York Knights ready for Super League as funding boost explained by chair

York Knights and Toulouse Olympique were confirmed on Friday as the two clubs chosen by a panel for promotion to Super League when the competition expands to 14 next year.

Unlike Bradford Bulls, who are also stepping up, they won’t receive full funding because they were not in the top-12 in the IMG club gradings, which were announced on Thursday.

But rather than bemoaning their lot, Goodchild insisted half-funding is more than he expected to get and will give York a major financial boost.

Jon Bennison (St Helens), Paul Vaughan (Warrington Wolves), Jack Smith (Leeds Rhinos), Josh Griffin (Wakefield Trinity) and Justin Sangare (Salford Red Devils) have already been signed from Super League clubs.

Goodchild said York won’t necessarily spend the full salary cap in 2026, but other recruits are being lined up and he insisted: “I’m thankful to be getting 50 per cent funding because we budgeted for zero. We have an additional £650,000 now.”

York Knights prep started ‘months ago’ as chair insists they’re Super League ready

Goodchild also stressed Knights will be ready when the competition kicks off early next year. “From a strategic standpoint of recruiting for 2026, we’re not playing catch-up,” he said.

“We’re an inexperienced club, both on and off the field, when it comes to this level and we just need to make sure we start putting that right in pre-season.”

He added: “We always bought into the strategy that we were ready and if we did things right, then the opportunity would come, whether this year or in the future, but we’re thankful the opportunity is now.

“We started preparing months ago. Our recruitment has been done for the better part of a month, we’re staffing up and we knew commercially we would be going up in size.

“Regardless of the outcome, we have been prepared for this moment. If we’d not got in, we’d be going full-time and I would assume we would have dominated the Championship.”

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York to pull in more fans after Super League promotion

Knights averaged crowds of close to 3,000 in the Championship this year, when they finished top of the table.

Goodchild reckons they could sell out games in their 8,000 capacity Community Stadium next season.

“The city of York is buzzing,” he said “One of the bigger concerns is how many away fan tickets we’re going to have to sell.

“York is an attractive place to come so we’re going to have to be strategic to make sure we have enough home tickets.”

Goodchild also believes York, the only professional club in North Yorkshire, will attract fans who currently support other teams.

“Over the last four years I’ve built good relationships with Hull KR, Castleford, Leeds, Wakefield and Hull FC,” he said.

“There’s over 2,000 season ticket holders at those clubs that live in a York postcode, at least. People want to see elite sport and they want to see the big brands. Now that we’re playing on that level in their local area.”