BY STEVE BRADY
TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE are aiming for Grade A status in order to be included in Super League.
The ambitious big-city French club have welcomed the “clear pathway” given to them by RFL strategic partners IMG and they feel they will tick all the boxes now they have been given solid guidelines.
Toulouse chief executive Cedric Garcia told League Express: “We’ve got a lot of work to do but at long last we know what we are aiming for and that is to become a Category A club.
“At last, we now have the criteria that we need to work on, everybody knows what they are aiming for. We have concise guidelines and that is a massive step forward, we have a clear pathway to work on for the first time.
“It has to be the goal of everybody to become a Category A club, it’s so important if you want to compete in Super League and help the competition to grow in strength.”
Garcia attended the meeting of clubs in Huddersfield last week where IMG revealed their plans and he was impressed with the presentation.
He added: “The amount of work that IMG have done on this, and the sheer professionalism they have within their organisation was clear for all to see at our meeting.
“Things couldn’t stay how they were; we needed a u-turn because the main revenue for the sport is income from TV and we all have a responsibility to improve ourselves if we are going to get better deals in future.
“With the backing of IMG we can really go full steam for this and it’s imperative that all clubs are on board, trust the process, trust IMG and we have a good chance to succeed.”
Garcia said that his club was keen to explore additional broadcast opportunities similar to the one IMG has brokered with French sports media group L’Equipe to cover some of Catalans Dragons’ games in France, and also the possibility of pay-per-view on the Our League app.
He added: “We have to look at all options that give us the widest audience possible for the sport and in France, L’Equipe brings that. If you have to invest in TV production costs then L’Equipe is a good choice if you’re a French club.
“It’s good for Catalans and it shows that there is interest growing and the ambition must now be to get Rugby League on the L’Equipe TV channel. That victory over Wigan on Friday was available free for everyone to see in France. It was a great start for Catalans and with that kind of potential audience I am sure they have gained some new fans because of it.”
