SLE are a separate entity from the RFL and this deal was tabled with the approval of all SL clubs chairmen who held a meeting yesterday presumably to discuss this matter in full.

We don't know the terms of the Sky contract, but our legal guys will have crawled all over it before it was signed. I would be very surprised if they did not have a 'get out clause' for a club going into administration and hence reducing the size of the league. That would surely be a basic precaution.

I would think it more likely that the agreement allows Sky to pick and schedule any game from the league that they wish. One team dropping out will hardly make any difference; each team in a league of 13 will play 24 matches, so that is still a hell of a lot of games to chose from in total.

By far the most important aspect of the agreement will be the TV viewing audience as this dictates the price that Sky can demand from advertisers. As we already know, viewing audiences have risen 30-40 % this year, so I doubt Bradford dropping out of SL will affect this much.

It's true that viewing figures have gone up, but 2 weeks less of the season (24 weeks instead of 26) means 4 fewer games, plus the Magic Weekend's 7 games gone too. Losing 11 games out of 66 is a massive drop in viewers across the season - better to keep to 14 and get a 40% increase in the rights revenue than drop to 13 and only get a 26% increase*


* 100% + 40% extra Sky money = 140%, add 140/13 = 11% as Bradford's former share split 13 ways = 151%, then multiply by 5/6 for the drop in games

I agree with you entirely, and I'm not suggesting that the RFL would seek to influence referees, or that referees would ever be less than impartial.
However, we all know how many biased and blinkered fans there are, at all clubs, and my point is that if they feel like they are being cheated (even though they would be mistaken) it might make them feel less inclined to attend future games.
It's a matter of perception, that's all.

With only 13 clubs, one team would not play each week in any case, so stretching the seasons games over 26 weeks (if Sky demand it) poses no real problems.

Magic weekend is more difficult. At worst it could be scrapped, but the games sill played over the season. Or perhaps you could be more inventive and have the World Club challenge on the same weekend ?

But as long as Sky gets the same number of live games to screen, I would have thought that there would not be a major issue in all of this. Yes, it becomes more difficult but not unsolvable. However, if another SL club were to enter administration, it would be disastrous following on the heels of Bradford. And if we have 13 clubs next year, that means more money for each club. So I am guessing we will move to 13.

Just out of interest, we currently divide the pot into 16, as the RFL and Championship clubs also get a share.

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... ord_Bulls/ The plot thickens.

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... ord_Bulls/ The plot thickens.