Yeah this generation of supporters hate each other but I guess from a future POV if Scarlets absorb some of the key Ospreys players and become more competitive if success follows it younger generation of fans will prob start to make the trip. The whole Ospreys thing in general seemed a mess merging Neath and Swansea together.
2 points to this,
I don't think any fans hate each other, that would suggest rivalries, and we'll from being a season ticket holder and travelling to all 4 games each year, most fans are aligned against the WRU, there are very few die hards left in Wales today. It's mostly school kids, some families, and a small % of old heads having a few beers and socialising. So although they don't hate each other, there will be 0 interest in following a different team a few miles down the road.
Of the 30 to 40 Cardiff fans I sit by regularly, at least half are on the verge of not bothering renewing their tickets every year, and in the last 3 years we've lost about half of the regulars. If they were asked to travel to Rodney, 16 mins on the train I'm betting 0 would bother, same way with Ospreys, Scarlets or Dragons fans.
Secondly, the 'combine the squads, achieve success, create a new fanbase' was the basis of 2003. Ospreys actually had a galacticos squad, and were pretty successful, their best being what 2007? Squad full of stars, Wales win the grand slam 2008 full of Ospreys, yet they only managed to average less than 9k that season, with a steady decline since then.
I mean combining squads is super short term, if there is a 99% guarentee that within 6/7 seasons those players will be replaced with much lesser quality graduates through an under funded and hamstrung developmental pathway.
Let's say Scarlets Ospreys combine, and best case scenario happens, an Ospreys pack and Scarlets back line gels, both fan bases enjoy semi finals and qualifications to champions cup, they average 10k per week first 2 seasons, before stars leave for massive French contracts, are replaced with lesser quality players, they panic and start to move around the region, using 3 stadiums, which ultimately make them homeless, fans drop off and money dries up before bang, it's 2033, Wales has 1 lion selected and West Wales are playing in front of 5k finishing 12th in the URC.
Worst case scenario, they combine, whichever stadium they decide on, the other regional fans say nope, crowds don't increase, the Combined squads are still not competitive, and all we hear from the WRU is 'judge it in 10 years' and then 'judge it in 5 more years', before they plough through 3 more CEO's all hired dependant on what controversy is going on that year, and welsh rugby collapses in on itself and the pro game vanishes from Wales.
