The 30th Super League season was officially launched at Manchester’s Co Op Live today with season ticket sales across the 12 clubs already up by more than 10% on 2024, laying the foundations for another opening round aggregate attendance in excess of 70,000.
The 2024 Betfred Super League season began with a record-breaking Round One attendance of 76,752 and ended with a memorable Play-Off series – the most-watched ever, through live coverage on Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and with a Grand Final attendance of 68,173 at Old Trafford the best for seven years.
All the indications are that the competition will maintain that momentum when it kicks off on Valentine’s Weekend – starting on Thursday February 13 as Wigan Warriors launch their title defence against their local rivals Leigh Leopards.
That game will be the first Super League fixture with Captain’s Challenge available, allowing each team to call for video review of certain decisions, including tries - the latest evolution of the video referee in the 30th season since its groundbreaking introduction to British sport in the first Super League season in 1996.
The other new frontier for the Betfred Super League in 2025 will be a fixture in Las Vegas, as the Warriors take their Round 3 clash with Warrington Wolves to the Allegiant Stadium on Saturday March 1 – the first match in a quadruple header which also features two NRL fixtures, and Jodie Cunningham’s England Women facing the Australia Jillaroos in an historic international.
Sky Sports will provide live and exclusive coverage of all four of those matches, and will also broadcast the remaining 161 fixtures in the 27-round regular Betfred Super League season from February to September - including the return of the Magic Weekend to St James’ Park in Newcastle in May – followed by two rounds of Play-Offs and the Grand Final on Saturday October 11.
Advance sales for both Magic and the Grand Final are also well up on the corresponding stage in 2024.
BBC Sport will again show 15 Betfred Super League fixtures including two Play-Offs under the broadcast agreement which began in 2024, kicking off with the Round One match between St Helens and Salford Red Devils on Saturday February 15 – in addition to their coverage of the Betfred Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair Challenge Cups.
Super League +, the streaming platform launched by Rugby League Commercial in 2024, is back for a second season offering live coverage of at least four matches in every round of the regular season domestically – other than the six matches in the Magic round, which will be exclusively live on Sky Sports – and of all 162 regular season fixtures plus Play-Offs in numerous nations around mainland Europe, Africa and much of Oceania, from Norway to New Zealand.
Rhodri Jones, the Managing Director of RL Commercial, said:
“We chose Co-Op Live as our launch venue for the Betfred Super League 2025 because as the largest entertainment arena in the UK, it aligns with the ambition and optimism surrounding the competition ahead of the 30th Super League season.
“We know we can rely on the players of the Betfred Super League to deliver entertainment, intensity and ferocity on a weekly basis again in 2025 – starting on Valentine’s Weekend, and the opening Thursday night fixture between Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards.
“There are more Thursday night matches for Sky Sports viewers to enjoy in 2025 as one feature of a reshaped fixture list which has a spread of games through every weekend.
“The 2024 Betfred Super League season started and ended with a number of records being broken, and we congratulate our clubs for the way they have maintained that momentum and built anticipation through the winter to deliver a significant increase in season ticket sales.
“With a full house already guaranteed for Hull KR’s home opener against Castleford Tigers next Friday night, and strong ticket sales for all the other fixtures especially the Thursday night Battle of the Borough, we can already say with some confidence that we will again have an aggregate attendance of over 70,000 – a landmark which was reached for the first time last year, for a six-match opening round.”
