It's not for me I don't think.

Most see through this 'Farcical Cup' as it is quite clearly a cheap "buy off" or to put it another way "Quiet Money" from the SL Clubs to send the little Championship Clubs packing. Let's also not forget that Super League will also save themselves a cool £250,000 as they use just half of the now not required parachute money of £500k to "pay off the children" & keep the other £250k ! The Super League Club owners are nothing if not all heart !

For me you can stick your £250k & your FOB OFF MONEY where the sun doesn't shine !

So if it was Hull KR it was happening to, you'd be happy with it. I'm not going to rant like Ste, but I have very little interest in the competition. It's similiar to the 'plate' comp that the clubs below the top 5 in the championship play for, but with better prize money.

Do you speak for the club

I can understand that for fans of the better Championship clubs this is no real replacement for the opportunity of getting in the top flight, so I get why they may be feeling annoyed. However, there's perhaps 5 clubs in that boat and the rest of us (because to me the Bulls weren't promotion candidates) have to carefully weigh up the costs of restarting versus the reward.

There's so many things to consider such as whether we can welcome some fans back to the grounds, the financial impact of furlough potentially stopping etc. What support if any would the clubs get for the day to day costs of getting back up and running, and is the £250,000 a winner-takes-all sum or a pot that will be spread thinner. At the moment, although it's a decent sum, it doesn't feel like the appropriate reward to mitigate the financial and logistical risks of entering.

Indeed.

Not at all, D.B will have his own views as always. I know that Newcastle are to discuss whether or not to participate imminently.

Is it not a case of trying to get some form of Championship rugby, rather than nothing, after the majority of Championship and League 1 clubs voted against a restart ?

The more interesting conundrum is what happens to Toronto's place next season.
They look to be gone and not coming back and it would therefore make sense to be working out just how their spot is taken and by whom.
After all, an 11 club comp isn't ideal, not least because of "Magic".
Equally, this would mean promoting a League 1 club to the Championship.

It's frustrating for everyone that there isn't a "proper" competition, in front of real fans but, it just doesn't seem possible and the drive to get SL games played is to ensure that Sky dont stop their payments.

As I say, not great for any club and they will all be burning more than their income.

The best that we can hope for is that there are no more casualties (assuming that Toronto are done).

I'm past caring right now, all down to Covid-19 admittedly. I like football also,but I've not watched one game without the fans. Don't watch NRL anyway, but watched highlights of some games. If Super League got cancelled also I wouldn't have been that bothered to be honest. Hopefully by the time the season restarts in whichever month in 2021, this horrible disease will be almost dormant, but I doubt it somehow. Yes, my glass is 'half empty' right now, quite literally.

A good assessment of the situation facing the 25 clubs. I would expect the far flung clubs like West Wales, London Skolars, Coventry and Toulouse will opt not to take part due to the travel costs. London Broncos could be a different case as they would have a good chance of winning it. For those less likely to contest the latter stages such as League 1 clubs and lower end Championship clubs the way the prize money is distributed may make their decisions for them. If those exiting early get little to nothing in prize money then I expect those clubs would also opt out.

I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a round robin format followed by a final contested by 8 clubs or fewer.

If the competition only gives the winner £250,000 how much expense will the losers incur competing? Or is the £250K total prize money with everyone getting something?

Rochdale are refusing to play as they want to be fresh for the 2021 season and they don't want to be losing the Furlough support by starting up again.

I would guess that's what it should be. After saying that, no club will want to play at a loss. I think the finalist should benefit financially with the others covering their cost of playing. also i'm sure the players would want to get out there and have some game time too.

Rochdale, 'fax, Keighley and Sheffield all now confirmed as not taking part.