RFL CHAIRMAN Nigel Wood has pledged to make the fan experience the key objective for Rugby League’s governing body in the years ahead, after the RFL reported an improved financial performance in its annual report last week.
On a turnover of £13,743,613 (up from £13,515,639 in 2024) to the year ending 31 December 2025 the RFL made a profit before taxation of £4,095 compared to a loss of £508,168 the previous year.
Wood, who joined the board as an interim member in March 2025, has welcomed the stemming of a series of losses suffered by the RFL in recent years, which he puts down to greater cost control.
“I am delighted to report that the RFL made a profit in the financial year 2025 of £4,000, following three previous years of losses which amounted to around £2 million,” Wood told League Express.
“It is not the size of the surplus that is important in this case, it is the fact there is one at all, following an extended period of loss making by the governing body under the previous board and indeed the setting of a budget for 2025 that was also loss making.
“The new board makes no apology for re-inserting some financial rigour into the NGB with the changing culture that goes with it.
“All the commercial risk and market variability is no longer housed in the RFL as it is in Rugby League Commercial Ltd, so there aren’t many valid reasons why the RFL should not be performing at break even or better as it did for all bar one of its previous years until 2017.
“The number one priority for the new board is to make life easier for clubs, and in particular, the generous and committed owners. We recognise that every penny spent at the centre is one that could be put to great use at the coal face.
“Bringing the RFL back to break even is not the end of journey, not even the beginning of the end, but it does represent tangible evidence that the sport’s financial recovery is well underway and that the oil tanker is starting to change direction.
“We were also pleased to report to the RFL Council that Sport England had signed off our governance improvement plan that demonstrates that Rugby League is once again fully compliant with the independence governance protocols that we all recognise are so important.
“With the season now reaching a thrilling finale and the very real prospects of our sport being watched by two million people in one season for the first time in the Super League era, we have every reason to be confident about the future. The race for the Super League top six is twisting and turning, and the battle to get into the Championship play-off positions is equally compelling.
“The executive is already turning their attention to season 2027 and making further improvement to the actual sporting contest, to debug some of the niggly issues that can frustrate the spectator experience.
“Our aim remains to make the fan experience the very best it can be at as many Rugby League events as we possibly can.”