Randomly picked







Convenient you picked out the weakest week and not the ones either side that had SL games at over 100k. Or look back to earlier weeks and on the Sky Sports Main Event channel where again had quite a few 100k+ figures including a few for the much maligned Thursday night games and also Saturday games with Catalans or the 190k on the opening night.

Some of the low numbers on Sky Sports Arena speaks more about Sky's rubbish new set up than it does SL.

Yes...it was.....pick any week you like



Feel free to post any week you like.....the point is that BT and their Aviva coverage now get comparable viewers to SL and in some instances greater. December 31st 2017 BT sports got 338,000 for what I can only assume was Exeter v Leicester in a round 14 tie....our grand final got 20k more across 2 channels.
.Sept 25th to October 29th.....2017

WEEK 1: 115k Friday, 157 & 55k Saturday and 157k Sunday ALL ON BT SPORTS ALL DOMESTIC
WEEK 2: 89k Friday 178k Saturday 118 Sunday ALL ON BT SPORTS ALL DOMESTIC
WEEK 3: 139k Friday, 171k and 124k Saturday, 146k Sunday on BT and 44k & 28k on Saturday and 42k and 82k on Sunday on SKY EUROPEAN GAMES
WEEK 4: 144K Friday, 136k Saturday 171k Sunday on BT and 27k Thursday, 35k&22k&58k&41k on Saturday and 76k and 76k on Sunday on SKY EUROPEAN GAMES
WEEK 5: 115k Friday, 151k Saturday, 138k Sunday ALL ON BT SPORTS ALL DOMESTIC

127k average for Domestic on BT 147k average for European on BT.......those SKY figures are shocking 50k average.....why would they bother?



It is always SOMEBODY ELSE'S fault isn't it?

If it's not the RFL, then it's the BBC, or SKY. Adam Pearson seems to think that Perez and his north american experiment is the magic bullet and is "seething" at the way he sees RL as a downtrodden poorer relation to Union, but he offers nothing other than spite and some pipe dream about a NA TV deal making League able to compete.
Remove the cap.......it won't suddenly create a more talented player pool, but you can be sure that the ones we have will happily take the raises.
Welcome Toronto to SL.........do you really think that Toronto v Wigan is going to have NA TV execs salivating?

Instead of blaming someone else for the games failings, why not address them.

In 22 years we have been totally and utterly overtaken by Union and whilst they've gone about their business we've chopped and changed the game from top to bottom, seen one of our biggest clubs go bust, seen millionaire backers come and then leave, had the same 3 teams winning the last 12 Grand Finals and in had the relegated team bounce back thus relegating the team that replaced them 12 months earlier.

Nice boring rant defending RU again......if you look back I never criticised or doubted their numbers.....never mentioned them at all.

Simply pointed out how convenient your selected week of SL figures doesn't tell a true story.

I agree the sport takes a lot of the blame for its failings.....does that mean we can't talk about a broadcasters failings? You don't have to get so defensive every time because you only want RL to take a kicking. When you were defending the BBC in a previous argument with me you criticised Sky.....yet I do it and it's your usual response "oh blame everyone but yourselves".

1/ Fair point. The only thing I would say is what someone posted above. That RU is more of a county thing and RL a city thing. But other than that you make a valid point.

2/ The point I was trying to make about internationals is nothing to do with attendances.
But how having a solid international calander with 11 games a year for 1 country. Avaliable on normal tv, raise the profile of the sport. Puts it in people's conscious. Having a higher profile international game than filters down to club ru. People now who there stars are and want to see them etc, which can lead them to go more often. Plus there internationals are more of an event, sold and produced as one, to the media and fans as a must see event (even if it's Italy at Twickenham). Ours pass you by unless your into the sport, do nothing to raise the sports profile.
Look at the last WC'S, most games were on TV. There was a highlights show every night. Constant analysis, paper coverage, radio shows, phone ins etc for the RU one. For the RL one, only the England games were live, the odd highlights show. And very little about it in the other forms I mentioned. All this raise the idea that ru is more important. And of course this raises the profile of the clubs.

3/ in theory your right. And we have the benefit of 2 months when other than tournaments, there is no football or RU. But the way football has taken over, pushes most other sports aside. And as mentioned until we have a proper every year international calander, it is out of mind and seen as a small club game. Personally think that we should offer cheaper tickets to people who have football season tickets. And clubs who share a stadium could offer stadium season ticket for both sports.
The way football dominates even out of season can't be underestimated.
Plus it's changed the way people view sports, with its tv deals. Now people see so much they don't have to go out. Which has unfortunately changed people wanting to go to games.

4/ Totally agree, we don't get enough people into main stream media, and when they do its more about the negatives. Even when watching on sky the commentary is more negative. Weather you like him or not John Kear is brilliant at putting the game, player skills over. We need more people like him promoting the game. Stop coaches talking about completing sets. Get them talking about individual brilliance and skills. Push the sport into people's lives by outlining the good. It dosn't help when one of the most reported/general intrest games the mpg, and immediately after all every one talks about is it shouldn't be played etc,etc. Highlight the game, why you won it. Individual performances (Derek Beaumont, was fantastic after this year's one).

5/ stop changing the system every couple of years. Pick 1 (I personally favour 14 team SL, 14th relegated. 13th in the championship play offs against 2, 3 v 4 the other game). But stick with it more than 3 years.

I genuinely randomly picked that week on BARB.....same way I randomly picked the month. I didn't even know SKY had any European Rugby and was shocked at how small their viewing figures were.....I can see why the RFU et al woud be happy now BT have the lot with C5 giving them FTA coverage....and I am not defending RU, simply highlighting the task ahead of Adam Pearson in achieving parity with it.



I don't want any sport to "get a kicking". SKY have moved away from SP1 SP2 etc to dedicated channels, but AFAIK, if you pay for Sky Sports then you can acces the lot, so regardless of which sky sports channel it is on, it can be viewed.
Without SKY we wouldn't have a professional league and the fact that they now literally own the game is 100% down to the idleness and laziness of both the clubs and those charged with managing their affairs......but we made our bed....as for the BBC debate, I will 100% always return to that most damning of stats regarding the 2013 Semi-final getting fewer viewers than the Ireland v AB's game the following day...there was less demand for it and it is not the BBC's job to create the demand.

I see from comments in various media that the new SL board is "looking into the legalities" of the current TV deal......there are comments alluding to some parties being paid more than others and that the full details of the current deal aren't known to everyone.
[urlhttps://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/super-league-clubs-keen-to-have-greater-say-in-key-decisions-1-8953441[/url

The problem is that regardless of what the future of sports broadcasting will look like, we don't have any say until this deal runs out, by which time the 12 or 14 SL chairmen will have already decided that THEIR CLUBS are the ones making the money so they should keep it, cutting the rest of the game loose.......and good luck trying to sell Halifax v Dewsbury to any reputable broadcaster......sky own the rights to both SL and the Championship and as Derek B@Leigh has just found out.....they can do with them as they please......but still, at least the clubs all got their 300k signing fee so that's OK.

Interesting to note that the legal aspects of contracts between the RFL/Clubs and Sky are being looked into. In what capacity,I'm not sure.

Probably looking for a loophole so they can renegotiate or go back out to tender.

I don't get that impression at all. There won't be a loophole anyway. This is sky sports remember. They know what they are doing.

From the article it just sounds like the club's want more say in where all the money actually goes.

Well i hope more money goes to junior development/grass roots

Spot on pal

There needs to be a decent pathway into the sport, especially down south.

We looked into playing the game and found that league gets lip service as a summer fitness exercise for union players.

It was only getting involved with England Touch highlighting the similarities in the way the games are played that put us on a path towards playing the sport.

We are mostly over 40's men who are happy to stay away from full contact, but even if we had a good player come and join who is say 18, we would have nowhere to send them if they wanted to progress.

So, 4 months after he claimed it would take maybe 3 months to see the seeds of change and 6 months to see major changes, the only thing I can see is fewer fans at games (10%) and fewer viewers tuning in (8%).