jamie roberts has confirmed on twitter that cardiff blues will play there home games at cardiff arms park next season..

Jamie Roberts ‏ @Jamiehuwroberts
Great to be returning back to Cardiff Arms Park next season..Now Blues fans can enjoy the terraces in the heart of our capital city

Dare I say it, we should never have left! The place has identity and character in abundance..absolutely delighted to be going back to CAP

edit to add,
Breaking news: Cardiff City have released Cardiff Blues from the terms of their lease at Cardiff City Stadium. More on @WalesOnline soon.

Season Tickets 2012/2013

Price
Central Seats Adults £ 245 ===€304
Seniors £ 200 ====€248
Junior £ 60 === €75

Price
Reserved Seats Adults £ 215
Seniors £ 165
Juniors £ 60


Price
Terrace Adults £ 180 ==€223 ........... connacht 23€ cheaper early bird
Seniors £ 140====€ 174 ................ connacht 44€ cheaper
Juniors £ 40=== €50 ............... same price
Students £ 80 == €100 ............... cardiff 30€ cheaper


Price
Family Ticket Family Stand (A) £ 295
Winged ( £365

I think its a smart move. I'd say the rent is cheaper it'll have a more 'intimate' atmosphere and they won't suffer from 'big stadium' syndrome which has to be depressing seeing all those empty seats. If the rent is cheaper that also means more money to spend on players etc. It's a plus in my book.

swift4prez wrote: its 3.5miles away.
just checked the pictures and they look awful. dont like it at all. huge step back.

if they had to they could easily put small stands behind each goal if needed for bigger crowds*.
*only when edinburgh come over xmas

I thought it looked deadly, Firhill is a dump by comparison. And the new/north stand has a really cool roof...

www.tonyhoggdesign.co.uk/site/58.asp?catID=96&dc=16

its 3.5miles away.
just checked the pictures and they look awful. dont like it at all. huge step back.

if they had to they could easily put small stands behind each goal if needed for bigger crowds*.
*only when edinburgh come over xmas

On a lighter note to my previous posts on this thread its great to see that we wont be the only team with a track around our pitch next season!

Glasgow Warriors are moving to Scotstoun Athletic Stadium for next season and having just viewed photos of it on wikipedia it looks very impressive if a bit open. They seem to be a coming club both in terms of consistancy of performance, recruitment and now this. It appears to only have a capacity of 5000 though and considering they have an average pro 12 att this season of 3812 that doesnt leave a lot of room for growth although thats bumped up greatly by derby att of nearly 9000.

Best of look to them in their new home and it can only be good for the league.

20 Year Lease with no get out clause. Whoever was in charge of this really needs a beating with there own silly stick.

£600,000 divided by say 15 games is £40,000 per game.Not bad if you can get it.[/quote]

Sounds a lot, but then it's a brand spanking new facility. And the overhead costs are split. Going back to Arms Par will mean taking the hit for pitch maintenence and gerneral upkeep and refurbishment costs which rack up pretty quickly...[/q

Break even point (just to cover the rent) would be about 2,000 punters (£20 per game)Its a big obligation.

I see your point about the pitch maintenance etc .I remember talking to a guy in 1992 (20 years ago aaaggg!!!) who was telling me that Chelsea spent an annual amount of something like £300,000 "growing " there pitch up in Scotland and then transporting and relaying in London etc .Whilst i'm sure Cardiff wouldn't have such pitch cost's ,i'd imagine keeping a good rugby pitch aint cheap.

Hi Rossie-Re you question about bankruptcy.One of the main advantages of say, changing from a sole trader to a Ltd Company is creditor protection.Whilst there is way way way more to it ,generally you can close/wind up a limited company and not pay your creditors.It is the company that owes the creditors and not the stakeholders of the company (Directors/Shareholders)So the debt stays with the company and not the people who caused to debt .(This is correct to a certain extent except for e.g. it can be proved that there was fraudulent or wreckless trading/decision making of specific people)

With cardiff though ,not sure if they are a limited company,privately owned or a registered society setup for its members (like a golf club)

Assume for a moment that they are a Ltd company ,there wouldn't be the option of closing the company ,screwing a lot of people and then starting another company,debt free .(With the same management,directors,offices etc)as such an action would be too transparent and the unpaid creditors could obtain a court ruling that there debt is passed to the new company.Your right though ,similar things have happened in ireland .This is through cute hoors(F*ckers) who have got legal advice and ensured the closing of one company is not linked with the opening of other different companies.

If it's a private company ,than the debt is the responsibility of the owner .

Registered society -Not too sure really .I'd imagine there is a board of trustees who may be somewhat responsible.

But sorry ,you mentioned this with respect to cancelling a contract .The info above would apply to debt and also any contracts or obligations.

Interestingly they brought a Salary Cap in across the Board in Rugby League a while back in Australia and the League is now doing better than ever (financially / attendance / ratings). No one team has total dominance or can buy a trophy and it makes (nearly) all games highly competitive making for more entertaining television.

ummm, wrote:

salmson wrote: Edinburgh and Glasgow are doing better than they have in years both in terms of results and attendances.

Glasgow have, but have Edinburgh? Bradley has them doing what he did with us, focusing on a good European run to hide very poor Pro12 form. They have the same record as us domestically. A HEC quarter final has distracted people from this.

OK, if you're questioning whether Bradley has added anything from a coaching side I'll say that's at best an open question, and granted they had an easy group - jesus we might have qualified from that - but they've still got a home draw in the HEC and the attendance figures aren't arguable:

2010/11

Average gate: 3090
Median gate: 2422
Total: 40173

(Note these figures are over 13 games. They did not report an attendance figure for their HEC game against Castres, presumably out of embarrassment.)

2011/12 (11 home games so far, at least 4 to go including an already record crowd vs. Toulouse)

Average gate: 5234
Median gate: 3792
Total: 56365

Have to agree with salmson on this one, the death of the Rabo is being somewhat exaggarated.

From next season all Welsh teams will still be operating on a budget of £3.5m for their (Heineken and Amlin)players salarys from next year of which the WRU will be contributing £2m which is almost 60%.

The £3.5m is still considerably more than the 3m euro we are currently operating on as a player budget as far as I am aware.

As for the Italian teams I read somewhere that both are spending more money than Leicester do on players per season because of the english salary cap.

When we have the likes of Falatau, Warbutton and Priestlandin our team I will start feeling sorry for the Welsh provinces!

salmson wrote: Edinburgh and Glasgow are doing better than they have in years both in terms of results and attendances.

Glasgow have, but have Edinburgh? Bradley has them doing what he did with us, focusing on a good European run to hide very poor Pro12 form. They have the same record as us domestically. A HEC quarter final has distracted people from this.

rossie wrote: .

I think it will be very difficult to sort the problems which are facing the Pro12 down the tracks

I didn't understand the point of this thread when it started and I don't now.

Let's look at the league team by team:

The 3 main Irish provinces are flying and bringing in lots of wonga. Even the poor relation Connacht is showing signs of life.

Edinburgh and Glasgow are doing better than they have in years both in terms of results and attendances.

Benetton are spending buckets but have deep deep pockets.

Scarlets and Dragons have cut their cloth to suit their measure and are viable.

Aironi are a basket case but have significant backing from the Italian union. If they keep messing up the Italians could replace them with a team based in Rome, which was they wanted in the first place - one northern and one southern team - but couldn't get organised in time.

Ospreys are letting go players all round them, but are still reasonably competitive.

So basically maybe Cardiff go into administration and let some players go. Or they go bust and are replaced by, say, Cardiff RFC.

The Premiership has far bigger problems than the Rabo does, and no interest in a merger - that would almost negate the need for a HEC wouldn't it, lets go for one European league - so why the poor mouth and cap tipping?

I think it would be more of a case of the english rugby union inviting pro 12 teams to join them and at that it probably wouldnt be a blanket invitation and would only include the top pro12 teams for the premiership anyway. They have the Sky sports tv deal and in a lot of cases the support base and/or finacial backing to ensure it was on their terms. Also you coulnt see it become anymore than a 14 team lge as any more just wouldnt fit the rugby calender.

While you can highlight the significant point that 5 Pro12 teams are contesting the qtrs of HEC as opposed to 1 ap team the fact remains that its our league that appears to have the problems and theirs seems to be on sound financial footing saracens apart.

I think it will be very difficult to sort the problems which are facing the Pro12 down the tracks as its 4 separate unions that are going to have to agree any change and club rugby is not their priority. Also neither are likely to concede any ground to the others in terms of HEC places/qualification etc which will be needed to make the league a more marketable commodity both to tv,sonsors and supporters alike. Its popularity is even slipping in Ireland(connacht apart) in terms of attendances. Attendances are down for non interpro games as fans stay at home. Munster, for instance, require a significant preportion of their home support to travel to thomond from the other 5 counties and further afield to fill the venue and they arent travelling for less signnificant games.Ulster appear to have a similar problem as do leinster. Only connacht appear to be bucking the trend.This trend will continue as the quality of the opposition deteriorates.

Unfortuntely there is no obvious solution in the short to mid term to the problems facing the Pro12 or at least none that the 4 unions would embrace.
In order for it to survive and ultimately prosper imo one the following would have to occur
A. The 4 respective unions take total responsibility, financial and otherwise, for the participating teams in their jurisdiction as the irfu do.(wru against this)
B. Strict salary cap put in place for all participating teams and some type of league position qualification system put in place for Hec. (hard to see agreement here).

Option c is amalgamation with a bigger stronger league.

I'd hate to see the league become a non entity if lots of the teams started to fail, and had to put out youth team players in games.
I wonder would they ever consider inviting in the English teams, and making it a 2/3 tier league?

connachtexile wrote: I wonder could the WRU help bail them out or are they in trouble as well?

from what im reading the ospreys are in trouble aswell but not as bad as cardiff.
dragons have always struggled like ourself but we didnt spend what we dont have some players like brew is leaving, scarlets are the only team that seems to be running things well money wise.

You gotta feel for the Cardiff boys. That said Warren Fury is a good signing and fair play to Copeland, will be interesting to watch how he does next year. I wonder could the WRU help bail them out or are they in trouble as well?