I agree. RFL should be coming up with a huge portfolio of evidence to market RL as the massively entertaining game that it is, turn it into a top presentation and getting somebody with a lot of charisma to present the case to BT Sports; getting them interested would give Sky some competition which would hopefully lead to a better deal for RL.

Can't see it happening!

Best chance is for England to somehow win the WC down-under and serious competition for RL coverage is born from that excitement.

Its like it was funny the first time and possibly the 2nd and 3rd but like you say, doing the same thing over and over I can only imagine him sitting there giggling to himself with each one.

Can you remember a couple of years ago the good Dr caused a bit of a storm when he said Super League was wrong to accept the Sky bid straight and also for so long, they should see if any other options could be found. I believe he said something like

"You don't marry the first bird you sleep with"

I think he's been proved right

Its not just the sky deal or the RFL thats the problem. The clubs have become so lazy and don't market or "speculate to accumulate". They take the sky money, put out a few tweets and thats it. The sport has gone backwards so much since the the boom years 96-to the mid 2000s. The crowds are falling and apart from Wigan and to an extent Leeds, the clubs do nothing to market their players. Remember how we marketed Robbie Paul? Every young kid in Bradford knew who he was and wanted to be him. People go on about getting players recognised outside the M62 corridor, but things have got so bad i think we're struggling to get players recognised IN the M62 corridor. To use an example, Tom Johnstone is one of the most exciting prospects in the game at the moment. His highlights reel would make for good viewing. But if i printed a picture and took it around Wakefield (bearing in mind he is also a HG player) i bet not even 50% of the Wakefield public wpuld recognise him. Thats just an example, all clubs are guilty of not marketing IMHO

Well, fair enough, that's pretty funny Roger, but the reality is there aren't any other birds willing to sleep with the RFL.

The only options are well known broadcasters, so hardly hiding and waiting to be discovered by the RFL. The sale of broadcasting rights is a public auction and the others haven't made any successful bids as yet. The good doctor's idea is fine - maybe he should tell us who he has in mind?

I get what you're saying, but I think he was on about accepting on Sky's terms so quickly and the deal was for too long. Without checking I think the deal was for 6 or 7 year. Yes that's a bit of long term security but I'm sure if it was a 3 year deal Sky would of been offering another one in 3 years time. I think the Dr was saying it should be worth more money, not just accept it so quickly

I trust Marwan as a good businessman before anybody from the RFL. Look what a great deal they got for championship clubs

I'm pretty sure the last time the Sky deal was up for renewal, the RFL never even bothered to speak to any other potential bidders.
I mean, why not at least offer it to the likes of BT/Premier etc. and see what they have to say?

Shortly after the deal was announced, Premier Sports came out and said that they weren't even consulted or given a chance to bid. They were so vexed by it, they stopped bothering to cover the Championship which they still had rights for, since they were doing that at no profit in order to build their coverage for the future (or words to that effect). Once that future no longer existed through no fault of their own, they saw no point showing the Championship any more.

They probably wouldn't have competed with Sky. But to not even be given the chance after a couple of years of showing Championship rugby every week (god would we all love that back!), that was pretty shoddy treatment from the RFL.

If the Championship and lower leagues had some sort of TV deal, they could at least make some additional revenue from advertising.

Given the lack of monies in the game and the issues that have affected several clubs, then the RFL need to held to some account for being at least partially responsible for that

I think the idea of championship clubs having their own deal is one way round, but BT have never given any impression of being interested though Premier could beI guess.
In terms of a SL deal I doubt very much that Premier have the clout to outbid Sky and, as before, BT don't seem interested.

Whilst I agree with most of that, what I don't understand is why the RFL couldn't hammer out a deal with Premier.

Sure, during the negotiations, it will have been made difficult by the Super 8s. If Sky have SL rights and Premier have Championship rights, who shows Middle 8s? You'd have to work out a deal for both to show, with one having priority over match choice. But to just give Sky it all and totally neglect to ask the question "Are you actually going to show any Championship games other than a stupid festival weekend" is p!ss poor. Or they asked the question, were told no they're not showing it and didn't actually care. Either way, they totally shafted Championship teams for reasons already outlined regarding sponsorship and exposure.

Premier said they were interested in showing Championship. Sky clearly aren't. So how the rights end up with Sky could only fall down to money. But since Premier were never given the chance to bid, it's hard to use that as a reason when you don't know how much they could have bid.