Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has had his say on the potential purchase of Super League by the NRL.
It’s been a conversation that’s been brewing for some time and with representatives of both leagues having discussions post-Las Vegas along with IMG, it looks like a partnership of some kind is a possibility.
Speaking on The Verdict on Sky Sports News, Wilkin admitted that Super League’s position right now is unsustainable.
It follows a lengthy discussion Wilkin and host Jenna Brooks had with St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus on The Bench podcast about the state of the game in this country.
Sky Sports’ Wilkin said: “What I’m for is easing the burden on club owners who constantly have to shell out, as Eamonn said, around £2-4million a year.
“That’s clearly not sustainable and that’s happened over a period of time.
“Obviously, the TV rights deal impacted that and maybe the increased salary expectations of marquee players have increased the cost base.”
Despite high attendances across most sides in 2025, many clubs are still struggling financially and Jon Wilkin believes working with the NRL could only be a positive for the league.
He added: “It’s a challenging time for the businesses, but the NRL becoming involved, I think is incredibly exciting.
“It’s something that I think would add liquidity to the game and would solve a lot of those short-term financial pressures on clubs.
“The question is how? How that looks.”
He noted that the main issue in this country is often a lack of agreement between the clubs, which the NRL is keen to work on, considering recent weeks regarding the running of the RFL.
He finished: “It’s been incredibly difficult since 1895 for our sport to agree on anything.
“Now to agree on outside investment from the NRL and how that would work with each individual club and their ownership structure and finances, it’s going to be a big process to get that away.
“The question is how long that would take, but the NRL would bring an awful lot of commercial experience to our competition which is obviously needed.”
“The NRL would bring an awful lot of commercial experience” 🙌
Jon Wilkin discusses the idea of potential investment from the NRL 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/o5qHVnF9VY
— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) March 26, 2025
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Jays
March 28, 2025 at 10:45 am
Mr Sunbed Wilkin! lol, you don’t hear the type of owners as Wigan, Warrington & Huddersfield complain? Interesting also that the moaners back, the failure who has been put back temporary? running RFL! All Round the NRL are more profesaionaL & Succesful, it is essental NRL become involved with Super League & NRL,
Wiganexpat
March 29, 2025 at 1:22 am
The NRL are successful because they are the dominant football code in Australia. Union is a fraction of their size as is soccor. If the NRL stepped in to take over Superleague they would want to do it with a free hand. No boardroom coups, no clubs wanting their way. They would rule the game with an iron fist and it would do Superleague a power of good. The NRL are negotiating a streaming deal with the likes of Disney / Paramount / DAZN and they may want Superleague to help make their streaming proposition a better deal. I would not be surprised if PVL pulled this off.