Rugby league agent reveals reported Channel 4 and Premier Sports financial contributions to Super League and Championship

Sky Sports is rugby league’s biggest backer – that much is fact.

Without Sky, it isn’t worth thinking about where the sport of rugby league would have ended up.

But, in 2022, both Channel 4 and Premier Sports have emerged, broadcasting both Super League and Championship games respectively to new audiences far and wide.

Channel 4, in particular, has been a breath of fresh air in terms of Super League coverage with its plethora of hosts, pundits and commentators impressing the average rugby league fan.

However, leading rugby league agent Craig Harrison of Show Me The Money UK, believes that both Channel 4 and Premier Sports are not paying anything – or paying very little – for the rights to broadcast rugby league this year.

And, Harrison wants to see more deals struck that benefit the sport.

“Historically you’ve got the Sky deal ring fenced with 14 teams and then you’ve got the Championship who can do the deal with Channel 4 and Premier Sports or they can mix it up as they have this year which I think is fantastic,” Harrison said on The Full Eighty Minutes podcast.

“Even though I don’t think Channel 4 has paid us anything. I don’t think Premier Sports pay us anything either.

“They have got to go to them and say ‘look at the figures on Channel 4, come on get the money out.’ They’ve got to go to Premier, the budget on premier will probably be – let’s say it’s three or four grand.

“If no team is getting paid for the things we do on Premier then that has got to stop because we have delivered quite a good product this year.”

Channel 4, of course, signed a two-year deal with the sport before the beginning of the 2022 Super League season to broadcast eight regular games and two play-off games.