One of rugby league\u2019s leading player agents, once strongly tipped to become the new chief executive of the Rugby Football League, has delivered a blunt verdict on the sport\u2019s current approach to investment and its broadcasting deal \u2014 insisting neither will reverse Super League\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n
Graeme Taylor, who represents some of the competition\u2019s biggest names, enjoyed significant support from clubs and senior figures across the game for the top job.<\/p>\n
Central to Taylor\u2019s vision was securing meaningful investment that would genuinely develop the product rather than merely prop up the status quo.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Love Rugby League, Taylor said: \u201cLet\u2019s get the central truth out of the way first: investment is non-negotiable. We cannot hide from it. But accepting any cheque just because it\u2019s waved in our faces is suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the publicly reported figure of \u00a331 million over five years is real, we should walk away laughing. That\u2019s less than \u00a3500,000 a club. Do any of us seriously believe that stops an owner writing another cheque of their own? Of course it doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s a sticking plaster on a gaping wound.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only investment worth taking is one that develops the product so the next wave of money actually wants to come in. Here\u2019s the allocation that matters, League Transformation & Growth, at least \u00a325 million:
\u2022 Technology upgrade:
\u2022 Strategic hires and key roles
\u2022 Marketing:
\u2022 Super League rebrand:
\u2022 On-field visual and matchday experience:
\u2022 Innovation and next-level development:
\u2022 Player profile and brand building:<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is how you make the sport saleable. The NRL didn\u2019t sprinkle a few hundred grand on clubs and watch the product magically improve. They built something consistent and professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cLook at our clubs. We should operate like franchises. Walk into a McDonald\u2019s anywhere in the world and you know exactly what you\u2019re getting. In European rugby league we all flip burgers, but one club is the Knightsbridge flagship and another is the industrial-estate burger van. Then we act surprised when they don\u2019t grow the sport or at the same rate. Consistency of standard is not optional. It is the product.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the centre currently fit for purpose? Do we have the right people? Hungry people? People who will drive the game harder rather than manufacture excuses? In too many cases the answer is no. Not always because of the individuals themselves, often because the structure is
under-staffed, decisions are deferred out of fear, or people ended up in roles by default rather than design. Fear of making the hard call is killing us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has impacted the sport\u2019s ability to get a stronger broadcast deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSky Sports know the landscape,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cNo serious alternative bidder is circling, so they treat us like a second-class citizen. The coverage is poor, and that is me being generous. No other major UK sport is presented the way we are on that platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I challenged the board about output quality I was told Sky don\u2019t like being criticised. Tough. If you are supposed to showcase our product, do it properly or step aside. I\u2019ve been told Sky have over 100,000 subscribers who take the service because of rugby league. At an average of \u00a380 a month that\u2019s roughly \u00a396 million in revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pay us around \u00a321 million plus production costs of \u00a33-5 million. Nice margin. And they know they don\u2019t have to improve the deal because nobody is applying real pressure. So force the issue. Build Super League+ properly and make it the only place to watch every game. Even at 75,000 subscribers paying \u00a350, you\u2019re looking at \u00a345 million. Spend \u00a310 million on proper programming, behind-the-scenes content and showcasing the sport properly, and you still have \u00a335 million to distribute. It is not rocket science. It just requires people prepared to think differently and act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is investment out there. I have had four or five meaningful conversations with serious parties. None of them will put serious money into the current structure. The sport either changes or it drifts back towards amateurism. Look at darts seven or eight years ago \u2014 playing in front of a few hundred people. Now they sell out arenas worldwide. We could be the next version of that story. But only if the people running it have the balls to make it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the NRL is the right partner, great. But they need to commit \u00a350 million to developing the European game, not simply lining owners\u2019 pockets, and they must guarantee that Europe does not become a glorified NSW Cup or Queensland Cup feeder. Will they? I doubt it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does concern me is the volume of noise and carefully leaked \u201cinformation.\u201d Why? This piece is an attempt to put a view in front of people that the green on the other side of the fence looks automatically greener.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the greatest sport on the planet. Now go and deliver an output that matches it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of rugby league\u2019s leading player agents, once strongly tipped to become the new chief executive of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-739712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739712","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=739712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}