Am I right in thinking clubs got their provisional IMG gradings today with 6 super league clubs getting an A grade:

St Helen’s
Wigan
Leeds
Warrington
Catalan
Us?

I genuinely think we’ll just make A and rovers will just miss out right now.

Do any of you with club links know our grade and if it’ll be published? Could be a massive moment for our club. I wonder if getting a B grade would spike a Pearson knee jerk reaction to either invest more or throw toys out of his pram

I would think AP is already heavily invested in the club and with TS on board there seems to have been a plan & strategy mapped out in terms of moving the club and team forward, which they seem to be sticking too so doubt there would be any knee jerk or emotional response from AP at this stage. Also with the progression of the youth set up and the investment that AP put in to the youth development when he bought the club is now showing some rewards. At the time he bought the club he said the academy and youth set up had been underfunded and neglected and would take a number of years until it started to bear fruit.

I'm not sure if I dreamt it or not but I'm have a recollection that AP had alluded to there being some investment coming in to the club from next season?

Seriously what use are grades when there is no promotion of relegation
If for example Toulouse were to come back into S/L given their decent crowds and nice stadium and Castleford are relegated there is no way back into S/L for any Championship club or Div 1 club unless a S/L club goes bust.
IMG have used their name to pull the wool over the eyes of the RFL and stats and grades are all they can come up with whilst probably charging thousands of pounds in fees.
They had time to market the recent Wembley final but i saw sweet FA in marketing terms so what are they actually doing apart from fleecing R/L.
So what if teams are B grade.What difference would it make for them to get an A grade.
Will grade A clubs have a big A on their shirts to get brownie points?
Do they get more money from the RFL?
Do they automatically get a home game when they come into the C/C draw or end of season playoffs irrespective of where they finish.
whats the incentive?
If a B grade team finishes top or second in the league its not a grade that gets them there its the players on the field.
There is only one way that R/L will grow in the UK and thats with Private equity funding.
The salary cap needs to go to entice superstars into the game,whether thats from overseas R/L or Rugby Union
The more superstars you have the more young athletes will be enticed into playing the game and the more TV companies will want to show R/L on TV.
Rugby Union is also financially on its knees so what a great time to put them in second place once again
Wont happen under IMG.Its just a think tank who have dreamt up a points and grading system thats leads to nowhere.

Unless something drastic happens (I mean on a Bradford sort of scale) Hull will remain in the renamed SL for the foreseeable and getting an A or B grade won’t make much material difference. It’s just whether it is your own strength or the relative weakness of others ensuring it - but it is ensured.

Bonaire, IMG are notably not charging fees. They only get ‘paid’ if revenues increase. I much prefer this to private equity investment, which would make me very nervous. What is it that appeals to you about it?