bramleyrhino wrote:
Assuming it is true (and it's TalkSport, so it's a decently proportioned assumption), can anyone really be suprised?
The whole argument for a bigger TV deal seems to be "but we want one", justified by some gerrymandered stats around opening week TV figures and the viewing figures for a Grand Final played during an international football week.
I certainly don't see SL offering anything tangible to Sky that they don't already pay for and in many cases, given how the TV and advertising model has evolved, we're actually offering them less value that we were when the previous deal was hastily signed.
I would think that if we could get London back into Super League, and Toulouse also promoted into Super League, with Toronto being retained there, by 2022, with the prospect of New York and perhaps Ottawa joining in 2023 or 2024, then the RFL would be offering a more interesting and thus valuable schedule to Sky and all other potential broadcasters. A Super League team list that is not so obviously confined to the M62 corridor will appeal to viewers, especially foreign born viewers, in the more cosmopolitan south of England. If my Super League promotion scenario was to happen, then rugby league would have a good chance of getting at least the same if not more money in the next contract.
Unfortunately promotion and relegation precludes my scenario from being a certainty, while obviously a return to licensing could guarantee it.
