Would you follow Wigan Rugby Union?

[Mike]

Will it work long term? Who knows but once the deal starts RU is on £38m a season for four years until it ends.

Could end after 6months if the Setanta deal is anything to go by. You can't walk away, but if you go or your parent company doesn't like the business plan then tough. Sounds a lot to pay to me.

[DaveO]

Will it work long term? Who knows but once the deal starts RU is on £38m a season for four years until it ends.

Could end after 6months if the Setanta deal is anything to go by. You can't walk away, but if you go or your parent company doesn't like the business plan then tough. Sounds a lot to pay to me.

Well time will tell but I don't think BT Vision or the RFU have entered into this deal thinking it is an unrealistic a proposition as people on here do.

[Fujiman]

I suspect many supporters of Wigan and indeed other club's will not be renewing their season tickets after again spending a great of money over a period of nine months or so to watch their team win as many matches as they can in the league and then find at the end of the season the team in fifth position and eight points behind the top team, yet again win the title and win it with the help of match officials from the same county.

I wonder how many of you noticed that many of the seats adjacent to where the RFL officials were sat were covered up to prevent ordinary supporters being near them and making comments at them.

The rival code has at least the sense NOT to have a farcical top eight play off like we have at the present time and which is driving supporters away from the game.

Under the present RFL management, the game is now a laughing stock in the eyes of other sports.

Think youll find that the ra ras have a similar play off.Not sure how their play off works though but here's a piece from the web site

"Be part of the pride, the passion and the atmosphere that comes with the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final.

The Aviva Premiership Rugby Final 2013 takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday, 25 May.

It's the world rugby union's biggest domestic club final, selling out Twickenham Stadium for the last five years.

The finalists will have spent nine long months vying for the right to be crowned Champions; it's the culmination of 135 games between the top 12 teams and the season all comes down to this one game, when the best two sides in the country go head to head in a winner-takes-all encounter.

The day is notorious for both the stunning rugby on the pitch and the electric atmosphere around the stadium throughout day. It really is a must attend occasion for all rugby supporters"

[Nezza Faz]

If the business model fails, as it did with Setanta/Premier League in Scotland, then the deal fails - whether it's 4 months, 6 months, or a year or so. The plug would be pulled OR the company or division of that company, goes bust. No remedies available then.
Not many other tv companies have taken on SKY and won, let alone in recessionary times when people's disposable income is severely restricted.
If they are paying £152M, there's going to be no cut-price, discount offerings to tempt people away from Sky, who show more Premier Lge/Champs Lge soccer in 1 month than BT will show in a whole season.

[DaveO]

If the business model fails, as it did with Setanta/Premier League in Scotland, then the deal fails - whether it's 4 months, 6 months, or a year or so. The plug would be pulled OR the company or division of that company, goes bust. No remedies available then.
Not many other tv companies have taken on SKY and won, let alone in recessionary times when people's disposable income is severely restricted.
If they are paying £152M, there's going to be no cut-price, discount offerings to tempt people away from Sky, who show more Premier Lge/Champs Lge soccer in 1 month than BT will show in a whole season.

That is all speculation.

The only fact on the table is they signed a £152m deal.

You can pick as many holes in it as you like but at this moment in time they have a £152m deal and have said what they are going to do with the cash - pay the players even more.

So far from the defection from Sky showing RU in a bad light as you originally implied it does exactly the opposite. They have got a huge deal despite the current economic climate.

[Nezza Faz]

DaveO - that deal is for 4 YEARS (not paid up front, but in installments) so if it goes belly-up after the first season, that's their lot. Again, as happened in Scottish football, serious questions then arose over clubs' survival
They can't pay what's not there, irrespective of any contract - do the sums and it doesn't add up, otherwise SKY would have had something to say about retention. Not like them to lose a major rights - maybe they can work out the insides of this deal ? Must know something !
Again, it can't be overlooked how difficult the economy is; you only have to see all the bankruptcies going on and the entertainment/sports industry is not immune, as we have seen locally just recently.

[Panchitta Marra]

I think the point Dave is making is that the RFU isn't bothered about any ramifications of the viewing figures or the extent of the coverage of their sport, they are more interested in the 152m they will be picking up for being aligned to BT vision. Which as it stands is 100m more than the RFL pick up from SKY, despite RL being the 2nd most watch sport on SKY.

So the question is are the RFL selling the game short when it come to negotiating contracts with SKY?

Once again the evidence is here our sport is having the piss taken out of it by its own governing body, no way is Rugby Union worth £100m more than our game which is proven by the viewing figures both on sky and weekly attendances.

We have clubs supposedly just had their licences renewed and going bust, being served winding up orders or asking the RFL for financial help. We sell our main sponsorship for zero pounds and the kick and clap shite gets £152m. How and when can we get rid of these clowns ?

I totally agree with that Slim, especially based on the entertainment value alone of League compared to union, there is no comparison, League is simply streets ahead. However, sadly if we dont get our International game in order, and on a similar scale to union we will always fall behind when it comes to negociating contracts.

[nellywelly]

There are rugby fans who watch both codes and enjoy them equally.I believe RL is a far better game to watch but I also know I am in the minority, rugby union is growing and RL is not.It stands to reason that RL is not being sold or marketed as well as RU and I do fear for its survival. As I said before I believe we have the better game and the two most high profile games in our season are the challenge cup and the grand final.These games sell our sport to the sporting public and so should not be got rid of,I agree the play off's need trimming down.We should raise the profile of the league leaders shield but how we do that and not water down the grand final winners importance is beyond me. If the game survives or goes under is up to us the supporters and if we stop turning up at the league games in numbers will bring about the death of our great game. I understand the reasoning behind the supporters who don't want to pay out for season tickets but all I can say is going and watching our great team play and win is a great reward in its self

[bocco]

beefing up the importance of the league title by giving more prize money to the top3 than present, taking the money from some of the cash raised at the grand final gates & sponsorship. We also need to the RFL to be out marketing our game really promoting the game through the national media.

[DaveO]

DaveO - that deal is for 4 YEARS (not paid up front, but in installments) so if it goes belly-up after the first season, that's their lot. Again, as happened in Scottish football, serious questions then arose over clubs' survival

That is why I mentioned £38m a year in one of my posts.

They can't pay what's not there, irrespective of any contract - do the sums and it doesn't add up, otherwise SKY would have had something to say about retention. Not like them to lose a major rights - maybe they can work out the insides of this deal ? Must know something !

What do you mean what is not there? BT could run this as a colossal loss leader for however long they felt that was worthwhile in an attempt to become a player in the pay for view market alongside Sky and Virgin. They don't have to have the cash in the piggy bank to start with and can fund it with cash from other parts of their business or fund it with debt. That is how businesses work.

Again, it can't be overlooked how difficult the economy is; you only have to see all the bankruptcies going on and the entertainment/sports industry is not immune, as we have seen locally just recently.

So what? You are assuming failure. Someone in in BT V clearly takes a different view and sees the £152m over four years as a sound investment.

I certainly wish RL had the likes of BT V prepared to out-bid Sky for the privilege of showing the sport.