Originally Posted by
Buller
What modelling has shown this?
Dutch sports data consultants Hypercube conducted a 5 month study on the entire concept. They're experts of going into a league, seeing how it is now, and through data and research, looking at what options there are to give the league a bounce.
They reformed the Danish, Dutch, and Swiss leagues very successfully and pushed revenues up.
Their projections in each of those cases was spot on. They dont pull numbers out of the air, it's backed up by metrics and real data.
They do work on Champions League and Europa League structures for UEFA.
Is this based on random figures from Belgium/Holland (completely different countries)?
No, the entire project isn't based on Belgium and Holland. I'm not sure that had any weighting on any of their actual analysis at all. I was using it as my own example.
Why would an AIL create such value when the Setanta Cup was largely a damp squib of an event?
It turned into a damp squid when Setanta Sports went bust and pulled the prize money. It was a great competition in the early years when there was something to play for, but it became a bit of an afterthought for some clubs, a nuisance even, because they were focused on the league.
The number of dead games in this split season proposal in minimal too, there is always something to play for. Successful competitions have as many moments of ‘glory and disaster’ as possible, and according to this format scores highly on that front.
And what does league value mean anyway?
The monetary value sponsors, broadcasters, and foreign clubs buying players, put on the league.
Vague promises like this are one of the biggest arguments against an AIL tbh.
It's about as concrete as a proposal as you could possibly have for a league that doesn't actually exist.
It's not exactly a leap of faith to investigate it further when you have nothing to lose. It's a well researched proposition by a successful sports data company in Europe - it deserves a looked at further!
How would IL clubs (and players) adjust to the travel, time and expense of games down in Cork and the like?
The split season being suggested would mean the NI clubs in question would only have one trip down to Cork every year.