The RFL confirmed last Tuesday in a press release that it has agreed a twelve-year partnership with the IMG Group to “re-imagine Rugby League and its competitions in the UK.”
The overall aim is “to maximise its commercial potential for long-term growth, build deeper relationships with fans and attract new audiences.”
And in trying to achieve those objectives “the agency will initially focus on competition restructuring, content production and innovation, domestic and international distribution of media rights, digital transformation powered by IMG’s digital sports arm Seven League, brand strategy delivered by Endeavor’s cultural marketing agency 160over90, and streaming through Endeavor’s OTT platform Endeavor Streaming.”
There are several interesting observations we can make about that, but my immediate one is that it’s no coincidence that “competition restructuring” heads the list of issues the agency will consider.
The current broadcast deals for the club competitions run only until the end of 2023.
New deals will have to be negotiated with a diverse range of broadcasters from 2024 onwards, so it’s vital that the whole game is made aware as soon as possible of what changes, if any, are to be made to the current competition structure, so that IMG and the RFL can go to the broadcasters knowing exactly what they have to sell.
There has been plenty of recent rumours that the solution ultimately arrived at will be two ‘Super Leagues’, each having ten clubs, with promotion and relegation between the two, presumably with the teams in each competition playing each other three times to make a 27-game season.
I sincerely hope that IMG’s research will reveal how crazy that idea would be and how implementing such a plan would ensure that Rugby League wouldn’t achieve any significant growth at all.
Reducing the number of clubs in the elite competition merely gives more people the excuse not to buy subscriptions to satellite broadcasting channels.
And those of us who did buy in to a ten-team competition would soon become very bored with watching the same, limited number of teams going round and round.
In fact that is precisely the problem that faces the game now.
The truth is that there aren’t enough teams that are realistically capable of winning trophies, which is one reason why it’s good to see Huddersfield Giants reaching the Challenge Cup Final.
The agreement between the RFL and IMG is inevitably a complex legal document.
But it seems that the partnership will cost the RFL very little because it has been structured to give IMG a percentage return of any increase in commercial and broadcasting income that is generated by the RFL’s new commercial arm, which was established by the realignment agreement between the RFL and Super League.
As you will see on page 36 of this issue, the man who will take charge on behalf of IMG, at least initially, is Matt Dwyer, who is an Australian Rugby League enthusiast.
In his younger days, Matt was a junior coach, I believe in the Balmain district of Sydney, which explains why he is a Wests Tigers supporter.
He denies that his love of Rugby League is the reason for IMG getting involved in the game, but clearly it can’t have done any harm. And it won’t do any harm when he speaks to the stakeholders in the game, including supporters.
I was surprised that the announcement about the strategic partnership with IMG came out in the form of a press release last week, instead of a press conference in London to trumpet the agreement.
Many people within the game have suggested that this agreement is potentially the most important agreement in the history of the game. That is a big claim to make, although subsequent events over the next twelve years will demonstrate whether it is true.
And the twelve-year deal is the point that demonstrates the commitment of all sides in this agreement.
It’s a long time for two organisations to be working in tandem and it means that both sides can think about what’s good for the game in the long term.
The object surely must be not only to promote the game more effectively, but to develop more clubs that can compete on a level playing field with St Helens, who are the benchmark club in the game.
Only four clubs have ever won the Super League Grand Final, and if that remains the case for the next twelve years, then I’m afraid that Rugby League won’t have made much progress, regardless of how effective IMG might be in taking the game to a potentially wider audience.
I’m quite certain that IMG are perfectly aware of the need to do that, although it’s easier said than done.
On the subject of a level playing field, it’s worth noting that the NRL has just had its version of the Magic Weekend at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. Although the weather was terrible for the first two days, it was interesting to see that of the eight matches that were played, six of them were won by the team that came into the game positioned below their opponents in the NRL ladder.
That’s the sort of level playing field that makes it easier to attract supporters.
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