Many were disappointed with the attendance at the Summer Bash over the weekend.
At York, under 7,000 fans attended the event over the two days whilst less than 3,000 fans were there on day two.
However, despite this, Viaplay attracted their biggest peak audience figure of the season for the Betfred Championship for the York Knights versus Featherstone Rovers fixture which completed the action on the first day of the Summer Bash.
Meanwhile, the continued progress of the Betfred Women’s Super League was also reflected with live coverage of two fixtures on two different platforms – Sky Sports showed the St Helens victory at Leeds which preceded the men’s fixture on Friday evening, and Our League streamed York Valkyrie’s win against Warrington Wolves which kicked off day two of the Summer Bash on Sunday.
So, the negative reaction was perhaps not necessary with a great TV audience.
It is key for the sport to sort out TV deal going into 2024 with three TV deals expiring this year.
These include Viaplay as well as Sky Sports and Channel 4.
BBC’s contract continues to 2024.
Viewing figures like these can only be good for the sport in their endeavour to secure new TV deals for 2024 and beyond.
