I'm interested in what you say, and it makes perfect sense. It's just that I seem to be very well aware of the amount which different broadcasters have paid for rights in other sports (or indeed the NRL), even though I don't even follow other sports.

Fundamentally, I don't trust the commercial competency of the RFL (based on reasonable evidence such as the Stobart deal). I very much want to be proved wrong, but a tweet from a journo isn't enough.

Well it should be a big number Roy or they should have waited a bit Longer. They seemed to have snapped other stuff up asap to keep BT at bay so a big deal was to be had from BT for sure imo. Im curious to see what each SL club will get as im hoping this will help London etc. stop losing money.

Quote ="Snoopy"Well it should be a big number Roy or they should have waited a bit Longer. They seemed to have snapped other stuff up asap to keep BT at bay so a big deal was to be had from BT for sure imo. Im curious to see what each SL club will get as im hoping this will help London etc. stop losing money.'" They did seem under pressure from the clubs: www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... 0974805._/? In particular: “The brief we have given to the RFL now is to look at the commercial side of it,” said Gatcliffe. “Now we know what the structure is going to be, the instruction to the RFL on the clubs’ behalf is to talk to the television broadcasters who are the source of a lot of money coming into our sport. Though it would appear mission accomplished

Quote ="Snoopy"Well it should be a big number Roy or they should have waited a bit Longer. They seemed to have snapped other stuff up asap to keep BT at bay so a big deal was to be had from BT for sure imo. Im curious to see what each SL club will get as im hoping this will help London etc. stop losing money.'" They did seem under pressure from the clubs: www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... 0974805._/? In particular: “The brief we have given to the RFL now is to look at the commercial side of it,” said Gatcliffe. “Now we know what the structure is going to be, the instruction to the RFL on the clubs’ behalf is to talk to the television broadcasters who are the source of a lot of money coming into our sport. Though it would appear mission accomplished

I've not seen them disclose the figures for ECB, Lions, Speedway or WWE by SKY. Neither have those governing bodies released the details.

I think the RFL had this up their sleeve, probably the reason why the rebels backed off and the reason why Big Mac was so into nailing his colours to the mast on the new structure.


It's quite an increase. Yes there will be money going to the SL2 clubs. But the proposed amounts don't touch this so it will still be an increase for SL clubs overall.

Even if every championship club got the full £600,000 of central funding (which they are not under the current deal. That only comes to £7.2 million a year. Leaving the SL clubs with the remainder.

Need a bit more detail but those seem fantastic figures, it's more than double the current one, I can see the reasons we may have such a good deal, but i can also see ways it may not be as first suggested

Needs more meat on the bones but at first glance really good deal

No whinging from Koukash on Twitter yet, so I guess we can presume it is a good deal.

Unions viewing figures on BT have been pathetic so glad we didn't jump ship.

Would be nice to know the financial gains, it's bad news for the game that there is still no fta coverage of SL but if the money's right then a long term deal is good for the game.

So where's the people who were saying sky were losing interest in SL? Gutters come on down!

Imo this deal in part will be a big middle finger to union. We've all seen how maturely sky act when they don't win (rlwc anyone) so an opportunity to send a message seems about right...

I can see rl vs ru becoming a bit of a battle as pawns for bt vs sky heats up

I think this is good timing. It is difficult to know whether BT will be successful in getting their numbers up in the next few years. If not, it will have been a good time to strike an enhanced deal with Sky. Even if BT do well there will be competition between Sky and BT I think to stay loyal is a good thing. It is now in both Sky and RL's interest to really make this next few years work in terms of growing the sport.

I like the people who slagged of the two tens concept then the 2/12 -3/8 as 'sky wouldnt be interested in a second tier' 'championship in all but name' etc

The saving grace for we visionaries and expansionists is that dinosaurs became extinct also.

BT shows three live union games a weekend, would be good to see sky doing the same for SL.

They will be whenever Catalan are at home

I still have my doubts about the new system. The new deal gives it a chance and now championship clubs can maybe compete financially. But I still have my doubts whether the system will work and whether fans will embrace it. SKY backed licensing as well...

Oh and you expansionist nearly killed Crusaders.

They always know best (for a fact, undisputably etc), until they're proved wrong.
Then they quickly forget it and move on to the next agenda

That'll never happen, there are still people on here demanding we go back to being semi pro and playing through winter after nearly 20 years, the structure doubters have barely even warmed up!

And while we are at it what was wrong with 3 points for a try? And who's daft idea was it to bring in the 6 tackle rule.

Can we also now put to bed the myth that sky are only interested in SL if there is a London team in it?

Lol. You're right - that canary isn't singing. A good sign.

We need to understand that we have created the overlap but will we score the try?
In my lifetime the RFL has been synonymous with missed opportunities we cannot afford to drop this one
United and strong we could be unstoppable, imo if this is done correctly at the end of it we would have a very marketable product of two great leagues that promote growth and expansion

Quote ="Nostradamus's lad"We need to understand that we have created the overlap but will we score the try? In my lifetime the RFL has been synonymous with missed opportunities we cannot afford to drop this one United and strong we could be unstoppable, imo if this is done correctly at the end of it we would have a very marketable product of two great leagues that promote growth and expansion'" www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/3760? Eamon McManus thinks so.

Quote ="Nostradamus's lad"We need to understand that we have created the overlap but will we score the try? In my lifetime the RFL has been synonymous with missed opportunities we cannot afford to drop this one United and strong we could be unstoppable, imo if this is done correctly at the end of it we would have a very marketable product of two great leagues that promote growth and expansion'" www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/3760? Eamon McManus thinks so.

So it doesn't say that all Catalans games will be on live then. Could just be the highlights like it used to be. Wait and see for that one i think.

All this one hand clapping is getting a bit dull.

I might change sides, just to give people something to talk about.

It's a crap deal they should have held out for a Billion from Chinese National TV.

Sky's interest in 2nd tier RL is pretty clear, 20 games if that, will feature the teams who don't start in SL and possibly all of those 20 could include at least one team who did.

This has far less to do with our structure and far more to do with a) we were undervalued previously and B) the environment we are now operating in.

BT are haemorrhaging money right now from their sports channels,and with each update they are getting a kicking from their shareholders, so much so the Premier League are going to bring forward their next rights auction because BT will be under much more scrutiny for their sports spending after another few quarters of bad news. This is a shot across BTs bow by Sky, tying up lots of content for a long time, I expect them to massively up their PL bids for the next batch £1.5-1.8billion a year, get all the best games and leave BT as the new ESPN but with much higher costs from RU the champions league and PL

This money needs investing in the game, not spending ,investing, it needs to perpetuate because we probably won't be in such a good bargaining position next round, or in such a favourable market place.

Sensible words.

But you're not actually holding your breath on this one, are you ?