Like everyone else I don’t like the situation, it goes against everything I believe about sporting competition
However
The game has had to change
Like it or not Rugby League is shrinking on just about every metric
We’ve had hundreds of millions from SKY over the last 30 years and squandered 99% of it
The money has gone to overseas players, player agents etc with little to none being used to consolidate a clubs core business or invest in the future.
Clubs chase glory for one or two season, relying on TV money or the good will & small wallet of the current owner. Once that’s gone it’s back to being busted again
Rinse & repeat
Without radical change the game would almost entirely be part time with a number of clubs going to the wall
The IMG system is a bitter pill but Rugby League has brought itself to this point
IMG are forcing clubs to improve across the board to hopefully become so self sufficient that TV contracts are no longer their life blood with the loss of it being disastrous for a club or Armageddon for the game. A position which gives the TV companies (SKY) the whip hand in negotiations forcing us to undersell the TV rights.
In the long term, if the clubs respond as they should we could end up with 14 or more ‘A’ rated clubs who all have superb Sponsorships, Hospitality, Advertising and Merchandising revenues. Clubs playing out of modern stadia that looks good on TV, has state of the art media facilities thus attracting more journalists creating more coverage.
We need to create a rewarding upward spiral rather than the vicious downward spiral we’re currently locked into!
Maybe in time when we’ve got strong clubs with robust business practices and modern infrastructures we can return to a competition where League Tables dictate who gets promoted or relegated but for now & the foreseeable IMGs point system is a necessary evil.
