Super League and the Rugby Football League have announced a 12-year partnership with management company IMG to maximise the sport's growth.
The deal comes after Super League and the RFL agreed to realign, with the two bodies having separated in 2018.
Clubs supported the creation of a joint venture aimed at "maximising" the whole game's commercial value as one product.
IMG will now focus on the restructuring of the competition, content production and distribution of media rights.
RFL chair Simon Johnson said: "In recent years, an immense amount of work has gone on, in initially protecting the sport through the pandemic and then setting it on a course for real growth.
"The governance realignment was key and a prerequisite to attracting a partnership such as this. IMG is a global giant in the sports and entertainment industry and this alliance is fantastically exciting for our future."
Ken Davy, chair of Super League added: "We consulted widely on the strategic partner to find someone who bought into our vision for the Super League competition and the sport of rugby league as a whole.
"In IMG we have a world-renowned partner that has all the requisite strengths to ensure the sport's continued growth and development."
I wonder what crumbs will be thrown to the clubs lower down the pyramid ? We'll have to wait and see.
Super League and the Rugby Football League have announced a 12-year partnership with management company IMG to maximise the sport's growth.
The deal comes after Super League and the RFL agreed to realign, with the two bodies having separated in 2018.
Clubs supported the creation of a joint venture aimed at "maximising" the whole game's commercial value as one product.
IMG will now focus on the restructuring of the competition, content production and distribution of media rights.
RFL chair Simon Johnson said: "In recent years, an immense amount of work has gone on, in initially protecting the sport through the pandemic and then setting it on a course for real growth.
"The governance realignment was key and a prerequisite to attracting a partnership such as this. IMG is a global giant in the sports and entertainment industry and this alliance is fantastically exciting for our future."
Ken Davy, chair of Super League added: "We consulted widely on the strategic partner to find someone who bought into our vision for the Super League competition and the sport of rugby league as a whole.
"In IMG we have a world-renowned partner that has all the requisite strengths to ensure the sport's continued growth and development."
I wonder what crumbs will be thrown to the clubs lower down the pyramid ? We'll have to wait and see.
I can only imagine this to be a positive thing.
Rugby league in this country has incredibly bad management at national and local level and as a sport it is just so poor at selling itself, with equally poor media coverage in the national and local newspapers and some dreaful one man band web sites.
We need to seriously up our game before the NRL becomes a world renowned competition and we are still swimming with the tadpoles
For many years now i have shook my head at shockingly bad leadership
Sadly, this has come way too late.
Rugby League has shot itself in both feet that many times, the game now is officially wheelchair bound 🤦
It depends on whether those running the league use it to increase the money paid to those at the top table, as is likely in view of the history of the league; or use it to promote a viable league structure and potential expansion of the game. I am not sure that getting rid of 16 teams from the current league structure can be viewed as progress.
Is this a 1-member, 1-vote thing though? So, if these management consultants come up with a raft of recommendations that Saints, Leeds, Wigan and Warrington don't like, what then? Or doesn't it matter, a democratic vote would usher change through regardless? No idea what the governance is on the decision-making process.
Two schools of thought occur, either start at the top, focus on getting that right and hope that impacts further down the pyramid OR start at the bottom and hope over time that approach provide a secure platform for growth.
I used to be a management consultant in a previous life, if this was my project I'd get the top right and sod the rest. Sad but true. That's where the money is, it's where the exposure is. You'd take reference from the 1 proven model you've got, the NRL, and copy that. Franchise it and close the shop.
So I'd expect recommendations of team mergers, a closed SL, expansion, as much alignment as poss with Oz etc. Might be wrong but I mean, at your first meeting, you'd be saying 'these guys have been treading water for decades, they need something radical...'. it will never be a case of 'just carry on'.
IMG exist to make money. They also have the financial clout to do what they chose. They are also an American company ……. Anyone see a league consisting of New York, Toronto, Lancashire, London, Catalan, New South Wales, Queensland, NZ North
island, Samoa, etc on the horizon with national leagues existing as feeders ? For those who favour expansion, the possibility has just been improved I be
ieve.
@royston-vasey That world-wide expansion, if it can be achieved, would be Ok, but it does require a viable grass roots game to support it.
I am too old to accept such a fundamental change, but a sport very much linked to and dependent on world-wide tv coverage may well bring new spectators into the game of RL.
Personally, I am set in my ways and would like to see a viable game based on local clubs representing their local town and community. I suppose it is chicken and egg. The game as it stands today is at best standing still and many clubs will probably go to the wall in the not too distant future, unless changes are made. If there was a successful growth of the game and the income generated not used just for the benefit of a few clubs, but to benefit the wider game, this would be good for the future of the sport.
There's still a very strong grass-roots RL scene in Australia, away from the NRL. Clubs like North Sydney, Newtown, Wynnum Manly, Burleigh etc. still exist and compete in their respective competitions.
It's not the NRL, they are usually associated with NRL teams, are feeder clubs for them and receive players from them, but they still exist and play. And the standard is excellent, players have come to the SL from these clubs and performed well.
There's no reason why a semi-professional game can't exist over here, away from whatever the new SL becomes.
Another possibility that could come out of the IMG recommendations is innovation or a radical overhaul of the game. Like cricket has done.
Guesswork obviously but I think the one certainty that you could probably make would be that change is coming, the current model doesn't work. Consultants always have to justify their fees so they'll be offering up significant change.
i doubt they will last any where near 12 years, there is no interest in RL in this country apart from the usual M62 Corridor, the sooner everyone actually realises this and lets us northerners carry on as usual the better. Can't wait for Sky to pull the plug so we can revert to a sustainable semi pro game once again.
Twelve years ? That's good of them, are they doing it for free ? More money down the grid.As said in the previous post there is little interest in RL in this country and what interest exists is in Lancashire,Yorkshire and a bit of Cumbria and that is where all efforts and investment should be focussed.
HIs the suggestion of a change to the SL to a two league structure in 2023 or 2024 still on the cards?
Brian McDermott was recently proposing that both Leigh and Featherstone should be promoted to SL this year - perhaps realising that Leigh are favourites for promotion - and that thereafter no promotion or relegation. There has been a similar proposal from a RL journalist, but adding that Toulouse should not be relegated, thereby making a 15 team SL.
I assume that IMG are looking at both the short and long-term structure and development of the game, so changes in 2023/2024 may well be on the cards. I would hope that any decision to have a cut off point for inclusion in any two league structure, is made before the start of the 2023 season; and that would also include clear proposals for supporting those teams not included in a two league structure.
Personally, I would hope that any structure makes provision, at least initially, to include current clubs in SL/Championship/L1. Possibly, a two league structure of say 16 in SL and 20 in a Championship league, including promotion and relegation eg two up and two down, but clubs having to meet a strictly enforced criteria for a place in SL, in relation to financial stability and facilities. This may well mean that in the short-term, with a fair distribution of central funding to all clubs, the ambition of St Helens, Wigan, Warrington etc to grab a large share of tv funding would be stopped; and may well restrict their spending on over-rated Australians and encourage them to developing home grown talent. To be fair, there does seem to be a move in this direction at St Helens and Leeds. Beaumont was also suggesting this approach at Leigh in the longer-term.
Clubs in the Championship should also be required to meet a minimum criteria with regard to facilities and financial stability, but perhaps given a bit more time to meet that criteria. This would encourage clubs to make an effort to promote the game locally and seek local sponsorship to meet that criteria.
If it was me doing this job, I'd get the Super League right (whatever that would look like) then scrap P&R. Let's face it, generally speaking, teams that are promoted to SL don't cut the mustard. And teams at the lower end of SL don't plan for the long-term as the threat of relegation is always there.
The fact that we all support a club in the 2nd tier obvs makes me hope this doesn't happen and that we have a hope of SL at some point in the future. But, as said, if it was me doing this work, I'd scrap P&R in a heartbeat.
i doubt they will last any where near 12 years, there is no interest in RL in this country apart from the usual M62 Corridor, the sooner everyone actually realises this and lets us northerners carry on as usual the better. Can't wait for Sky to pull the plug so we can revert to a sustainable semi pro game once again.
But that's their job @mick-george, to get the interest back, bums on seats etc. You noticed yesterday Owens & Craven went to Loughborough and met up with a Minnesota Viking player from the NFL. That was an IMG tick box exercise. The Tweet/Insta/FB video will have been viewed in The States on all MV social media. The RFL/SLE have been piss-poor at 'bigging' up the sport. IMG are a totally different ball game.
Let's wait and see
Paulie xx
@pauliewalnuts do you not think we should get the game noticed in this country first ? The game is that popular that our culture secretary thought we won the world cup in 2003 with Jonny Wilko leading the way, this was at a RL world cup event.
IMG are Yanks and your little stunt with some other yank about sums it up. Who is paying these people ?. We need to get our own house in order first before trying once again to go global, we don't even know what the playing format is from one day to the next and it will still be the same clowns running and ruining the game so as far as I and most fans they can stick expansion and mindless media up their arse. The money paid to these people should be put into grass routes and BARLA because that is the only way the game will survive never mind prosper in this country.