Quote: The Ghost of '99 "The nation isn't Union focussed by any stretch of the imagination. The Times readership and/or editorial staff might be though.'"
The nation isn't 'Union focused', but Union does a much better job at capturing the attention of wider audiences through events such as the Six Nations and the European Cup.
RL doesn't have that, and I think a large part of that is down to the sport's image. The Challenge Cup Final is colloquially known as "Rugby League's Big Day Out" - really? In 2018? Is a day trip to London really that much of a treat these days? We have resistance from the supporter base over Magic Weekend, largely fuelled by some sections of the support being incredulous that they might have to buy a train ticket or - worse still - a budget hotel room at event prices. And our "big event" semi finals are being held in the cultural and tourist Mecca that is Horwich, near Bolton.
The decision from The Times isn't one that should cause surprise. The Times understands its audiences, it understands the advertisers that it wants to attract, and it simply needs to produce content to connect the two. Look at the paragraph above and tell me that you're suprised that it doesn't see RL as a worthwhile investment to achieve that.
The decision from The Times isn't the death-knell for the sport on it's own, but there is a danger of "death by a thousand cuts" here. The Times isn't the first media entity to decide that RL has no commercial value to it, and it won't be the last. Super League Europe and the clubs (who, lets be honest, get an easy ride when it comes to issues about the marketing of the sport) need to do much more, and quickly, to reverse this trend.
And I share the concerns expressed by Saddened about the future TV deal. There's a lot of bluster from certain sections about how good a deal Sky are getting from RL, and how certain individuals can get a much better TV contract in 2021, but I just don't see it. I don't see that we're offering Sky any additional value to justify them paying more for RL content - in fact, I see the opposite.