JASON COSTIGAN, an Australian commentator and one-time politician, who takes a special interest in Rugby League in the Northern Hemisphere, spells out his vision of a future European Super League…
Imagine Super League with 20 teams across seven countries, from Manchester to Milan and Bradford to Barcelona!
That’s the dream of Australian commentator and one-time Bradford Bulls media manager Jason Costigan, who wants a competition involving not only English and French clubs but also teams from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
Costigan, who worked at Odsal under sports marketing guru Peter Deakin in the late 1990s when the Bulls were the talk of English Rugby League, claims his expanded Super League could eventually rival Australia’s NRL and European club rugby, especially with new teams in key European cities.
“My model involves eleven English teams from London to Newcastle, plus four French teams, in Perpignan, Toulouse, Paris and Bordeaux and one each from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and Italy for some real European sizzle,” said the man who’s called Rugby League in nine countries including England, France, Serbia and even Ukraine.
“Domestically, I’d have four teams on both sides of the Pennines, plus London, Newcastle and the Midlands. Seriously, what sort of competition is it when you don’t even have a team from the capital? Show me another sport where that happens. It’s embarrassing and doesn’t make any sense after all that investment over several decades.”
Costigan, who’s called more than 200 NRL games, mostly on Australia’s Fox Sports and New Zealand’s Sky Television, admits his plan won’t go down well with everyone but insists it’s vital for the future of Europe’s flagship Rugby League competition.
“To achieve its true potential, Super League must move to a model whereby clubs no longer live and die by attendances and to achieve that, you need an attractive TV product in key markets,” said ‘Costo’, who’s also broadcast almost 50 Tests or internationals including a World Cup Final and more recently, last year’s historic victory by Ukraine against Russia in Belgrade.
“I have enormous respect for the traditions and rich history of Rugby League in the north of England but you can’t have a Super League based on that M62 corridor, plus two teams, possibly even one, from the south of France. That’s unsustainable and serious reform is needed now before it’s too late.
“If Super League said ‘go fix it’, I could triple the value of pre-pandemic broadcast revenue within five years and get more than one million people in the UK watching a single game. With big bucks for a big salary cap, you’d again attract the world’s best players, thereby boosting the standard of play.
“That’s not only good for the competition. It’s also good for the international game and with two more teams in France, you’d only further strengthen the French game. Same goes for a team in Milan, for example. That will get the Italians talking Rugby League and have a positive impact on their national side.
“It’d be a similar story in other countries. By having teams in Cardiff, Dublin, Edinburgh and Barcelona, you will put Rugby League on the map in those places and that is especially important in Wales where, as we all know, Rugby League has a great history but no Super League presence anymore.
“We hear clubs crying poor all the time but my model is designed to give Super League clubs that financial security like never before, thanks to record broadcast revenue. It’s also of great benefit to other tiers in the pyramid including the amateur game, women’s rugby league, wheelchair rugby league and more.”
Costigan said that under his proposal, Super League promotion and relegation would be permanently axed.
Instead, licensing would be reinstated for the top flight, which would have a 19-week regular season (excluding Challenge Cup), comprising nine home and nine away games, Magic Round, plus a 10-team finals series.
The schedule would be ‘reversed’ for the following year to ensure fairness.
“By going back to licensing, you create an environment for serious investment and that is what is needed to get these new teams off the ground and to keep them there. I called Rugby League in New Zealand for a decade but there would have been no Warriors without the investment of Eric Watson,” he said.
“Back then, he didn’t even know who Stacey Jones was but he soon found out and his cash ensured the club not only continued, but it also actually kicked on. That was in a country of five million people. Can you imagine what we could do if we actually did some work in attracting investors to Rugby League in Europe?”
Costigan, a former MP who once advised Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK when George Brandis served as Minister for Sport, said expansion of Super League could be done step by step so that broadcast revenue eclipsed £120 million per season by 2027.
“This doesn’t need to be done overnight but the work needs to start now, so we can bring in new investors…. investment that is possible so long as there’s stability like we have with the NRL, which I believe will expand to 20 teams into the 2020s and there is no reason why Super League can’t do it too,” he said.
“I’d back myself to triple the value of the TV rights, based on pre-pandemic figures, and get every Super League game on TV in the UK, on top of what we could do elsewhere. It’d catapult Super League into a new galaxy of opportunity but it would also help grow the game across those other levels.
“I welcome the addition of a second French team and I welcome terrestrial TV coverage of Super League which is great for the UK but it took 26 years! What have they been doing? And now, no Bradford, no London or no Paris in Super League. After so much promise, Peter Deakin would be rolling in his grave.”
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