RL COMMERCIAL Managing Director Rhodri Jones is confident that the 2025 Rugby League season will be a record-breaking one for the game commercially.
Speaking on last week’s League Express Podcast, Jones gave an optimistic account of Super League’s commercial progress, both in terms of attendances, digital engagements and sponsorship income.
“Attendances have averaged over 10,000 for the first time for many years in Super League,” said Jones.
“That in itself is a great story. Just over 1.6 million people attended men’s Super League matches this season. The benefits clubs have seen from more people going through turnstiles has had a positive commercial impact on those clubs.
“It’s been a record digital performance year for us and that’s not only meant that our audiences have become bigger and more engaged, but it’s also meant that we’ve started to commercialise that digital audience for the first time properly, but it’s taken some building blocks to get us to that point.
“Our sponsorship income is at an all-time high; we’ve broken through the 5-million-pound income barrier.
for the second time in a row; we just scraped over it last year and we’ve gone again this year, so all credit to the commercial team here in delivering and developing meaningful partnerships.
“So from that perspective, I’d say we’ve had had a good year and the Ashes is the icing on the cake, because when we set the budgets this time last year, we didn’t know the Ashes were coming here.
“We are very optimistic that, come the end of the series, there will be a profit derived from the series, which obviously cascades back into the clubs.”
Given the recent changes at the RFL, Jones is unsure about the future of RL Commercial, although he is certain that its functions will continue to develop.
“I think I’m pretty clear, because I think it’s quite a simple equation, really,” he added.
“What we’ve seen over the last two and a half, nearly three years now with the creation of RL Commercial, is that there’s been an absolute focus on the commerciality of the sport, and as I’ve just shared, the numbers that we’ve delivered this year demonstrate that having that laser focus on the commercial arc of the sport is delivering.
“There is a governance side of the sport that needs managing, and yes, there’s been some significant changes that have gone on there over the last couple of months. But when you put focus into a certain area of the business and it’s delivering results, then, for me, it’s important that it still exists.
“We’re about to embark on a new cycle for broadcasting, which comes to an end in 2026., and we cannot lose focus.
“The reason why RL Commercial exists, the reason why we have the relationship with IMG, was to deliver ultimately a better TV deal for the sport. We can’t lose that laser focus.”
