beast when we think of alternatives at the moment going as far as to always consider other code and the necessity to compete against them. taking a step back and surveying the rugby landscape that show the recent Wallabies games got reasonable rating while the are not performing and the fans are disgruntled. On top of that the looking at the crowd at the QPR and SS etc it shows there are many (real) supporters of rugby out there that want decent rugby week in week out to watch and identify with. having regular games week in week out gives us a cahnce to grow a strong supporter base and engage people. Super Rugby only provides limited opportunity for this and its hurt our game.
So why are we not just simply setting the first step at catering for and starting with the supporters we already have out there in rugby land as the first priority and build from there?
We do not need a leader, we need a genuine sense of unity.
Together we might just survive. Divided, there is little doubt that we will fail, at least in terms of having a major sport that has widespread public and (importanly) corporate support.
Yes are absolutely correct but this is the Achilles heal of rugby and it the real reason other codes are not threatened by Rugby.
The moment anyone mentions domestic like QPR play against SS teams the first thing will be that neither ant to change their seasons. make a sacrifice etc and that why the Super Rugby has been so twisted to accommodate the real issues that we have to try and fund a devided game.
Its such a logical thing but it been an issue for decades and look at it; a fan base wanting more A game in trouble but territorialism power, history and ego wont let the basic logic prevail.
There are ways but I think we need to start with a blank canvas and far more understanding about our game, supporters and opportunities.
