Super League Interim Chairman Ken Davy faced the media last week to discuss the process of realignment with the RFL and the creation of a new marketing body that is provisionally entitled RL Commercial.
Here are the key questions and Ken’s responses.
How do you feel Super League is going so far this season?
KD: Super League is going well. There are some financial challenges, but the sport we are delivering and the spectacle of it is proving to be popular and successful, as we know Super League is. You’ve probably heard today, for example, that the Warrington-Hull KR game is sold out, so that is tremendous news with a few days to go. And it’s also fitting that Wakefield have announced that they have their stadium on the way, while Hull KR have announced that they have acquired their stadium and the 15 acres surrounding it that can be developed. Castleford have ambitions for a new stadium as well, while it’s also 200 days to the start of the World Cup and it is 100 days to Magic Weekend.
On realignment, given that a new body is going to be set up with directors from Super League Europe and the RFL, where does that leave Super League (Europe) as an entity? What functions will it retain?
KD: It will still exist and will essentially organise the Super League. But what it won’t need to do is organise commercial deals.
If we take a step back and look at the new structure, what we have is each entity focusing on what it does best. The RFL is best placed to provide governance for the game.
Super League is best placed to put on matches for spectators. It won’t need to focus on any other aspect.
RL Commercial will represent all the commercial interests and assets of the whole game. Whether those assets are currently sitting within Super League or the RFL, whether it’s women’s matches, Super League, the Grand Final, the Challenge Cup, every single commercial entity will rest in what is called now RL Commercial. What its name will end up as, I’ve no idea. This has focused people’s minds on delivering the very best services to each of those entities.
Over the last 125 years there has never been a complete sense of unity in the game. Among the twelve Chairmen of Super League clubs, do you sense that this restructure has got everyone on the same page?
KD: Absolutely, it was passed unanimously, which I was obviously delighted by, as was the RFL. Every aspect of the game is united.
But it is a reality that the game is facing financial challenges, which vary from club to club. Some of them are very significant. But we can’t directly control that now.
But what we do believe, passionately, is that by focusing all the commercial entities into one company it will over time significantly increase all the profits to be distributed to all the clubs and so therefore whether you are a Championship, Super League or League 1 club, every extra pound that is generated, you will get a share of. There will be a joint sense of purpose in that respect.
How will Super League Europe decide how to select the two directors that will represent it on the new RL Commercial body?
KD: No decisions have been made about the directors. It’s important to appreciate that all five directors of the new body will be independent of any clubs. So there will be two independent directors appointed by the RFL and by Super League and then a jointly appointed independent Chairman.
Will the Chairman be from the proposed strategic partner, or has that not been decided yet?
KD: I wouldn’t necessarily anticipate that. You would certainly expect that our new strategic partner would want to be heavily involved in RL Commercial, because that’s what they would be wanting to grow, in the same way that we would want it to grow. I wouldn’t particularly expect them to want to chair that board.
When do you expect to sign off that strategic partnership?
KD: We are making very good progress; talks are going on literally two and three days a week, while there is also work going on in the background. This isn’t something where you have one meeting in a fortnight and hope something comes out of it. There is some intense work going on and much of it is very detailed, so you must bear with us while this work goes on. It’s a combined endeavour between Super League and the RFL and certainly I’m very encouraged by the progress that has been made, but we are not there yet.
What about your own position? You came in as Interim Chairman and you have been in that position for a year.
KD: It has taken much longer than I anticipated is the reality. I thought it would last three to six months. I’m looking forward to stepping down but it’s a job that I was happy to take on and I’m delighted with the progress we’re making. I would hope that by Magic Weekend, I might be out of a job. And if not, then soon after.
The five directors will all be non-executive directors. So you won’t have a full-time Managing Director?
KD: It is likely to be a chief executive rather than a managing director. The CEO will attend board meetings, but it’s not for me to organise that structure. The status of the chief executive is a practical point that I haven’t fully thought through. Certainly the CEO will report to the board. We will want to discuss that with our strategic partner.
What will the role of the strategic partner be? Will it cover all aspects of the game? If they analyse the game as it stands, what will you do if they come to you and tell you that you have a sporting model that hasn’t worked after launching in 1996 with twelve Super League clubs and still having twelve Super League clubs in 2022? They might even tell you that Super League is an outdated brand. What would be the point in having them if you didn’t take on board the advice they give you.
KD: The question is an important one. What the whole game has voted for is a realignment that enables us all to work together for the common good with every part of the game benefiting financially.
Part of the realignment is the appointment of a strategic partner and I would imagine the first thing they will do is detailed research on the game itself and how it functions and it’s pointless us trying to second-guess what the outcome of that will be. But obviously you start by looking at what we’ve got.
The mood of the game is to look very positively at what changes are recommended. There might be some red lines for some clubs, the RFL or Super League have, but right now none of us are looking down that road. Let’s have people with real experience to set a foundation and framework that will stand the test of time. That will require detailed research. I have no doubt that any strategic partner will want to talk to every club in the game individually. They will obviously look at relevant stats, including attendances. The level of research is going to be in depth on the state of the game as it is now. We are very confident that the product we have is one that has real appeal to the public, but not enough of the public are exposed to it, which is one of the reasons why we are so excited about the free-to-air coverage we have this season, whose objective is to broaden the market. But we do need to find out what we need to change.
Is there a common agreement that you will follow it through all the way and that you will then stick with the solution you then are presented with?
KD: That is the plan. I have a very clear philosophy on that type of thing. If you plant an apple tree and every twelve months you pull it up to see how the roots are going, then you are never going to get any fruit. You must do everything necessary to make it grow and then you can enjoy the fruit. It’s not an overnight thing. We aren’t going to flick a switch that will suddenly double the income of every club.
We all believe that this restructure and realignment will significantly increase income into the game and therefore the profits that feed out into the clubs at every level.
Have you carried out any analysis of why the move of Super League away from the RFL is 2017 and 18 didn’t deliver in the way in which its proponents suggested?
KD: There was a degree of confusion as to who was doing what in the game, which is why realignment was so important. I wouldn’t say that the move away from the RFL failed, because one of the things that caused it was that Super League wasn’t happy with the way Super League was being run at that time. Whether that judgement was right or wrong is not for me to say. But I voted to break away. We all believe now that the RFL is a very different organisation compared to how it was. The way that its board is structured, the way that it has brought in experienced people has strengthened the RFL, which we have seen demonstrated in the realignment process.
What operational changes will happen for Super League?
KD: The expectation is that Super League will not duplicate the roles of RL Commercial. The staff of Super League will be transferred across to RL Commercial. The reconstituted board of Super League will not have much to do beyond focusing on Super League itself and the relationship with the RFL.
The idea is to reduce duplication. Super League will be made up of the board and that board’s primary purpose will be to liaise with the RFL on any issues that arise. SLE will still be responsible for the distribution of Super League funds to the clubs, which of course will be a very important role. The plan being considered in relation to the revised articles, which are well down the road, are for a new Super League board consisting of two independents and two representatives from the clubs, who will rotate. That will make a board of four people and one of the independents will be the chair.
There is a great emphasis on independent directors throughout the game. Those two independent directors will be the two going onto the board of RL Commercial.
I’m as confident as I can be that the structure of the game as agreed, with each element of the game concentrating on what it does best, is one that will stand the test of time and will deliver material results and benefits of the whole game.
Have you decided how the profits will be distributed?
KD: Yes, but I don’t think I can reveal that today. But the unanimous support across the game was with the knowledge of how the distribution would be made.
Super League is the main generator of income across the game. This realignment will ensure that every level of the game can benefit from each element of the game.
So where do we go from here, what’s the timetable and when do you expect to have the five directors in place for RL Commercial and the staff in place?
KD: The process of selecting the recruitment specialist for selecting the independent directors is under way now and we will be advertising those posts. I would surprised if we didn’t have that well under way before the end of April.
We would look to appoint the directors as early as May.
Super League will put their new articles in place to create the new Super League board and then we will be up and running before the World Cup starts.
How much of RL Commercial are you prepared to give to a strategic partner in return for a significant investment?
KD: Nothing is off the table. But our key objective is to get the foundation of the game right rather than looking for a private equity partner.
The potential to strengthen the game still further is highly significant. And when we have done that work with the right strategic partner, that then might be the time, when we have done that work, to involve private equity. We don’t want to take in private equity before we are ready for it.
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