1,918,549 fans generated about £29,000,000 in gate receipts (£15 a pop) during the regular season in 2012. If you work on the same again in residuals (shirts, beer, food etc) then you're looking at a £65,000,000 a year industry (including play-offs) with 70,000 regular fans (weekly) spending on average about £850 each a year inside grounds, not counting travel and accommodation.

Television audiences average out at approximately 150,000 a game over a season of 67 games including play-offs, reaching another 10,000,000 or so viewers across the summer months and generates another £18,000,000 in revenue for the clubs....

Why is it the sport is struggling? The better part of £80,000,000 income from the fans and TV alone shows the buying power of those that watch the sport with 10 million TV viewers and close to 2 million attendees, yet last year, the RFL saw fit to give access to these consumers for nothing. Why?

Personally, I believe it is because the RFL don't have a clue how to run a professional sport and specifically, Superleague.

What other revenue does the govening body of the sport generate other than the TV deal with SKY, which is allabout Superleague. I can't imagine the FA relying 98% on the money from the Barclays, neoither can I imagine the Rahs relying 100% on Aviva.

The RFL should, IMO, step back from the SL in all aspects other than to receive a decent % of the TV money to filter down to grass rootsand they should let an independent business minded commission run the top 14 team league.

The game in the UK has stagnated over 17 years at the top level and if it is to truly grow, it needs fresh thinking at the highest level...the kindo of thinking being articulated by the new breed of owners coming into the game....where the clubs have to strive for self sufficiency through cultivating the fan-bases, delivering EVENTS and cease the reliance on handouts from owners.

The RFL, while it has to also govern the semi-pro and amateur ranks, can't objectively deliver this growth.....IMO that is.

If I had a $ for every numpty who predicted RL would be dead in ten years I could sponsor Sl myself!

Where did I predict they WOULD be dead?

I said that if they don't evolve and become more business savy, then English RL,as in the RFL in it's current guise, would be running an amateur sport......2nd year of SL without a paying naming rights sponsor......you need to get out of perth and have a pint of reality JB......the Championship in soccer is struggling to replace their outgoing naming rights sponsor...it's not all milk and honey in the UK...

I predict Superleague will not be directly run by the RFL within 5 years. Clubs like Leeds, Hull, Wigan, Catalan, St Helens, Warrington will break away and invite 2 other clubs to create a SUPERLEAGUE SELECT independantly run.
The RFL just don't have the processes to re-structure the game to a higher sports business model. This will have to come from a working group from the breakaway six.

Good point OP I'd say I agree that Sky Sports should run the top flight, cut out the middleman.

Ideally, no ... But the RFL is currently run by clowns who should have had the self respect to resign by now.

It principle, I'd prefer they stayed together, but presently there appears to be no prospect whatsoever of clearing out the clowns from the RFL ( they even have defenders on here .. the mind boggles at what they'd actually have to do before these people agreed that we might deserve better) so unfortunately, a split is probably the least bad option compared with years more of this lot.