Rugby league will put the international game at the heart of its bid to “reimagine” the sport and build on the “standout theatre” of the recent World Cup. That was the promise this week from the newly formed RL Commercial, as part of the realignment of Super League Europe with the game’s governing body the RFL, centred around a 12-year strategic partnership with sports management company IMG.
The newly-appointed managing director of RL Commercial, Rhodri Jones, and the chair of the board, Frank Slevin, have outlined their plans to drive the sport forward, including a new broadcast deal to be finalised in the first quarter of next year, and the implementation of a regular and appetising international calendar that has been so lacking for so long.
Jones tells The Sportsman that now is an exciting but critical time to ensure rugby league builds on the momentum of this autumn’s home World Cup.
“I think the World Cup has shown the huge potential in the women’s and wheelchair game but we can’t forget about our men’s game as well and what direction that takes. RL Commercial has a real opportunity to make a mark,” Jones tells The Sportsman. “Because it has been so sparse over the last couple of years we have probably all forgotten about those international days. But it didn’t surprise me how integral international rugby league is.
“It’s a different sense of occasion and a very special occasion. It is something we are working really hard on behind the scenes to deliver a programme not just in 2023, but in 2024 and leading into the World Cup in 2025. It is integral and you only have to see the success of the wheelchair guys to acknowledge that. It is vitally important in my mind.”
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Slevin, who will oversee the new RL Commercial board as chairman, highlights the success of the wheelchair game, in which England became world champions with a thrilling win over France, as a key example of the direction in which the sport needs to head.
“The wheelchair final was a standout piece of theatre,” he says. “It was fabulous, end-to-end, action-packed, enthralling. So how do we make more of that? We have to have a competitive international game, it is as simple as that. And we need to build our timetables and calendars around it.
“We need to build an international sport where people want to tour, and want to tour regularly. That sometimes doesn’t happen if it’s on an ad-hoc basis. You have got to plan it over a longer term.”
A council meeting takes place this Wednesday in which the agenda is expected to include the international calendar, the imminent departure of RFL chief executive Ralph Rimmer, criteria for the proposed new 'categorisation' of Super League clubs, and the new TV broadcast deal from 2024 onwards. The Sportsman understands that the new TV deal is expected to be agreed by the end of the first quarter of next year.
But Jones has warned that any giant strides forward are likely to take time, with rugby league still healing the wounds left by the pandemic.
“I think globally and in this country we are all still suffering from that C word,” he admitted. “We are still living that hangover, and unfortunately 2023 will be very similar in the current economic climate and the cost of living. We are all still living that.
“The hope that I have is that we can demonstrate that we have taken stock and recognised we need to do something different. The realignment was the first step, the second was IMG, and the third is about delivering. That comes into focus in the first quarter of 2023 when we will be speaking to broadcasters about what 2024 looks like. Those broadcast conversations are the foundation for the sport to build upon.”
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
