Rugby league is heading into a completely new era.
With a 12-year deal signed with IMG – a company specialising in the entertainment industry – to ‘reimagine’ the sport, rugby league is set for some massive changes in the next couple of years that will determine the future of all clubs involved in the sport.
IMG are set to come to Super League, Championship and League 1 clubs with a plan on the 12 September about the future of the sport.
But, what will that look like?
“We know the structure is staying the same next year we just don’t know what the mechanism is going to be to get from 2023 to 2024,” The Game Caller said on The Full Eighty Minutes podcast.
“Whether it’s going to be those in the top eight that get into Super League or whether or not positions on the field or licensing coming in.
“I spoke to a Championship owner and he told me that he isn’t putting too much money in the first team but is making sure that the academy is gold standard as that will be weighted more in the licensing criteria what IMG come out with.”
Whatever plan is put in front of clubs come September, however, they will have to accept as the RFL and Super League have given IMG the green light to do exactly what is necessary for the sport.
“Clubs are going to have to accept the deal that IMG come with on 12 September,” The Game Caller had previously said.
“I’m hearing that it might not be as drastic as first thought and it’s going to be a gradual transition to licensing.”
Of course, the sport has flirted with licensing in the past decade after a three-year period around the turn of the 2010s, but the structure will need to be put into concrete sooner rather than later.
