Bugger.

It will be interesting to hear what the Chairman of Sport England has to say about this, The silence will be deafening.

I was under the impression a few years ago the RFL where after getting the CC removed from the list? was I dreaming it?

I think a few things here, Andy Burnham has a large part to play with the list and he is one of "us" so to speak, I doubt he would allow the removal if it didnt have the blessing of the RFL.

I'm not sure either way, I've no love for the BBC anymore, so i'm not overly fussed about them losing the cup but i'm concerned that say if ESPN got it that it would alienate the tournement.

As has been said, it coming off the list doesn't mean it wont be on the BBC in the future.

I'm not sure what it has to do with him, it's to do with the department of media and sport and the RFL strategy department if there is such a thing, Nigel Wood most likely I guess.

But I bet Lewis is delighted that Wimbledon is on the retained list.

Well if thats what Wimbledon want then so be it.

these things aren't just thrown together, they do involve the sport governing bodies too you know

does it really matter?



if removing it from the FTA list means a bidding war between the bbc & sky for the challenge cup then good! i don't see what the problem is?

sky would love it,and they'll probably show games from round 1 or 2 if it was attractive enough

and the BBC would probably pay that bit extra to keep it given the historical ties between the BBC & challenge cup..


crack on i say

If Sky get it , prepare to lose live Saturday and Sunday afternoon games as we have now on the BBC.

The early rounds of the Cup fall slap bang in the middle of the football and rugby union seasons. No chance whatsoever of those getting shunted to fit in Rochdale v Halifax in Round 2 of the Challenge Cup.

Expect to see maybe one live game on a Friday night and the other on either Thursday or Sunday nights IMO.

Since when did the BBC cover a game before the quarter finals?

I seem to recall seeing Saints win at Leeds earlier this year. That wasn't the quarter-final, was it?

About the same time as fans stopped bothering about the competition before the quarter finals probably.

Don't the BBC pick up coverage from the last 16?

Well they have for as long as I can remember. At least 10 years.

I think it's a disappointing development for the game and whatever extra Sky bid will only be short term gain for long term pain.

For those of us who live outside the heartlands/north of England then the Challenge Cup games were about the only exposure you ever get of RL down here other than brief mentions hidden away several pages inside the newspapers. I think watching the BBC coverage was a large part of actually learning to love the game for me, and I've no do doubt that I wouldn't have gone out of my way to purchase a Sky subscription without having been fed the BBC diet first.

Imo, free, easy access viewing is a must if the RFL have any serious thoughts of expansion to areas where coverage of the game is already minimal at best. To think that this will start a bidding war is crazy. The BBC only really care about Football, Wimbledon and to a lesser extent Union, they won't go out of their way to keep it and Sky will be happy to bid just above what they're prepared to.

Don't think that will be the case at all. For a start, the BBC start at the 4th Round, and that is AFTER the start of the SL season, so Sky will obviously be able to find time to fit them in if they want. Not to mention they've managed to fit in Championship coverage.

If anything, I'd imagine they'd just keep the usual slots of Friday night and Saturday evening for the cup games (not really a problem) and possibly even a Thursday game to make up for the lack of a Championship game.

Plus, if that's a problem, surely the RFL will have some bartering power here and could request afternoon games if it was that much of an issue to them?