Always a Wasp

It's interesting that when he was running Wasps Derek was hailed as an astute business man that knew a thing or two about success. There were many a post explaining you don't get to be as wealthy as Derek did without being on the ball, on top of your game etc etc. Now the majority view here seems to be support for the view that Derek was the unwitting victim of bad advice and couldn't possibly have known he had given up control of his business 'cause lawyers and advisors said it will all be OK. There's now't as fickle as folk I guess.

Two things can be true at once though, Lwasp, perfectly plausible to be an astute business man, but on the receiving end from bad advice from experts brought in to provide insight and advice especially on a topic that he claims he wasn't familiar with. 

It could be argued that doing the latter probably makes you more of the former.

Being fun parents, we're taking the kids to Rome for a few days to eat their bodyweight in Pizza, Pasta and Gelato as well as watch England play a game that they might actually win.  Being disorganised parents, we completely forgot to book match tickets. 

Looking at the official ticketing sight, tickets in the side stands are firstly very limited (good for IFR) and also 95 euros or so, with the kids 50% off of that it's still 330 euros of tickets.  We'll likely plump for tickets in the corners, or behind the posts at 150 euros for us as a Family.

But, big question and what might change the appetite to double ticket spend, has anyone here been and are the stands as far behind the posts as it looks on the seating plans or is a seat midway up in the corners going to be a decent view like it would be at Twickenham?

Love it or hate it, Twickenham doesn't really have any 'bad' seats; you feel pretty close to the pitch wherever you're sat unlike, say, the Stade de France which feels miles from anything with the athletics track spacing around it (albeit that might have changed - I was last there in 2007).

Quote from: bigad82 on October 19, 2023, 11:36:43 AM

This smell's very much of CVC.

Yep totally.

+1, has a share of all 3 entities, so combining them to try and increase TV rights/sponsorship which participants then split equally makes sense for them.

I wouldn't be surprised if we were exploring joining the URC as an option and jettisoning RFU ties, not sure there are even any given we have no team, no league etc... and look to offer to take the spot of one of the Welsh Teams given their own financial struggles.

Speaking for myself, and not criticising anyone else, I am not sure how I am going to feel if a rugby club emerges under a Wasps banner that has nothing to do with the old Wasps. Is the name & the badge enough to make that team "Wasps"?
I really don't know

There's a similar uncertainty in our household about Wasps coming back without a clear connection to our time as Supporters.

Semi-related to this, we're looking at what Pau games could we get to and combine with a weekend away somewhere to watch ex-Wasps players play.  Treviso is an obvious candidate, Toulouse is probably difficult to get Home Game tickets for.  Figuring Pau might be a good one to target as well.

Of all the ideas on how to save professional rugby that have been floated this is the only one that has appeared credible and remains afloat. However, it won't work without promotion and relegation and to that end the artificial barriers for protecting the PRL such as ground size, need to be removed or significantly lowered.

Not sure about credible, lots of have mentioned a two-division structure.  Problem is that the same trio involved in running/owning the Premiership and Championship (RFU, PRL and CVC) are the same trio trying to conjour up a solution to the very problems they've created.  When you read this garage, it sounds like (once again) they're wide of the mark:

t is not yet clear what conditions to regain entry would be, but there is a widespread view that their return would help consolidate the rebranding and streamlining of English rugby?s top two tiers.

The most likely pathway would involve a move to a franchise system that will see clubs able to gain entry if they can prove they meet a revised minimum standards criteria that goes beyond having a stadium with a capacity of 10,000 but is also likely to include levels of support, strength of brand name, size of social media following and a long-term vision for growth.

This ties in with PRLs suggestion that fans want and can be guaranteed a really premium experience for Premiership Rugby.  Not that first they need to fix the economics of rugby, work out a sustainable long-term plan, or help teams make sure they can get the best players on the pitch so more casual fans can see the stars of the game.  You know, the important bits.

The best thing Wasps, Irish and Warriors could do is break away from those 3 completely then seek to encourage as many of the other Prem Teams over as possible - that way, they stand a chance of doing things properly. 

Personally I think the 2 division approach is dead in the water already.  If they wanted to do it, they should have started plans and implementation when Warriors went under, nevermind us.  Two 10 team divisions with Wasps, Warriors, Irish, Ealing is a different proposition to one with Ealing, Nottingham, Doncaster etc.  That chance has passed as Warriors and Wasps are in no position to do anything now and the gap between the 'top 10, and the rest is too big to bridge.  All you would get is the same couple of teams being promoted and relegated for years.

What do you think will happen if/when other teams start to fold in a ring-fenced 10 team league?

I think there's probably not much between the bottom 5 of the Prem and Top 5 of the Championship - especially if you were to factor in some form of return for Wasps/Irish/Warriors (unlikely to be all 3).  Certainly for the first few years I think you'd see the same suspects bouncing back/forth between the two divisions, but suspect that changes in time.  With reduced barriers to entry from current Champ > Prem, I think you could see teams build to push for promotion - i.e. do away with minimum 10k seater stadia for promotion and that makes promotion tremendously costly for teams and ends up in a situation where they're either forced to spend and develop to have a stadium other the theshold, but not filled or have to rent a stadium and do away with a significant portion of their income.