Salford Red Devils\u2019 financial crisis could severely weaken Super League\u2019s hand in negotiations for the next broadcast deal, a leading sports lawyer has warned.<\/p>\n
The cash-strapped Super League club were forced to cancel Sunday\u2019s home game against Wakefield Trinity because they could not raise a team.<\/p>\n
It was the latest and most serious blow in a nightmare season for Paul Rowley\u2019s side and raised further questions about the club\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
The reputational damage to Super League caused by Salford\u2019s plight has already been huge and that could spell bad news when it comes to the next TV contract.<\/p>\n
Sky\u2019s three-year deal to provide live coverage of Super League enters its final 12 months next season, with clubs currently receiving a total of \u00a321.5million this year compared with \u00a340million in 2021.<\/p>\n
That marked a staggering drop and sports law expert Richard Cramer told Love Rugby League: \u201cThe Salford saga is certainly not going to help Super League\u2019s bid to secure an improved broadcast deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s been a short-term crisis, either; it\u2019s been like this since the start of the season when they were thumped 82-0 at St Helens in round one.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper League clubs have lost a lot of their bargaining power because the competition has been severely weakened by what\u2019s happened at Salford this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has to be serious doubts now about their ability to complete the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, Super League clubs voted to expand the competition from 12 to 14 teams in 2026 as part of a strategic review led by the Rugby Football League chairman Nigel Wood.<\/p>\n
But a recent report in the Guardian claimed the expansion could jeopardise Super League\u2019s long-term partnership with Sky Sports, with the broadcaster reluctant to pick up the additional costs for matches it did not buy.<\/p>\n
Cramer feels that, in the wake of Salford\u2019s financial crisis, all clubs who are admitted to play in Super League next season will be scrutinised more closely than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter what\u2019s happened at Salford, there probably needs to be a lot more robust due diligence done on all the clubs at the start of each year,\u201d added Cramer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RFL have a duty of care to the players, staff and supporters to ensure that, before they start pre-season training, each club can fulfil their fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that financial model look like?<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to 14 teams is going to put a bit more pressure on the RFL to ensure all the clubs have a strong business model going forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll clubs have to be prepared to allow all their books to be inspected extremely thoroughly with full access to the financial back office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will have to show that they have full funds available and working capital to run through the whole season because the RFL will be desperate to avoid another Salford situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
As rugby league battles to find new audiences, Cramer warned the game is in danger of being overtaken even further by rival sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game needs an injection of new investors, a new audience watching it, and just maybe a bit of disruption like rugby union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRed Bull taking over Newcastle Falcons is a very good sign for the 15-a-side code and R360, the rebel breakaway league, is going to potentially put more money into their game as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cRugby league has to be careful not to be left behind as just a minority sport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Salford Red Devils\u2019 financial crisis could severely weaken Super League\u2019s hand in negotiations for the next broadcast deal,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-75842","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\/75842","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=75842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}