lets hope thursday night games are scrapped.about time too.

Agreed, much preferred the Friday & Saturday night games though. A lot will depend on when SKY televise the roundball games.



I wonder if the 66 games are including the Catalan home games or that figure just relates to the SKY camera games?

Good news but the devil is in the detail, how much money being the big one, but also have the terms about steaming games and giving games SKY don't want to other channels being modernised?



Would love to see a few games on YouTube to bring in a new audience, the OurLeague app has improved but its aimed at existing RL fans not a general audience.

Interesting bit by Matthew Shaw on his twitter [url=https://twitter.com/M_Shaw1/status/1387330977899425793here[/url

If that's the case, then the Championship needs to be allowed freedom to sort its own deal out, the problem at the moment is SKY hold the rights but then only want to show the Big Bash and Playoffs. While the TV money won't be huge, someone like Premier Sports may want to show a game a week to fill their schedules up.

Also just seen that the Premier League are considering scrapping the next round of bidding and just extending their deals with SKY, BT and Amazon as its believed the market has peaked and well the world is in a mess right now. So not only RL having this issue.

Indeed, on the face of it whilst it may not seem a great deal in terms on money due to a reduced amount in the current climate I would say that a % of something is far better than a % of nothing.



I also think the ever changing landscape of how people view TV with new streaming sites appearing more and more hopefully means the sport in general as well as SL are able to have some freedom to explore this as well which appears may well be the case. If so then RL could end up doing better than the old SKY deal as long as they can promote sell the sport to a wider and audience etc.

despite all the new ways to watch,youtube,streaming.the long term aim must be to get more people through the turnstiles.you cant beat being live at a ground.

Obviously completely agree with that but the problem is I think that the continued periods of lock down and sport behind closed doors has changed a lot of fringe supporters feelings about attending games and many sports are starting to feel that a mixture of the hardened fans in ground and live streaming or broadcasting etc of all games for the rest, as with the NFL and the NRL is the way forward for sustainability or at least like with this deal they are keeping their options open to see what happens after things have settled down after the pandemic..

I read somewhere that this new deal, is 40% less than the previous deal, this has not been officially announced, but if this is true, then I’ll hang my balls in Hammonds window, what kind of negotiation is this, Was Ken sucking on his Werthers originals when he brokered this deal, we have a fabulous working relationship with Sky, too right we do, problem is it’s a one way street.



Surely this means most clubs, can’t spend to the existing salary cap,



there is going to be some serious belt tightening across Super league. And perhaps the days of the marquee player are gone, get those kids playing as soon as possible, because more than ever, they are our future.

Pearson and Davey were the negotiators......well has run dry finally, just hope bbc get some free to air as Adam mentioned a few weeks back, may give a bit more value when the next deal is being discussed as viewing figures are pretty strong on the beeb

The more I see & read about the new deal the more it seems that it isn't a bad deal when taking everything in to account in terms of SL.



Its clear the landscape has changed in terms of fans through the gates for all sports globally. I don't doubt that fans will come back eventually but it will take time and there will of course be some that decide to no longer go for a number of reasons due to the enforced extended break.



I don't think there has ever been a more important time to promote and sell the game to a wider audience to not only entice regular RL fans back but also people starved of watching a live sporting event and entertainment for over a year than now. The RFL with SL and Championship must work together to try and expand the audience and with the football season coming to an end if done right the game could really steal a march and make some real progress in this if they are able to use more platforms than under the previous SKY deal.



There is a need to have some games on free to air channels and the possibility of the BBC doing a prime Saturday afternoon slot would certainly help to reach a much greater audience, which would help to generate interest in the sport then filter down to people wanting to go and see a game live.