Scubby

He is a clown. Leeds winning just over half their league games is pretty rubbish tbh

Tough paper round though.

The Chuckle brothers passed more than Warrington did ("To me to you")

Yep this pretty much. Fox gets huge ratings from RL and is one of its premier offerings. It treats it accordingly. Sky has pretty much placed all its chips on football and the rest is fleshing out a range of sport for football fans and general sport subscribers.

[For a change] I actually listen to a bit of what @Dave T says on stuff like this because I know he has worked in this type of space. Broadcasters are looking for what they can gain from TV deals and those that do show a large footprint and ambition/intent with their current sponsorship portfolio are obviously at a huge advantage. Big sponsors work harder, pay more and spread their message organically through their brands. It is largely why beer and fags loved us in the 1980s and 1990s because we had high profile spots on the BBC, got great ratings and the sport was watched by beer guzzling, fag smoking types who loved their products. Those days are thankfully gone but RL is struggling to reinvent itself. There appears IMO a broad correlation between how RL has been treated historically by broadcast deals and how the Scottish Premier League soccer is. Maybe it is the regional element or something else but there does seem a pattern of "take it or leave it" from those offering deals.

Non cigs, beer and betting brands that seem to target RL are often brands with a low budget looking to launch something or are small time in the UK looking to grow e.g. First Utility, Kingston Press, Engage Mutual Assurance. We probably serve that sponsorship well but often they sponsor RL because it is very cheap in comparison to other options.

It's the whole package, we can't accept the BetFred's, Mushy Peas, Stobart and AB Sundecks and hope to look as assured at the negotiating table as Golf (with it's KPMG, Rolex) and Union with its blah............ I got bored typing this and am supposed to be working on a tight deadline but you get my drift

We would have taken even less and that is the problem. Sky will probably point to advertising rates they can command in the programmes amongst other things. There is a clear difference in the advertising demographic for Golf and RU compared with RL and that has been a constant struggle in negotiations regardless of broadcaster.

Just did a double take there. Turns out it was grunt

This is pretty much how it unravelled at London. A 5000 capacity stadium more often than not means 2k crowds rather than house full signs every week. Fans are not stupid they can see where the trajectory is going.

Commercial deals are welcome but, let's face it, it's no Papa Johns

If no TV deal can be found it needs to be on YouTube across both countries not hidden away on Our League

Chorley FM would have snapped up the radio option.

If you can throw a blanket over most of your professional SL clubs in terms of geography then you are ultimately scrapping over the same young talent. Football is king, then daylight, the other stuff. We do okay with the footprint we have. It is no coincidence that a crop of Welsh SL players emerged when we had Crusaders and London fed some quality local players into the SL system when the were a regular feature in the top division.

Genuinely think they have been spooked into this. I think there was some element of complacency that crowds would just roll back without clubs having to do much. Huge off season for the SL clubs. It is not a lost cause but it is a noticable decline that needs action.