My views on the structure of Super League (Thursday 12th May 2022)

 Hello and welcome back to my blog. Today, we are discussing of the structure of Super League. I did not plan to do this originally, however, on Tuesday Super League signed a 12-year deal with IMG. They aim to restructure Super League and generally aid the growth of the competition. There's no doubt that this is a major deal for rugby league in the UK. 12 years is also a very long time, and considerably longer than the majority of deals. For example, TV and media deals are often short term or year on year and is something that IMG will now be in control of. It's a brilliant deal and no doubt they'll do a good job.Nevertheless, here are my views.

A quick thing to start, I don't want Super League to become exactly like the NRL. SL is different and exciting in it's own rights. There's also a much different culture over here and I don't think changing English RL completely to the NRL's format is conducive, however successful it is. I talk about Americanisation of SL later on and how that could be useful, but I do not think making the sport like it is in Australia's top league would do any good. The rest of this blog explains what I think we should do instead.

We need to increase the number of teams in Super League as a matter of urgency. I think long term 16 teams in Super League is ideal. In the NRL, there is 16 well established teams which help to create an intriguing and competitive competition. This is what Super League should aspire to be like. However, for now, SL should be increased to a 14 team competition. Regardless of what Derek Beaumont thinks, having French teams in Super League is beneficial and therefore, I don't see any benefit in Toulouse returning to Super League. This season, Toulouse should not be relegated and then next season Featherstone and Leigh should be promoted. I think that is perfect for the time being. However, then work needs to be done to reduce the gap between Super League and Championship. There are a number of ways to do this:

- Reduce the Salary Cap of Super League (This will bring it more in line with the championship or at least reduce the money available. This may mean teams like St. Helens will have to shift some players, but for the good of the sport this may be necessary).

- Reduce the overseas quota (No doubt there is some brilliant homegrown talent, but its no secret that most of the best players are from overseas. Having a large overseas quota isn't achievable for Championship clubs, so again reducing it for Super League will reduce that gap).

They are just two of the possible options. This should come into effect very soon. In the next few seasons, a lot of money should be pumped into championship. This could be through a TV deal or just money given straight to clubs. This will make the quality better and again close that gap to the Super League teams. Then whether it be in 3, 5 or even 12 years, Super League should again be expanded to a 16 team competition.

Promotion and relegation is an interesting topic. I do believe in promotion and relegation and really increases the intensity and do or die nature of Super League. After all, that is what the purpose of Super League was. Nevertheless, I do think that Super League does need to scrap relegation and promotion temporarily. Once the competition has 16 teams and the gap has been successfully reduced between the Super League and Championship, then it can be reintroduced. However, unless the gap can be bridged successfully, this should not be part of Super League. It puts people's livelihoods and the clubs future at risk in the current format, so for now it should absolutely be scrapped. If, and only if, the gap to the championship can be bridged and promotion and relegation can be done sustainably (like with the Premier League and EFL in football), then it should be implemented again.

Next, we have media deals. I'll be straight, completely scrap Sky coverage of Super League. It's always lacklustre and poor coverage and always comes second to almost every sport. All SL games should be given to Channel 4. I can not fault any of the games they've shown this year. It's quality, the commentators and presenters are good and really that is where the game should be heading coverage wise in the long term. I also wouldn't be opposed to the BBC being given some games, but really it should be C4 leading the way. Even simple things like promotion. Wigan v Salford on C4 was being promoted 2 weeks in advance. On Sky, you barely ever see any advertising for Super League games. I was going to say give Sky rights to the Championship, but Premier Sports are doing a great job with the Championship so I don't even think that is a great idea. One thing I would say though is that Jenna Brooks and Barrie Mac are Sky's saving grace so they deserve a permanent gig.

Next, stadiums. It has been a big thing and a topic of interest that clubs should own their stadiums. This could cause issues for a number of Super League clubs, most notably Wigan and Hull FC. Now, Hull FC are struggling to stay in the MKM as it is so eviction or moving out could happen soon anyway, although that is a whole other topic. Generally, I agree with this idea however. Clubs should have purpose built rugby stadiums. Having football stadiums that are only ever half full is not moving the sport anywhere. It's worth noting that Hull City don't even fill the MKM. Therefore, clubs who don't own their stadium should move out and either purchase a new one or build a new one or just purchase their current ground, although that seems a more sizeable topic for clubs like Hull FC and Wigan. Obviously, building or purchasing a new stadium is much easier said than done as it is hugely costly. Subsequently, clubs that need to go down that route should receive financial backing, whether that be from the RFL or local councils. Nevertheless, if it can be done sustainably, clubs should have to own their stadium. 

This leads on nicely to the idea of mergers. I'll be honest, I think its a woeful idea. Merging 2 clubs itself is not a bad idea, however I can't see 2 SL clubs merging together ever working. I've seen people say that this is a potential solutions for clubs who do not own their stadium. It would, you imagine, be location based. So can you imagine Hull FC merging with Hull KR or Wigan merging with Saints? I'm not sure any fans of the 4 clubs would want this. However, say Hull FC merged with Newcastle and Wigan merged with Swinton, I can see how it could be feasible but I still wouldn't agree with it as there are a number of downsides to it. Obviously, the number of fans would go up and 2 sets of players would merge giving the lower ranked teams players a greater platform. However, especially in Newcastle's case, it removes a good team from another area. Or, because Hull and Wigan don't own their stadiums, would they be made to relocate and play in Newcastle and Swinton? It just would never work. It would be very incredibly messy hence why I simply despise this idea.

Finally, I want to touch on the potential Americanisation of Super League. IMG are an American business created in Ohio and now based in New York. Therefore, it is a probability that SL could become rather Americanised. What do I mean by Americanised? Well I mean things like drafts before or after a season, where lowest finishing teams get the first choice at the biggest out of contract players and so on and so forth. It is quite a modernised and revolutionary way of transferring players. Generally, this would reduce the size of the gap between lower SL sides and upper SL sides and if it involved Championship sides too, it would also further reduce the gap in quality to SL. Therefore, I wouldn't be opposed to that. Also, there are things like Eastern and Western Conferences which combine in to a singular league in the latter stages of the season. Although this works in the NBA and NHL, I don't think right now there is enough elite clubs in England for this idea to be implemented. Also, with many fans not being happy most teams are just around the M62, further confining the boundaries of the league seems disastrous. America is also a much bigger country than England so really it would not be anywhere near as effective on our island. "Merger clubs" is also an American idea, but of course we have already looked at this.

I think generally how the game is promoted, pushed and put into the public eye needs to be improved. The RFL are doing an absolutely sterling job with this years world cup, but besides that they are doing woefully. That is unacceptable in my eyes and can be partially held accountable for poor attendances in big games over the past few years.

Also, League 1 is an interesting topic. This may be semi-professional but there is still promotion to the championship. I'm not sure how IMG could go about increasing the quality in League 1 for example as there isn't much money in it. However, unless it turns into some form of feeder league or grassroots competitions like the other leagues in Australia except the NRL, it can't be left to fall behind. This is even more imperative if promotion is kept to the Championship. I personally would like to see relegation to the NCL be implemented here as teams like West Wales Raiders for example are not up to scratch for League 1 in my opinion but I understand that this would be hard and so would require careful thought to try and make it sustainable.

There we go then. I doubt much of that will come into fruition but we will have to wait and see. I'm also sure you will have different opinions and I'm intrigued to hear them, so please comment on here or on the original Twitter post to tell me them and I'll have a read of them. One last thing though, I'm sure we are in good hands with the IMG. Just give them time if everything doesn't work at first. I'm not sure if there will be a vlog next week but there will definitely be one 2 weeks today. I hope you enjoyed reading this and thankyou for reading it. Until next time, bye!