English rugby clubs ‘heading for disaster’ after mounting £300m in debts

[Geordie]

Judging by the chats with various people last night at the game...looks like there might be substance to these red bull rumours right enough.

 

[Geordie]

More news though is that the plan may be to move the team to Darlington Mowdon Park , use the 30,000 seater stadium and make that the hub of North East rugby...

I hope not

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Darlington seems like a big move away from Newcastle it's what an hour from Kingston?

 

[Geordie]

Darlington seems like a big move away from Newcastle it's what an hour from Kingston?

Yeah it's about that, an hour to an hour and a half travel time from KP. ..so would definitely be a big issue. There's a few on the forum this morning saying they wouldn't be able to get down there.

But I can see the attraction of the big stadium. Can they not just increase Kingston park?

Apparently there's a board meeting next week so we should have some concrete news soon.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Surely that's more likely to be so they can sell KP (or the land it's on) and not have to pay operating/upkeep costs on a stadium rather than because they need a bigger stadium?
Crowds average 60% of KP's capacity

 

[Geordie]

Surely that's more likely to be so they can sell KP (or the land it's on) and not have to pay operating/upkeep costs on a stadium rather than because they need a bigger stadium?
Crowds average 60% of KP's capacity

Talk that Newcastle united want KP for the women's team.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Hmm selling it would prob make financial sense

I guess with Darlington Arena you have more options for concerts (Had no idea it was 20K seating)
Just feels weird moving a club from a major city

 

[Geordie]

Hmm selling it would prob make financial sense

I guess with Darlington Arena you have more options for concerts (Had no idea it was 20K seating)
Just feels weird moving a club from a major city

I'm sure it's 30k seats.

They will lose some support up here..but I'm sure they will make it up there. Means Newcastle no longer has a top flight team....with Blaydon and Tynedale down the divisions...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

25,500

Honestly I fear that is gonna be too big, and make it feel like a ghost town early seasons.
The concerts would be a good money option.

I just don't really see where the crowd will come from and the football team went into administration multiple times largely due to that


Oh damn plus the council had a hard restriction for it of 10K

 

[Geordie]

I agree... probably too big as I can't see them filling it.

Redevelop KP...the north and east stand and make it 15-20k seats is more realistic. But even that is optimistic...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I think they should really just focus on trying to get attendance back up to the 10K mark then look at gradually expanding, I feel max is prob 15K.

Maybe they could look at doing a ground share with United if it will make it more affordable

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I don’t think expansion should remotely be on Falcons minds at the moment.

Unless and until genuine new investors / benefactors are confirmed (RB won’t be the latter), this is day to day crisis management.

Genuinely struggling to see what would be in it for RB - they have plenty enough global brand recognition, PR and advertising. Why would they want to be associated with a failing outpost team (sorry @Geordie) unless the plan would be to chuck so much money at it that it couldn’t possibly fail to win every competition going and advertise a great turnaround story? And even if they did, what happens when they get bored of their shiny new toy (see Ineos)?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I mean plenty of pros for Red Bull tbh

It's a cheap entry point for them in the uk sport market, football clubs wouldn't dare allow them to change the name of a club

Like let’s be real to be competitive in this league thry dont need to spend up to the cap

 

[Flankers' paradise]

theres a lot they can do to push red bull sales tbf. buy a red bull for a chance for free tickets etc, encourage club partners to buy more, have players promote drinking them to help with training like Nowell used to do. Not like they aren't already a popular drink up here anyway

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

They won’t need loads of money either. The salary cap plus marquee players, then coaching etc. not a big cost each year. The stadium upgrades would be one off.

It’s a real cheap Investment for a massive company.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It's a real cheap Investment for a massive company

Legit, it's less than a rounding error for them to break into a new market,

Plus, and I said this before, they've always been happy to throw money into sports with far less viewership than rugby

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Biarritz relegated from the Pro D2, due to money problems...

Seems it's not just the English clubs

 

[Geordie]

I don't think expansion should remotely be on Falcons minds at the moment.

Unless and until genuine new investors / benefactors are confirmed (RB won't be the latter), this is day to day crisis management.

Genuinely struggling to see what would be in it for RB - they have plenty enough global brand recognition, PR and advertising. Why would they want to be associated with a failing outpost team (sorry @Geordie) unless the plan would be to chuck so much money at it that it couldn't possibly fail to win every competition going and advertise a great turnaround story? And even if they did, what happens when they get bored of their shiny new toy (see Ineos)?

I completely agree. Its purely a repsonse to the rumours that the deal would require a move to a bigger stadium in Darlington. We dont need that as we can expand KP. But as you say capacity is 10k as it is...lets start filling that first before we look to expand.

Darlington stadium has always seemed a white elephant to me. They just cant seem to do anything with it.

The second point has pretty much been answered above...they'd get it cheap, it wouldnt take a huge amount of investment, we already have a very strong academy set up and club structure. Gets them a foot in the door of European rugby.

Im still not getting my hopes up until something is confirmed...and sadly if they do go to Darlington then ill not be going to watch them .

 

[Geordie]

Just realised the official drinks partner for Newcastle united this season is ..Red Bull. I wonder if this is all a coincidence or not...

 

[Kingston Parker]

More news though is that the plan may be to move the team to Darlington Mowdon Park , use the 30,000 seater stadium and make that the hub of North East rugby...

I hope not

ONE writer SPECULATED that that could be one way forward. So it isn't 'news' or even 'rumour', is it?