I'd would subscribe to a years long of streaming as long as the quality is good . Sky have used Youtube before and Ourleague has improved but still needs more improvement .

Can see both sides here. In fairness to SKY over the last 10 years the game has promised innovations such as the Super8s and Toronto and it hasnt delivered any growth and we are now back to franchises just as it was at the end of the 00s. To an outsider looking in it doesnt look like a sport with things uner control.



But of course without money the game cant hope to grow a lot of teams including our own are going to have to find yet more savings just to tread water.

Which could be a good revenue stream for the game, Conference football have done it for a couple of years now and it hasnt hit crowds. They need to find a partner like Youtube though, OurLeague wont attract the more casual viewers.

Agreed, if they can make our league something like watch NRL and not something designed by an A level IT student, it has got great potential. It's a big boost for Catalan and potentially Toulouse too with every one of their games (home and away) being broadcast nationwide in France. I wonder if selling the rights to international broadcasters will also bring extra revenue in to clubs?

Personally The chance of watching all the other games in a weekend live for me is great.



It appears that Sky only increased their offer from £17m to £23m on the basis of televising all the games and them getting another 4 live programmes a week. From which the game gets video refs at all matches without clubs or the RFL having to pay for them.



However, It will be interesting to see if televising all games will affect attendances.



Those who get a pass come good times and bad will always do that, so providing clubs can enthuse them every closed season with new signings (or promises of jam tomorrow

) they should follow current trends, but some marginal subscribers, might with the opportunity of watching every home game from the comfort of their on home/pub, just not bother with a pass. Also with some clubs who are doing badly in the league, or in the bottom half at the conclusion of it (with no relegation) and with little chance of making the top 6, it's possible, with the financial climate that many who might have bought a ticket for a game at that point may stay at home.



As for the IMG situation well as I have said before on here, the veto's of the clubs on most of their suggestions does appear to point to them trying to initiate a transformation in the games fortunes with one hand tied behind their backs. I wonder how long it will be before they pull out???

Having every game on live could potentially increase the value of sponsorship deals too, if you're a shirt sponsor, your brand is now shown on TV at least 27 times a year now, rather than around 10 times a year now. Read in Matt Shaw's latest article too they're going to reduce the number of Thursday games and with every game being live there won't be the scenario of multiple games being played at once... reducing that annoying situation of hearing the result of the sky game on the way back from an FC game!

It's either change or die , Have the SL chairmen got the collective balls to think for the great good of the game . We can probably guess whats around the corner in three years time !!

Cas promising to get a new ground if they get to keep their grade B license?

What is the change though?



What even is the greater good of the game?

The fact that Rugby League is one of the two major sports in Australia and attracts much more money from TV and Advertising than the game in the UK is the attraction for Athletes to come into the game and is the reason its miles ahead of the RFL. In my opinion its nothing to do with not having promotion and relegation.IMG have just looked at the Australia model and thought we will follow that but the two games at the moment are miles apart both on the field and financially.

Removing promotion and relegation or scrapping Magic weekend is crazy thinking.

Loop fixtures are a pain but so are SKY Thursday games.

Without private equity funding the UK game is going to go further down the sports ladder with Womens football now the buzz word.

To move out of the minority sport classification the game has to produce superstars that newspapers and tv companies want to show or interview which leads to young althetes wanting to follow them and play the game.

That can only happen by bringing in Private equity funding into the RFL so that they are the governing body,not club chairmen.

The salary cap needs to be raised.

Its up to all clubs to look at innovative ways to raise money outside of club shirts and clothing.

That comes back to ‘what is the game?’. Private equity would be very focused on getting as much money out of the game as possible, as quickly as possible. And because that likely isn’t very much, what they’d put in at the start wouldn’t be very much. However, in fairness, they would have an aggressive, take no prisoners approach to increasing revenue.



They’d do whatever it takes to secure themselves the best possible return on investment, nothing would be off the table. However, that brave new future might include rule or format changes unpopular with traditionalists (okay, only one way to make an omelette), relocating clubs (is the game, in part, the communities it represents?) or selling up to the RFU.



Also, like anything is fairness, private equity firms can sometimes be incompetent even on their own terms. Everything carries risk, including caution. Private equity is a really big one.

On balance if the new tv deal with SKY does mean every game is televised and we have a video ref for every game then in some ways that does negate the lower deal. I imagine to have this in place will not be cheap and likely cost a lot more than the reduction to the last deal so may well be part for the reason for a reduction to cover some of those costs.



Hopefully there is still scope to increase the revenue stream in to the game with other broadcast partners such as Channel 4 and some of the streaming options.

This post really echo's my own thoughts. I don't expect it to affect home crowds really but can see extra revenue being made from those supporters who rarely go to away matches bar the biggies.

I think it sounds positive, every game of TV and the VR at all games, adding some level of consistency to games. Ok there is a drop in money, but all games on TV, gives clubs and the league an the opportunity to earn money extra ways.



Not really surprised Sky have dropped the figures, I'd love to see the viewing numbers compared to 5 years ago, nearly everyone I know doesn't play for Sky but watch on a firestick instead.



I'd be interested if they go down the our league route for the non Sky and C4 games (and I presume they will, with the trials this year) how it will work, who gets the money, is it the home team, will it go in a central pot and be divided. I hope they offer some kind of season ticket to watch all games, like the NRL do with Watch.

Everybody I know has has got rid of Sky and has got a firestick as well.



Sky has lost several sports to competitors but still charge over the odds.



People have simply had enough of being ripped off and it serves them right.

That's it in a nutshell, for many its just far too pricey these days and not value for money, but then SKY aren't alone in this as even streaming sites are now watering down what you get for current subscriptions by moving some of the content to other subscription channels they then set up.

Nobody using a firestick can moan that the deal has gone down as they are part of the problem with the lost revenue from sky and also not counting in the viewing figures l

And people who go to games are to blame too. There I am sat in the stand with rugby going straight in my eyeballs with not a penny going to Rupert Murdoch.

To be fair though Steve lost revenue from ex subscribers now using firesticks throughout the country doesn't seem to impact on what they are prepared to pay for Premier League rights.

Murdoch hasn’t owned Sky for a while.



Although all money flows to him and his ilk eventually.



The reasons RL rights aren’t worth much are much bigger than RL, although better governance, leadership and competitive balance would mitigate things, the sport is largely a victim of circumstances beyond its control. It has always had to adapt and it will again - to digital innovations, to medical concerns and to economic challenges. At the moment it does feel like we’re slowly heading back to a semi-pro game on this side of the world, unfortunately. A small reduction in the Sky fee is a big deal in real terms, given what inflation has been like over the last year or so.

Also could mean they get some income in from overseas channels, there are Sports channels out there wanting cheap filler, also people are increasingly betting on random sports from around the world, thats a big reason the NRL are taking games to Vegas.

People who use fire sticks must be responsible for the hike in pass prices next year because of the fall in Sky revenue

I thought the idea was to get more fans into the grounds.

Cant see how live screening all S/L matches will do that.

IMG also came in supposedly with a no fee model where they make their money on increased crowds.

Not that i believe that but if that were the case and they are part of this negotiating team on TV rights then its another nail in their coffin.

12 years might last two

There's also the chance that more coverage through TV audiences via Streaming ,C4 or Youtube besides Sky could give the game more exposure to a wider audience thus possibly encouraging new fans to take in a live game .

To be fair I don’t think that’s something that IMG can do directly as that’s surely down to each individual club be it SL or below. Creating better over all coverage for the game itself and getting more exposure will help the game get more fans in to the grounds. Whilst I’ve been a little critical of IMG there is only so much that they can do and I get the impression there is still a reluctance by certain sections of SL to get on board of move forward.

The clubs and game sometimes hinders its progression due to the internal politics and a narrow minded view.