DAZN OR NOT DAZN?
FROM next year, Rugby League will have one or more new broadcasting contracts.
All the existing contracts with Sky Sports, Channel 4 and Viaplay expire at the end of this season, while the Challenge Cup contract with the BBC has another year to run.
At the Magic Weekend in early June, Super League’s Rhodri Jones appeared to suggest that he would be in a position to announce new broadcasting deals by the end of that month.
But now, the end of June has come and gone, and still we don’t know which broadcasters will have the rights to Rugby League from next year.
Sky Sports has recently agreed to pay an awful lot of money to broadcast a significantly increased number of matches in the English Football League.
Do they have any money left in the coffers for Rugby League?
Most observers suggest that the viewing figures for Rugby League on Sky this season have increased over the past twelve months.
But does that mean that Sky will increase the offer they might make to screen the Super League competition from next year? That isn’t necessarily how it works. When the former CEO of the RFL, Nigel Wood, managed to negotiate a deal worth £200 million from Sky over five years, he managed to persuade Sky that other broadcasters were ready to take Super League away from them.