London Broncos dealt huge financial blow as owner departs

London Broncos have suffered a major blow with owner David Hughes confirming that he will leave the club after 27 years.

After an eventful season in 2024 in which they were almost guaranteed to be relegated from Super League due to their lowly IMG grade, the club have been dealt an even bigger blow with their owner stepping away from the club.

That has been confirmed by London Broncos and David Hughes with a  short statement being published on the club’s website and social media.

It read: “After 27 eventful years of which we spent 20 years in the Super League, I have decided on behalf of myself and the Hughes family that we will step down at the end of the season. We will make every effort to facilitate anyone interested in taking over the club to lead it through the Championship.”

Parties interested in taking the club over have been asked to contact Jason Loubser at the club.

London Broncos owner departs

It’s hard to overstate just how big the blow to London Broncos is. For almost 30 years, David Hughes has bankrolled London and it now seems that the RFL and IMG’s approach to the ‘London’ project has been the last straw.

He has spoken throughout the season about the club’s status under IMG including calling it a “bizarre” system in which London were effectively relegated before the 2024 campaign began.

Speaking at half-time of London’s impressive win over Catalans Dragons, Hughes told Sky Sports about the club’s situation.

Asked about the near-impossible situation the club faced regarding relegation, Hughes responded: “You better ask IMG that. I’m not going to comment too much on it.”

On whether he had given up hope that London Broncos would be a Super League side in 2025, Hughes said: “Not really but I just hope that we can retract and get away from the IMG ruling, which is bizarre.

“I don’t want to comment too much on it, but it was all based on our last three years where we’ve been down in the Championship.

“We’ve been in Super League for 20 out of the 27 years, and I don’t know how that was assessed and who allowed someone to come up with the last three years to be the ones that give the ratings.”

It’s now incredibly doubtful what happens to the Broncos in 2025 with the club set to compete in the Championship with a very different squad to the one they’ve boasted in 2024.