14-team Super League ‘unanimously’ agreed in 2024 as Derek Beaumont explains expansion

Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has had his say on Super League becoming a 14-team competition, confirming that it was something that club owners agreed ‘unanimously’ back in 2024 with Beaumont going on to explain the timeline since and the reasons behind the decision.

It was confirmed on Monday in a statement from Super League Europe that the competition will expand to 14 teams from 2026 with 12 sides determined by IMG gradings and the additional two confirmed through an application process, something Beaumont has claimed will be ‘robust’.

Speaking to club media, the Leigh owner has spoken at length about Monday’s decision, the motivations behind it, the timeline leading up to it and a host of other matters.

Much of 2025 has seen constant news coming out of the RFL and the top of the sport and Beaumont was one of those at the forefront as he and Leeds Rhinos’ Gary Hetherington confirmed the creation of a Strategic Review, headed by Nigel Wood.

Beaumont has now explained that his involvement “bore from frustration” with his belief being that the sport was “becoming more and more over-governed”.

When was a 14-team Super League decided?

That harked back to previous suggestions he would launch ‘Ultimate Rugby’, a new competition with American backing, and whilst revealing that clubs would have had £3,000,000 central funding in his competition as opposed to £1.3 million in Super League, the Leigh owner came to the conclusion it was better to make the current competition more investible than launch a new competition.

Revealing a meeting of club owners at Wigan in late 2024, which he explained he did not attend with Neil Jukes going in his place, Beaumont noted that Nigel Wood’s name was mentioned and 14 teams was agreed upon as the direction of travel.

Beaumont stated: “Back in the end of 2024 at Wigan, the clubs decided 14 teams was the way to go unanimously. Ken Davy said that if we wait till summer to discuss and ratify then will we have enough time to do it for 2026? Everybody agree we would, then all of a sudden we get to that point and people don’t agree.”

As such, he explained the push came now to get it done for 2026 instead of 2027:

“A couple who voted for 14 didn’t vote for it in 2026 but were more akin with 2027 because they felt were more time of a runway to get to ’27 and that it aligned with the new broadcast deal.

“That’s viable, however, if something is right to do then why wait a year to do it? Why prolong it?

“The problem is when you leave it another however long, nothing gets done. Then all of a sudden you’re in the final year of your Sky deal and you’ve not changed the product you’re selling so why would you get more for it?”

Why Derek Beaumont is in favour of 14 teams

It’s a logical argument. Super League clubs will head to the table ahead of the 2027 new TV deal able to offer more games, more teams and hopefully earn more money for the sport.

One thing they won’t be offering is loop fixtures and Beaumont explained that removing them was one of the biggest outcomes of the expansion to 14 teams, and something he was in favour of.

Outlining what owner’s asked of the Strategic Review, Beaumont said: “We tasked the Strategic Review committee to come up with a way that they could remove loop fixtures, a big problem in the game, and do so without reducing our central funding.

“That sounds almost impossible and that’s why it’s never been looked at severely. There’s two ways you can approach that, you can massively cut costs or massively back your growth, or a blend of the two.”

Growth, a move to 14 teams, has been backed and Beaumont is very happy, stating: “I’m massively in favour of the outcome. My opinion if you reduce Super League to ten then the waterfall of RL Commercial changes and doesn’t deal with the overriding issue of getting rid of loops. Playing teams three times still makes an unfair competition.

“14 teams is the answer for home and away, eradicating loops, expanding footprint of the league, more opportunities for players, more opportunities for people to subscribe to our broadcaster.”

The process on how to get to 14 teams will be interesting to see with confirmation that more details will come soon, however, Beaumont confirmed it would be ‘robust’.