Clubs Joining Together

[moran123]

i have heard today that wigan warriors and wigan athletic are joing together , like hull. So wigan warriors will be known as wigan FC and because they are joint together there will be no salary cap. But it is just a rumour so far.

[Fraggle]

moran123 posted:
i have heard today that wigan warriors and wigan athletic are joing together , like hull. So wigan warriors will be known as wigan FC and because they are joint together there will be no salary cap. But it is just a rumour so far.

This has been ongoing for a while, most obviously with board members of both clubs joining the other club (ie. ML taking up a board position at WAFC in addition to his role as our Chairman, two Latics board members joining our board).

Will they have a change of name? Possibly, although I don't suppose it changes much except we'll have to change some of our chants.

Does it make sense? If the Wigan brand can bring investment to both clubs then I don't see why not. All organisations need new money to survive. Latics are getting a very profile whilst we are still the most successful rugby league team in the world. If the benefits of both teams are combined to attract new investment then I would say it's a good thing.

The salary cap is within the rules of Superleague - it doesn't matter who a team might merge with, the cap should apply for any team competing in the league. Look at Leeds, they have several sports teams under the same umbrella but the individual rules for those sports are still relevant.

Ultimately, WRLFC aren't going to play soccer and WAFC aren't going to play rugby so it doesn't really change very much.

[Quinndog]

There would still be a salary cap because wigan is still playing rugby league with or without the name

[sudokuwarrior]

would anyone here really want to be joined up to the latics and have to take all the stick from the footie fans

[waterside glens]

if we became wigan we would still carry the warriors name eg man utd =red devils

[the grinch]

this is the first ive heard of this? maybe it could benifit wigan rugby and whealan! if wigan warriors buys a player does the transfere fee come under the cap or is it just his wages? anyway if wigan latics buys a player then allows us to use him when we want at no cost would that cause any problems would it break any rules?

[robjoenz]

Is it like London changing the name of their holding company so that London Broncos could continue to compete having written of £3m debts? We could change our name from Wigan Warriors RLFC to Wigan FC and remain in SL using the precedent of Les Catalans Dragons as a club not needing to qualify for SL because they have a good set up and decent development area!

[Wigan Watcher]

There as been a number of meetings the last one was around two months ago. There is a strong possibility that financially they will merge but the name Wigan Warriors will remain and unfortunately so will the salary cap. Super League headquarters have underwritten the concept pretty well.

The new franchise situation that is on the table may add some sort of change in the future but according to what I’ve been told headquarters are keen on keeping this salary cap in place as they feel it is working.