I certainly don’t know the regulations and restrictions around a TV deal for the championship and League 1 but Channel 4 showed an interest in Rugby League last season so why not pursue a deal for the lower leagues. Promoted I. The right way would bring in sponsorship and money for the clubs meaning cheaper tickets, how many people in the town would go if it was £15 a ticket and £5 junior/senior
Probably not many more than go now.I certainly don’t know the regulations and restrictions around a TV deal for the championship and League 1 but Channel 4 showed an interest in Rugby League last season so why not pursue a deal for the lower leagues. Promoted I. The right way would bring in sponsorship and money for the clubs meaning cheaper tickets, how many people in the town would go if it was £15 a ticket and £5 junior/senior
TV= Sponsorship = more money for the clubs
I think if channel 4 were approached by championship and league 1 clubs with a 2 year deal, first year free and second negotiable contract it could generate some interest from the wider public. Some player profiles like Joe Bloggs, plumber by trade and second row forward, his junior club etc… it could be a good idea maybe flash could get the ball rolling
The RFL wouldn't allow it, and if they did, any revenue generated would go into the elite competition's coffers.
Paulie xx
@pauliewalnuts why would it not be allowed? Toulouse streams all home games so why can’t the league get a tv deal, it makes no sense.
some clubs might be initially reluctant for fear of reduced gates but the increased sponsorship would make it possible for cheaper tickets. Players would get more recognition if they were on Tv.
I certainly don’t know the regulations and restrictions around a TV deal for the championship and League 1 but Channel 4 showed an interest in Rugby League last season so why not pursue a deal for the lower leagues. Promoted I. The right way would bring in sponsorship and money for the clubs meaning cheaper tickets, how many people in the town would go if it was £15 a ticket and £5 junior/senior
Why would it mean both? If the Championship did get a 'pie in the sky' tv deal it would mean more money for clubs, not cheaper tickets.
Also how much do you think the deal would cover? Say 1 game a week for 25 weeks. Plus the cost of setting up 25 times. How do you think it would cost to host a game TV wise?
Would you split it evenly per club in the league, or to whoever was shown for that game.
Either/or it wouldn't amount to a great deal in the scheme of things. Taking your fan glasses off who would want to watch Widnes v Sheffield? A few fans of other clubs, or those who couldn't make it to the game.
Wouldn't be worth the TV companies set up costs, never mind actually paying for it. What other sports and level of said sport would compare to Championship Rugby in your opinion?
They need to find out how much it cost Premier Sports when they used to televise championship matches and how much the home club got out of it, if anything. Ifchannel 4/5 televised it, then they would probably get more veiwers than a pay to view channel like Premier did.
@mckviking I would only imagine it's a Geographical reason. TOxiii probably get no funding from the RFL so are allowed to sort themselves out. I think they still have to assist in the away teams travel expenses. @jdgsport will know.
Paulie xx
FV I forgot about premier sports, that would be a good model to go off with regards to costs, a terrestrial channel like channel 4 as they showed an interest last year would absolutely get more viewers than premier sports did. With regards to funds I would have no idea but honestly the first season can be free for channel 4 as it would bring interest for sponsors for the league/clubs. Like I mentioned each week before the game a 10 minute segment on one of the players and his day job, could follow him to work giving an insight into semi pro sportsmen/women. The employer would love it and would bring a wider audience to the sport below super league. If the game wasn’t played live it may not affect attendance at the game, maybe a roundup of the weekends games on day a Monday night. IMO the sport seems to be limping along and doing nothing about it. We all know how competitive this league is and it’s a shame it gets NO exposure because why???? Nobody cares at the RFL. All sports are a business and need to be marketed and promoted just like darts has been. I guess someone with more of an insight into what the choices are for lower league clubs @Flash could maybe enlighten us
@torn-sock-1 I’d say county cricket, bowls, snooker etc would be of similar interest to a wider audience and do they get tv coverage…. Yes
@mckviking And Country Cricket & Bowls will get almost 0 viewers. Bowls would cost a lot less to set up & how often is it on?
County Cricket will just be a throw in to T20 & domestic cups (Mainly T20).
Snooker will get more viewers than C.C, Bowls and Champ rugby combined by a long way, and again will have minimal set up costs.
Snooker players now earn decent money, and there is the incentive as the game is growing. 60 players earned over 50k last year, before sponsorship. That is probably more than RL. I would guess there are no more than 4 per team on average in SL and almost 0 in the Championship.
I would love to see the sport thrive, but it's not realistic.
@torn-sock-1 My understanding is all games are recorded (video) why not combine the radio commentary and video footage together? That would be minimal cost for clubs and have a highlights show covering the weekends games
@mckviking York did this on Sunday with live radio commentary whilst steaming the game on YouTube.
@scouseviking55 there we go, why don’t we look into this as a great example. If all championship clubs did this we could bring more money through sponsorship deals, then the possibility of a tv deal