Rugby League Gets Big Government Handout Many rugby league sides will have breathed a massive sigh of relief as the news broke overnight that the government had set aside a sum of £16 million to safeguard the sport through the Coronavirus pandemic.   RFL chairman Ralph Rimmer had been petitioning the government for support since the shutdown in mid-March, and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the government had made the move to ‘protect the entire sport’. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Rugby League Gets Big Government Handout Many rugby league sides will have breathed a massive sigh of relief as the news broke overnight that the government had set aside a sum of £16 million to safeguard the sport through the Coronavirus pandemic.   RFL chairman Ralph Rimmer had been petitioning the government for support since the shutdown in mid-March, and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the government had made the move to ‘protect the entire sport’. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Bet that’s peed the rfl off really, because if they had there way they would have shared it out equally Wigan get 8 million and Toronto get the other 8 million

I can see SL wanting most of the money, also on Look North they reported that Championship had no TV money from sponsors!! Why then did Sky bib for championship TV screening!! and we get no money

I could be wrong, but it seems to me, the RFL have been allocated this loan of 16 million £. Therefore, all the clubs, including SL clubs will have to apply to the RFL, for any loans. The RFL, have control, not Super League.

If I remember correctly, the championship rights were basically bundled in for free with the last bumper rights deal agreed as a way of warding off interest from other broadcasters.

Although Sky clearly don’t feel they need to, the game needs to enforce they show the championship and League 1 more or find someone else who will as it’s one of the few exposure avenues available and it’s currently wasted especially if a lower deal means anyone outside of super league will get nothing.

I personally think the championship and league 1 should pull away from the rfl and superleague and seek there own way forward, I also think that there is a better brand of rugby been played in the lower leagues too, too much money in superleague, it’s become a safety game, no one wants to lose and everyone fears losing there place in the team and having to go back to work like normal folk, ie your fans who pay good money to watch proper rugby, long gone have them days, I think the first 10years or so of superleague was a seller, not just saying this because I’m a bulls fan, it’s just my opinion

I agree with Molsk about the lower leagues being better to watch. RL has been my only sport for about 45 Yrs but I hardly watch a full SL game as I find them mainly one sided and boring.
This money though is a loan - not a grant and will need to be paid back so that will need to be dealt with.
JK says no fans till next year. Will ST money be paid back or rolled over to next year?
This money is helpful but when shared out will only be a very small plaster if games are started again behind doors with absolutely no money coming in except 80% wages paid.
I still expect some clubs to fold unfortunately.

If Games start then the furlough payments will stop. Whilst claiming furlough you aren't allowed to work for the company in any form. In fact as soon as players resume training they would come off the furlough scheme.

You are right. Just read Carter at wakey say that. That means they can't play behind closed doors. I just can't see how most clubs get out of this without there being some go to the wall. Maybe the season is over now and everything needs closing till Christmas pre-season but how do players earn a living till then and what with contracts. Oh, what a mess and good luck to all the clubs owners. I always wanted to win the Euro lottery and buy the Northern but maybe not anymore.

Think there's more pressure on SL to play behind closed doors as they receive the biggest portion of their annual funding via the sky contract and if they aren't playing then conceivably Sky could refuse to pay or claim back payments already paid, same situation as premier league. That's less of an issue for championship where our portion of tv money is a much percentage of our income streams. But the flip side is that matchday income is a much bigger element of our incomings so can't see how playing behind closed doors can be viable. As I understand it idea of the government money is that clubs ca put claims in based on shortfalls in income due to lockdown based on projections given to RFL before season started. So say we budgeted for 2k attendance and x amount of food/drink sales on matchday. In theory we could deduct the number of season ticket holders from the 2k figure then claim the remainder + food and drink income from RFL. But remember this is only a loan and not a grant so it would need paying back at some point. Can't see that 16 million going very far if SL and championship clubs are putting claims in on that basis over a protracted period of paying behind closed doors.
Anther thing to consider is how does club deal with season ticket holders if they play behind closed doors? Refunds for missed games ( unlikely given money probably already used) or some form of cheaper ticket for next year based on number of games behind closed doors or just expect Ticket holder to grin an bear it.
Only option I can think of that could appease ST holders and cost club little is to put all behind closed games on Bulls TV and give them free access. They could charge a small fee for those of us who would normally be walkup support to generate a little income too.

I think the idea of games being on stream if played behind closed doors is a good one however I’m assuming Sky would have to give permission given they own the broadcast rights.

Plus I often find the stream on the OurLeague app is terrible quality and pauses every few seconds. I mostly don’t watch it when it’s free never mind expect people to pay for it.

goes without saying that SKYwould have to agree to streams, It would have to be a league wide thing. Clubs need to offset the lost match attendance income any way they can for rest of season. Think SL clubs are in a slightly better position as at least their player wages are covered by SKY payment. At our level SKY money doesn't cover player wages bill. Could easily see this season just being written fat every level below SL to cut costs and restart in 2021.

Given the circumstances, I can't think why Sky wouldn't agree to lower league games being streamed, either live or on delay. They pay, basically for SL games, ours is just an add on with little, if any, noticeable cost attached. They have no wish to show them but I'd guess they also have no wish to see our clubs go to the wall. They would gain nothing if that were to happen.

Football's league 2 clubs have voted to end the season. Pretty obvious why when you look at the comments of the Stevenage owner Phil Wallace who told BBC Sport: "We have 10 games to play ….. It would cost us £140,000 for the tests, we would have to bring players out of furlough and comply with a 47-page health and safety document regarding sterilisation of stadiums etc.