There is a broadcaster and an online platform interested apparently

I do hope you are correct but will they or the current deal pay what is paid now? & will the BBC want to pay after they are under enormous pressure to cut costs or go commercial? As much as I love this game I am not so sure the rest of the world actually give a toss!

Really, I think this is a myth peddled by some fans of the "big 4" in SL.
Do you really think that any SL club or ANY business out in the big wide world, is not trying to grow their business ??

Most SL clubs NEED the Sky money to sustain their current business and even the stronger clubs in the comp would ned to re shape their business if they were suddenly to find themselves without the Sky cash.
However, to suggest that ANY club isn't trying to improve and grow their business is just plain daft

Well several clubs vote against pretty much every idea to grow the game

Some managed to get into serious peril even with the parachute payment.

Here’s a slightly different take on things....

Let’s say Sky don’t offer the golden egg anymore, Superleague doesn’t get the sort of TV money previously offered, gambling firms can’t sponsor anymore, so effectively the game struggles to stay full-time. What’s the big worry with that in reality?

The sport will still exist, the clubs will still exist, the history of the game will remain, we’ll all still be able to go and watch our teams, the players and facilities just won’t be as good long term. The players will likely have day jobs etc....

So, effectively, we’d be back to how the game looked in the 80’s in terms of financially - I loved my rugby league then (probably even more so as we didn’t have to soften the game), and I’m sure I’d love it again.

Obviously it’s better to have the Sky coverage and the full time athletes, but so what if we don’t. I’ll still go to Headingley every week to cheer on Leeds - and who knows, we might even get rid of the silly Rhinos name and return to the Loiners with our rightful hanging sheep badge....

I’m not sure it’s the disaster people think.

Christ

Indeed, we could wake up in a world where penecillin, space flight (or even flight itself) was a dream. The earth was flat, the kids went down mines, imagine the eutopia, none of that modern day internet rubbish, pah, tws better when I were a lad...

I’m not saying it was better, or that it would be better.... but would the game survive? Would we still go watch our teams?

I love playing rugby league, I love watching rugby league, at all standards. A big part of my enjoyment of it is the family and friends who I associate with the game, the history of going with my dad, my grandad, uncles etc the fact they went with their fathers, that I now get to do the same with my lads - that family tradition being passed down, the emotion of the wins/losses, the away day trips, the banter with the fans, all those memories made with family and friends all having the same emotional tie to a club. I just don’t see that we would lose the thing that makes our sport so great if it didn’t have the money it does now.

tradition doesn't pay the bills, people can yearn for yesteryear all they want, it is why RL and the UK are stuck in the dark ages. (imho)

tradition doesn't pay the bills, people can yearn for yesteryear all they want, it is why RL and the UK are stuck in the dark ages. (imho)

I’m not yearning for yesteryear, I’m saying it’s not the end of the world if the sport had to go part-time again. It would force the clubs to be more pro-active with their attraction of fans, though they’d have a marketing budget of a smaller shoestring that most have currently, but the game would survive, and people could and would still go and see their teams - the sport would just have to cut its cloth accordingly. Young lads would still grow up wanting to play the game (yes we’d probably lose the elite athletes to other sports), but there’d still be a sport, and we could all still go watch our teams with the same pride and passion.

But obviously, I’d prefer expansion to work and the sport to thrive globally and financially. But if it doesn’t, we’ll probably still all be here, having similar inane conversations on here, I’d still be on here rather than doing the actual work I’m being paid to do by my employer