Stevo suggests RFL are exaggerating the truth about TV deal negotiations

One big thing for the future of rugby league is the next TV deal.

Sky Sports, Channel 4 and Viaplay’s deals all expire at the end of 2023 with BBC Sports’ expiring in 2024.

However, former Sky Sports commentator Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson isn’t convinced:

“Why has it taken so long? We brought in this IMG company to make sure that we’re going in the right direction. And yet, we’re halfway through the season, and they’re still saying, we’re nearly there,” he said on the Eddie and Stevo podcast.

“And how many broadcasters are they saying? The ones that we have now, to my opinion, is they don’t pay hardly any money to broadcast these other games.”

He went on to suggest that RL Commercial are bigging up the situation around the TV deal saying there are “multiple broadcasters” involved.

Stevo said: “All I’m saying is that, you know, deep down, if you really, really look at it, can you blame Sky TV saying, ‘well, we’re not going to give you as much as we did last year or the year before’ etc etc.

“They keep saying, ‘oh we’ve got multiple broadcasters’. All right let’s let’s just sit back and see who they are and what are they paying.”