{"id":142372,"date":"2025-09-17T01:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/142372\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T01:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T01:07:08","slug":"nrl-club-ceo-urges-super-league-to-accept-takeover-as-fears-for-sport-aired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/142372\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL club CEO urges Super League to accept takeover as fears for sport aired\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The clock is ticking for an NRL-led takeover of Super League with one CEO outlining plans amid fears for the sport\u2019s future in England.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just fears for the future of rugby league in England that are driving Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson, but also an ambition to make rugby league the predominant code across the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we want is to create rugby league as the number one rugby competition in the world,\u201d Richardson told The Daily Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Explaining that NRL is now number one in Australia and that there is buy-in from the Pacific Islands, Richardson admitted: \u201cWhat we haven\u2019t got is the buy-in of the competition running around in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also doesn\u2019t look too likely that will change with Super League set to expand to 14 teams<\/a> with Nigel Wood having a significant role in that decision. That counters the NRL\u2019s vision of a ten-team competition that has nothing to do with Nigel Wood, someone Richardson dealt with whilst he worked in England.<\/p>\n

What an NRL-led Super League takeover would look like and why it won\u2019t happen<\/p>\n

As such, Super League teams have a dilemma of either accepting NRL funding or going it on their own and the window isn\u2019t open forever with the NRL having to begin their own broadcast negotiations soon.<\/p>\n

Richardson outlined the vision, which was first made public in April<\/a>, explaining: \u201cOur attitude was it needs to be a competition that starts with 10 teams \u2013 two of which are from France, six are definitely from England and two others would apply and come in on the basis of what they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo relegation, lock in a five year deal so we can sell that deal to play X number of games to be decided upon. The NRL put money into it, a large amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRL would then run Super League for five years before handing back control once systems are in place, with Richardson adding that it could not be called Super League as that\u2019s a \u201ctired and smashed brand\u201d.<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Discussing the plans, he clarified: \u201cIt\u2019s got to be clear in everybody\u2019s mind that the NRL went into this process not to make money or take over Super League for the rest of their life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they need to do is have an NRL-style of competition which is saleable to television as a real product and it\u2019s the perfect time for it because rugby union is in complete and utter disarray in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby League isn\u2019t in much better state with the latest accounts from RL Commercial confirming a loss of over \u00a33,000,000<\/a> in broadcast turnover from 2023 to 2024.<\/p>\n

On rugby league in England, Richardson surmised: \u201cIt\u2019s never going to get ahead because the same people are in charge now as when I was on the Super League board.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy point about it is that nothing\u2019s changed \u2026 because no one wanted to make the tough calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whilst not entirely true, a number of key players do remain on the board and the return of Nigel Wood has been viewed as a massive step backwards by those Down Under who had genuine hopes of revitalising Super League.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The clock is ticking for an NRL-led takeover of Super League with one CEO outlining plans amid fears…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-142372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}