MIKE Sunderland believes the current structure of Kingstone Press League One is increasing the financial burden on clubs with ambitions for promotion who are already operating on shoestring budgets.

Restructuring of rugby league's three professional divisions is high on the agenda at the moment, with the last change for the 2015 season seeing the third tier expanded from nine teams to 14 and now numbering 16, but still with just two promotion places available.

The introduction of full-time Toronto Wolfpack – expected to go straight up as champions – to the part-time division has effectively left the other teams fighting it out for promotion via the play-offs, which Barrow Raiders chairman Sunderland believes has led to teams concentrating their resources on the playing staff instead of elsewhere.

“I'm all for expansion and I think the RFL have done a great job in trying to bring those expansion clubs into League One, which was originally an expansion league,” said Sunderland.

“However, I feel the league has progressed since then and now it's a very competitive league with the likes of Doncaster, Whitehaven, Workington, Keighley, us – these are all potential Championship teams battling for one place.

“That takes an incredible investment in every club to try to grab that one place and sometimes it has a detrimental effect on the club as a whole financially going forward.

“You're investing so much into the club that things tend to get missed and you tend to concentrate on putting the best team out for the budget you've got.”

The format of all of the teams playing each other once before the Super Eights split rather than on a home-and-away basis means sides often miss out on money-spinning home derbies or games against promotion rivals.

Barrow's fixture list for the first part of the campaign sees five of their eight home games come against opponents from outside the sport's traditional heartlands; matches which generally draw lower attendances.

And while a top-three finish would mean four of their seven Super Eights matches are at home, Sunderland is in little doubt the system is not providing a fair balance for any clubs in the division.

“The structure of the division must change, in my opinion, and it has to generate a competitive competition which I don't feel we've got at the moment,” said Sunderland.

“You've got the Super Eights split, which then becomes quite a big part of the season, but it's only four home games, whereas we've missed out on certain teams coming.

“With our fixtures, we've got low attendances compared to with ones we usually get due to the standard of the teams who are playing, and the fact we're not playing home and away.”