RL Commercial has revealed that there will be “no change to the IMG criteria” as London Broncos prepare for Super League drop.
In recent weeks, Broncos owner David Hughes and head coach Mike Eccles have spoken out about the criteria and London’s potential future in Super League.
The fate of the Broncos has been much discussed after the capital club joined Super League for 2024 basically knowing that they would be relegated at the end of the season under the five grading pillars put in place by IMG to ‘re-imagine’ rugby league.
Finishing in 24th out of 36 professional clubs, London were not even awarded 10 points at the end of last year, meaning the stay in Super League would be a short one.
However, Hughes, who was talking live on Sky Sports yesterday afternoon during London’s impressive 12-10 win over Catalans Dragons, hinted that a decision over the Broncos’ future had still not yet been reached.
“I’m not going to commentate too much on that (whether London will be in Super League), hopefully it might change but that’s up in the air,” Hughes said.
“I just hope we can retract away from the ruling which is bizarre but I don’t want to comment on it too much.
“It was all based on the last three years in the Championship. We have been in Super League 20 out of the 27 years that it has been around so I don’t know who thought the last three years would be the best to get the ratings.”
However, Sky Sports pundit, Jon Wells, live when St Helens beat Salford Red Devils, revealed that talks with RL Commercial had not produced anything that would hint at a potential change.
Wells said: “We contacted IMG who referred us back to RL Commercial and RL Commercial said there will be no change to the IMG criteria which means no London Broncos in 2025.”
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