Toying with the idea of getting rid of Sky Sports anyway. The football has been boring for a long time and I find myself missing most Super League games now as that too is rubbish more often than not.
I really don't know what the long-term future holds for RL. You have about 4 or 5 clubs who are looking to take that next step to secure and perhaps increase their financial stock, you have about 5 or 6 clubs who are just happy to hold onto the coat-tails of the 'big' 4 or 5, then you have all the other clubs who are eking their way through life struggling to survive. Not a good model, some parallels with what's happened in football lately.
The only other places for the bigger clubs to go to is a world league, which won't happen, the only interest happens Down Under and they won't jettison their own clubs for ours. Or to somehow align with Union. I wouldn't be surprised if some hybrid (in other words, Union assimilating League) discussions happen again in the next few years. Returning core RL to a part-time M62 corridor sport. Which wouldn't be the end of the world IMO.
I know there’s a lot of people who are passionately connected to RL commenting on this thread but I have always consistently said it, why would RL deserve a slot on BBC over a sport such as Boxing, Basketball, Cricket, Netball, Rugby Union, Ice Hockey, all these sports probably have the same or higher commercial appeal as RL.
I think it’s arrogance to suggest that RL should be on BBC etc.
Eddie Hearn would be completely incompetent at running the RFL, what has he done to warrant such attention? His boxing empire was built on Joshua and outside of Joshua his events are largely unattractive. He has done well with Darts but Darts is a completely different sport to Rugby, in Darts you control the event whereas in Rugby, you are just an administrator.
The RFL gets unfair flack, the issues within the game, are down to the clubs in SL who have monopolised the game, writing the rules to ensure they always remain at the top.
Why is it arrogant to suggest that there must be some scope for RL to be shown on terrestrial tv? It is a minority sport, but outside Premiership Football, so are most other sports. When played well RL has all the attributes for exciting viewing - speed, strength, skill, tactical - particularly when teams are relatively evenly matched. Before anyone says it, that would seem to rule out Widnes then!!!
Sport is an individual thing. I find darts and snooker boring, but they seem to be popular on tv. Have you watched some of the Championship RU games on tv and why should that or netball have greater commercial value? Many football games shown on tv are not worth watching unless you happen to be a supporter of one of the clubs involved.
Eddie Hearn is a promoter and in my view what the game needs now is someone who knows how to promote the sport and negotiate a deal. The RFL have singularly failed to do that and seem content to hang on to the shirt tails of SL. If it is the top clubs that run the game, why haven't Rimmer and co stood up to them or walked away?
The game seem to be in the grip of people like Corporal Jones from Dad's Army - running around crying "We're doomed. We're all doomed" If the RFL have a plan to promote the game outside SL, rather than see it slowly die away, it would be good if they shared it with the fans of the game.
Why is it arrogant to suggest that there must be some scope for RL to be shown on terrestrial tv? It is a minority sport, but outside Premiership Football, so are most other sports. When played well RL has all the attributes for exciting viewing – speed, strength, skill, tactical – particularly when teams are relatively evenly matched. Before anyone says it, that would seem to rule out Widnes then!!! Sport is an individual thing. I find darts and snooker boring, but they seem to be popular on tv. Have you watched some of the Championship RU games on tv and why should that or netball have greater commercial value? Many football games shown on tv are not worth watching unless you happen to be a supporter of one of the clubs involved. Eddie Hearn is a promoter and in my view what the game needs now is someone who knows how to promote the sport and negotiate a deal. The RFL have singularly failed to do that and seem content to hang on to the shirt tails of SL. If it is the top clubs that run the game, why haven’t Rimmer and co stood up to them or walked away? The game seem to be in the grip of people like Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army – running around crying “We’re doomed. We’re all doomed” If the RFL have a plan to promote the game outside SL, rather than see it slowly die away, it would be good if they shared it with the fans of the game.
It is profoundly arrogant that RL fans seem to believe they have the right for more press coverage than other sports, when in fact, RL simply has no value. When people criticise the reduced TV deal and berate the RFL, implying that they could have took the deal to all the other TV companies queuing up and what not. The TV deal was reduced because it was the best RFL could have wished to get.
But let’s listen to fans with the same old bull “great product but poorly marketed”. For one, who even describes a sport as a “product”? And for two, Rugby League isn’t even enjoyed by the people of Warrington, they prefer football. Is that due to the RFL?
Eddie Hearn as a promoter is a myth, he rips fans off with shoddy ppv shows as exhibited on Saturday and outside of a few fighters, his shows aren’t that well attended or watched.
Terrestrial needs name recognition: were any of the Challenge Cup games in the preliminary stages on the main channels? No. I agree with you in principal that a) Championship Rugby is a good product and b)I would rather watch that than a Bargain Hunt or a Chase repeat! However, as much as it pains me, Widnes v Oldham isn’t going to get the limelight, compared to the World Championships of the likes of Snooker and Badminton which the BBC have on. The BBC have got the Hundred Cricket, which has ripped up the Counties in favour of the monstrosity that is Manchester Originals and London Spirit, amongst others…… Not seen any Championship RU on TV this season either: is that an indication that lower league stuff that is not football is not that in demand?
Yes, I’ve read that saying that BT Sports were favourites. Next day I read that BT Plc are looking to sell BT Sports with ITV looking at buying them. So an extra subscription of £29.99 to get BT sports on Sky. If that happens, that’ll be the cancellation of my Sky Sports subscription
with you on that brother