I still find it hard to believe that we accepted no money over a good offer from Betfred for Super League sponsorship, he must shake his head in disbelief. It caused unbelievable problems that just shouldn't exist in a sport so popular on Sky.

I read somewhere that the viewing figures are pretty impressive, as in the the most watched domestic league barr footy. Unsure if it is true or not. I think we need to renegotiate the sky deal asap or when its next up. Also we could take a better deal even if its away from sky,however that is a risk in itself remember ITV digital and setanta (sp) sports. I personally would stick with sky as its a safe bet but money wise we need a heavy investment. I guess the viewing figures would determine the deal.

The next round of tv negotiations will be absolutely crucial. The presence of BT sport could put the RFL in the best negotiating position they've been in for living memory.

I can't remember the exact figures, but BT recently signed the RU premiership for approx £40m per season. The current sky deal for SL is something like £50m over three seasons, despite SL consistently outperforming domestic RU in TV ratings. Clearly SL has been grossly undervalued. We should be looking to double our TV income next time round (2015), and if we can spark a bidding contest between BT and Sky we might just be able to.

If SKY lost RL, it's going to hit their advertising budget.

Footy, RU and RL off sky. Leave sky with half of the footy fixtures and cricket.

Not sure how many buy Sky Sports for RL alone, but I do and cancel it every October.

The reason they pay so much for RU could be something to do with the perceived audience that the sport brings, so sponsorship is more lucrative maybe? So viewing figures may not hold as much weight as you think?

I'm assuming above btw.

When does the TV deal run out? Is it 2015? If so, that puts us in a good position with the new restructuring. We need to negotiate well and BT Sport's presence will put us in a good position. Hopefully Barwick is a strong negotiator.

It would be great if they got the challenge cup (along win the BBC of course), but I don't think that would be attractive to them as a broadcaster. It could do wonders for the comp if they got hold of it.

Me too , if sky lost RL I would be ditching my sky sports sub pronto, In fact I'd be tempted to ditch the lot and go with a cheaper option

correct.


1000 viewers in the AB social demographic, are worth more than 10,000 advertisers in the C2DE demographics. Think Audi, Mercedes, Omega and Hilton advertising associated with Rugby Union, compared to Wonga, John Smiths and the Daily Star for RL.

It won't be, and shouldn't be, Barwick's job to deal with stuff like that. The role of Chairman is to set the strategy for the business, the role of the Chief Executive is to implement the strategy. Barwick (and the Board) will say "we need more revenue from TV rights to implement XYZ developments", Nigel Wood will actually have to go away and put that all into practice.

Fair enough.

And thats where it all falls down , I wouldn't trust Mr Creosote to run a bath never mind the RFL. The first thing Barwick should do is find a decent CEO with a decent track record.

What concerns me with Barwick is that every time he is interviewed, he takes the opportunity to tell everyone how connected he is and how he is going to exploit all his contacts to increase the profile if the sport, improve media reporting, bring more money in and generally have a massive impact on RL.

He's going to do this all on 2 days a month part time work.

And we still have no main SL sponsor.