Quote: SmokeyTA "No. IMG did.'"
No. Mike Smith of Keighley Cougars did. Well, he got the original £87 million deal with SKY in 1995 by negotiating with them, the basis including that he wrote 'Framing the Future' and got the RL to agree it along with a move to summer. I know the contract's been renegotiated since then. BTW, the High Court ordered a higher proportion of the deal be distributed to clubs outside the SL than the RL originally planned. The resulting proportionate split ought legally to continue to apply. SL clubs are part of the RFL - which gives them the ability to operate the competition (referees, discipline, monitoring salary cap, player registration etc etc etc). I don't want SL clubs to break away from the RFL. They can if they want. They'd then need to pay for their own central infrastructure. Their players wouldn't be eligible for England, they couldn't play in the Challenge Cup etc. It would of course be a nonsense. But as part of being members of the RFL they have to pay the due and fair 'fee' for membership, thereby supporting the whole game, to the benefit of us all.
