IMG announced their latest tweaks and changes to the plans put forward at the John Smith’s Stadium last month.
In amongst it was a huge change to the financial pillar – one of five given importance by the marketing giants in the plans.
Now, the finance pillar will carry a maximum of 4.5 points, compared to the original 5 which left some people thinking that less emphasis was being placed on the financial essence of sport.
However, for RFL chief executive Tony Sutton, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Finances was one of the three highest ranked pillar that shows the importance we place on it,” Sutton explained.
“If you look into the detail of the scoring in that, it is pretty comprehensive and is a real strong show of intent in the model and what standards we deem to be important which is something we have been doing a number of years.
“We have measured and monitored club financial stability each year so for that to be one of the top graded three pillars – even though it has gone down from 5 to 4.5 – I think that is a show of how important we regard club financial stability.”
There is still set to be consultation before RFL Council members vote on April 19.
