IMG Strategic Partnership Announced

[Dallas Mead]

Surely this is not about:

 

(1) 3 x 8

(2) 2 x 14

(3) 3 x 10

(4) 2 x 10

 

It’s about growing the SPORT of rugby league right?  Let’s use IMG to get RL players on Sunday Brunch, Strictly, I’m a celeb etc etc.  Grow AWARENESS of the sport in a World Cup year FGS!!!!

[Jughead]

7 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

We have had 20 years of false dawns with Wakey before. Lets hope this time it come off.

£2 million alone won't get you much of a stadium upgrade. Where is the other money coming from to upgrade the stadium?

Wakefield literally have works beginning on July 4th. 

The owners of the proposed site for Cas’ new stadium have offered financial help for the redevelopment of Wheldon Road. 

[Big Picture]

Steve Mascord's view at RugbyLeagueHub.

[The Future is League]

3 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Steve Mascord's view at RugbyLeagueHub.

I look forward to the next part of his analysis of the deal

[The Future is League]

6 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Wakefield literally have works beginning on July 4th. 

The owners of the proposed site for Cas’ new stadium have offered financial help for the redevelopment of Wheldon Road. 

I hope both ventures come off

[Dallas Mead]

If Wakefield Metropolitan area is the answer then I’m not sure what the question is

[The Future is League]

1 minute ago, Dallas Mead said:

If Wakefield Metropolitan area is the answer then I’m not sure what the question is

We could have 3 from the area if Fev get promoted and what happens if Leigh do they are just a suburb of Wigan. It could be very hard to attract new national sponsors to the game let alone international sponsors.

[Dallas Mead]

2 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

We could have 3 from the area if Fev get promoted and what happens if Leigh do they are just a suburb of Wigan. It could be very hard to attract new national sponsors to the game let alone international sponsors.

Exactly…..

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

I hope your optimistic scenario occurs. It needs to. But even with a good outcome it'll be several years until any significant financial benefits are reaped. So clubs are relly going to have to agree to big changes with a leap of faith. I have my doubts but let's hope I'm wrong. 

Sort of. We have seen that financial impacts can happen quite quickly. We have seen that we got a 2 year deal with Sky and C4, and that does look a touch more like it may have been by design rather than signing up for longer at £25m a year. 

We know that with the right vision it's possible to get investment and we are staring from such a low level that growth is absolutely attainable. 

I think we all have reservations about using consultants, which on the surface this looks like, but hopefully there will be something more robust behind it with real consequences for failure. 

The aim really should be to be getting back to that £40m per year mark, and whilst that will be challenging, it shouldn't be impossible. We also know our streaming and international rights are worth zero at the moment. 

Sponsorship is bargain basement. 

These are all very real areas for growth relatively quickly with the right people and vision in place. 

[Man of Kent]

Those 10 year stadium deals for London and Toulouse start to make more sense when you see a IMG quote explicitly mention licensing. Is the game finally going to sort out its s**t?

[The Future is League]

1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

A european summer nines tournament in four different           countries or a proper end of season european 4 nations is not prevented by money,  its prevented by a pathetic attitude at the RFL that is obsessed with southern hemisphere. 

I have in the past suggesting having a pre season Super League 9's tournament in Spain, in an area where there are a lot of expats, but got shouted down, and with us leaving the EU i hear a lot of expats have returned to the UK due to losing benefits they received when they UK was part of the EU

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

A european summer nines tournament in four different           countries or a proper end of season european 4 nations is not prevented by money,  its prevented by a pathetic attitude at the RFL that is obsessed with southern hemisphere. 

Of course that is prevented by money. 

[Dave T]

27 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Steve Mascord's view at RugbyLeagueHub.

Mascord is presenting this as a Private Equity deal, whereas John Davidson is presenting it more as a consultant/ commission based partnership. 

They are very different things. 

It'll be interestibg to understand who is right. 

[Man of Kent]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Mascord is presenting this as a Private Equity deal, whereas John Davidson is presenting it more as a consultant/ commission based partnership. 

They are very different things. 

It'll be interestibg to understand who is right. 

I read it as a profit/revenue share, which is different from PE just creaming off revenue - in return for upfront cash - regardless of results.

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

I read it as a profit/revenue share, which is different from PE just creaming off revenue - in return for upfront cash - regardless of results.

It's the same thing really though, he's saying they have bought into a commercial entity - which is basically what the RU deals are. The RU ones are dependent on results, although they will pretty much always have their investments covered. 

Davidson says no buy in has taken place. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Dave T

[Man of Kent]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

It's the same thing really though, he's saying they have bought into a commercial entity - which is basically what the RU deals are. The RU ones are dependent on results, although they will pretty much always have their investments covered. 

Davidson says no buy in has taken place. 

Yep. I assume Davidson is right and IMG is essentially selling its services in return a slice of future profits. 

[M j M]

1 hour ago, Dallas Mead said:

If Wakefield Metropolitan area is the answer then I’m not sure what the question is

Wakefield has a larger population than Warrington and St Helens combined. I thought people were all for encouraging clubs in large urban areas instead of these small towns? Or does it depend how your club gets defined when doing it?

[Dallas Mead]

30 minutes ago, M j M said:

Wakefield has a larger population than Warrington and St Helens combined. I thought people were all for encouraging clubs in large urban areas instead of these small towns? Or does it depend how your club gets defined when doing it?

Are you sure?

[Tommygilf]

7 hours ago, Dave T said:

Of course that is prevented by money. 

That's not entirely true Dave.

We've played Scotland in Coventry and France in Avignon to good 5 figure crowds. We played Ireland in front of a full house at Huddersfield in a World Cup. The Knights, with minimal promotion, played to an over 7k crowd against Jamaica in Leeds. All within the last 10 years. 

Only a total lack of commercial belief and vision has seen those feats not repeated or built upon. And that is almost entirely down to an obsession with not just the Southern Hemisphere, but Australia and New Zealand specifically.

We have had commercial potential and chosen not to do anything with it to instead go for "safe" options...

[Tommygilf]

6 hours ago, M j M said:

Wakefield has a larger population than Warrington and St Helens combined. I thought people were all for encouraging clubs in large urban areas instead of these small towns? Or does it depend how your club gets defined when doing it?

Wakefield MDC might, but Wakefield itself certainly does not.

[RL Sonja]

Isn’t this the same group who used to bag TGG back in the 80s under its then boss Mark McCormack? Sure is.  

[gingerjon]

7 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

That's not entirely true Dave.

We've played Scotland in Coventry and France in Avignon to good 5 figure crowds. We played Ireland in front of a full house at Huddersfield in a World Cup. The Knights, with minimal promotion, played to an over 7k crowd against Jamaica in Leeds. All within the last 10 years. 

Only a total lack of commercial belief and vision has seen those feats not repeated or built upon. And that is almost entirely down to an obsession with not just the Southern Hemisphere, but Australia and New Zealand specifically.

We have had commercial potential and chosen not to do anything with it to instead go for "safe" options...

How much money did those games make?

[Toby Chopra]

11 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

A game that got more tv viewers than Eng vs Australia but that doesnt fit narrative of needing southern hemisphere so never to be repeated. 

I think expanding European international rugby is possible, and desirable, but we shouldn't make claims in its favour without context either: that Eng v Scot game was part of a 4 Nations tournament anchored by Aus and NZ, and was probably the peak heritage team Scotland have put out in recent years. Nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't mean that a European 5 nations is suddenly an attractive and sustainable product for broadcasters. It'll need building up and investing in, and buy in from Aus for heritage players. If IMG have that on their list, great. But it wasn't a viable option before.

I also dont believe were obsessed with the southern hemisphere - why wouldn't we want to play them regularly? - they're the best, and I include Tonga and Samoa in that, and the World Cup will be a wonderful showcase of that. We need to add European international rugby to that, not replace. 

[Rockingchair]

I can’t believe people are still prattling on about expansion 26 years after superleagues birth , the eyes don’t lie look at the crowds then and now throughout the board not just at a couple of clubs . Plonking some players from Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire in other areas isn’t expansion . Whether you like it or not rugby league is a regional sport and part of the culture. If you want to grow the sport stabilise your strengths then think about spreading further a field but from grassroots not taking players from the said regions and saying it’s expansion. Put the money into clubs like Wakefield, Featherstone, castleford , Bradford, Halifax, Widnes , barrow etc , what made rugby great was the atmosphere from rivalries and the physical nature of the sport , both have been removed and the sport is a sanitised version of itself . The super league is like the Scottish premier league which is what happens when self serving greed rules. Cut out the heart and the body will die , as we are seeing before our very eyes.

[Tommygilf]

27 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

How much money did those games make?

More than the World Cup did last year when Australia decided it didn't want to turn up... 

They were foundations to build on. The 3 senior games were all broadcast on the BBC, and for the first time in 60 years showed where the future of competitive games for England could come from outside of the Southern Hemisphere. Scotland in particular saw very good TV viewership and of course was highly competitive as a match too. All achieved 5 figure crowds. Vs Scotland achieving that in Coventry is almost "in spite of". 

Our failure to build on opportunities as exemplified has resulted in ourselves being left behind by the Southern Hemisphere and those opportunities themselves being diminished. That is entirely unsurprising.