MIKE Sunderland believes financial concerns are what led to clubs voting in favour of ending the League One Cup from next season.

Last week's meeting between the RFL and clubs from the Kingstone Press Championship and League One saw a large majority vote in favour of dropping the competition, won this year by Barrow Raiders.

A final decision has yet to be taken and while Raiders chairman Sunderland added the glory of winning the trophy could not be compared to any financial benefits, he understood why the vote went the way it did.

"The thing with the cups and the way they are managed with shared gates, it ends up costing you more than you win, so if you win you're almost recouping what you spent out and if you lose, you've lost big-time," said Sunderland.

"We were going to places where we were getting a shared gate of £900 and fielding a team that costs considerably more than that, along with the staff and all the infrastructure which has to go with it.

"It costs a lot of money to win these cups and everybody expects there to be a large income to the club through these, but it's completely the opposite."

Another non-binding vote went in favour of retaining the current Championship and League One structure for 2018 too, although no cup would leave clubs in the bottom tier facing blank weekends and still no home-and-away fixture list.

This would suit those League One clubs who desire fewer home games to reduce costs associated with not owning their own grounds. Conversely, clubs such as Barrow are keen to have more home games.

A return to a home-and-away fixture list is thought to be on the cards if the number of teams in League One was, for any reason, reduced – and Sunderland is in no doubt that has to be the way forward.

"The issue we've got is that if the format stays the same then I really believe the top clubs will struggle with 10 or 11 games at home, without the cup games," said Sunderland.

"You have the Challenge Cup, but it's hit or miss whether you'll get a home draw, so I defy any club to admit they can survive off 11 home games a season."