Super League could still be set for radical renaming under IMG

IMG has today highlighted that renaming the Super League competition is not in the pipeline until at least the end of the 2024 season. 

Since Super League Europe and the RFL agreed a historic 12-year deal with IMG back in 2022, the renaming of the top flight has always been on the agenda, however Matt Dwyer, Vice-President of Sports Management at IMG, has suggested a rebrand was on the table, but won’t happen before the 2024 campaign.

“I think it was on the table,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s off the table, but it’s not something we’re going to look at doing in time for 2024.

He explained the reasons behind why it wouldn’t happen before next season, saying: “there’s two reasons really, one around the length of time it took us to finalise the broadcast deal. We didn’t feel like we could start the renaming of a competition whilst we were going through those negotiations.

Dwyer added: “Obviously we’ve tied in a title sponsor for a Super League competition for the next three years. So, immediately, no, there’s no changes to the Super League competition, but it doesn’t mean we’ve taken it off the table, it just might just stay on the table for a bit longer.”

Since IMG’s proposals have been announced, there has been much talk around the structure of the competition, in particular promotion and relegation. Dwyer explained that the structure will be similar to how it is at the moment.

“I think we know in terms of structure of the season that it is going to look similar to what it looks like this current season, that’s just completed” he said.

A big part of IMG’s proposals are also around growing the club’s individual following, as well as the sport’s fanbase on the whole . Speaking on this, Dwyer said: “the areas where we’ve been working in particular have been on the digital side of the league and supporting clubs there as well.”

He added: “The reason, because our main objective is still the one that I said when we all first met, whenever it was 18 months ago, which is that we need to increase our fan base, and the key way of doing that, the key touch points to fans these days is digital.”

“That’s where we probably have the most progress across the different streams that we’re working across. We are looking at, and there has been a lot of work done in terms of potential branding and how the sport’s going to look from an aesthetics point of view. So that’s been well developed as well.”