There is still no agreement on what the newly-merged Championship and League 1 competition will look like in 2026 after clubs failed to reach an agreement on a potential structure.
Confirmation of Bradford Bulls, York Knights and Toulouse Olympique joining Super League in 2026 meant it was officially locked in that the new league would be a 21-team competition next year – albeit pending Salford Red Devils surviving the winter given their current financial situation.
That left outgoing Rugby Football League CEO Tony Sutton confirming last week that he expected a decision on what the fixture format for that competition would look like in the coming days and weeks. A meeting of clubs on Friday was expected to be pivotal in taking steps in that regard.
However, Love Rugby League has been told by sources in that meeting that no finalised agreement was reached on a fixture schedule – with the calendar for 2026 set to be released next month.
That means that clubs still do not know who they will be playing and how often in 2026, after a number of ideas were floated but ultimately none were rubber-stamped.
Among the possible suggestions were the proposal that every club played one another once, with bonus loop fixtures added against the teams each club finished around in the league in 2025. That would yield a 26 or 27 round season. That format remains the favourite.
But nothing was formalised or agreed, with one official in the meeting describing the situation as ‘ludicrous’. With fixtures slated to be released in the coming weeks, there is still no decision on how many home games each team will play, let alone how many times they will play certain teams.
Those close to the meeting have indicated that the current uncertainty lingers on, in part, due to the situation concerning Salford Red Devils.
The Red Devils are definitely going to be in the competition barring a financial catastrophe but it remains to be seen whether they will have to restart as a phoenix club. If they did, they would then effectively come in as a team ranked at the bottom of the pyramid.
But if they continue with the current ownership, they would be regarded as a former Super League club relegated this winter and as such, their extra fixtures would be against the top-end Championship teams.
London Broncos are likely to be overwhelming favourites for the competition when it does start following their eye-catching recruitment. They have already signed the likes of Kangaroos forward Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Souths hooker Siliva Havili.