Poor state of RL Clubs finances tonight BBC 1 Inside out

[markill]

Mr Lenegan wasn't impressed with this programme even being aired. He also said that last season was the third since he took over six years ago that Wigan Warrios had made a good profit

One of the problems with the piece was the poor performing clubs weren't named - and Wigan were bypassed, maybe because IL didn't want the show to be aired. It was a little piece on a regional show that will have got a bigger than normal audience because of RL fans alone. I think too much is being made of the show and not enough is being made of what lies behind the headline figures announced.

[Wigan's No. 2 Fan]

BBC edited a detailed piece to fit into a 5 minute or so slot which did not add much to the debate.
Comparing league to union or football is difficult due to revenue generated by their respective TV money, sponsorship, international game, governing bodies, central contracts.
The debt in RL is small in comparison to other sports it's the margins that are tight in terms of some clubs being on the brink.Consider one bad season, the loss of supporters through the turnstiles or debts being called in means clubs could go out of business examples would be HMRC demanding VAT/tax payments that are overdue.

Some issues are :

1. No RL Sponsorship for the second season .
2. Centralised money as sport England have cut funding to league by £10.1 million.
3. Revenue generated by TV and internationals.

Clearly we have a problem with all the above, not helped by The RFL valuing the league at £0 and SKY hardly increasing the value of the TV contract currently a 5 year deal. The clubs are left to recover funds by themselves,should attendances fall this can leave big holes in budgets.

[markill]

I think the Sport England cuts effect the RFL, so obviously the sport - but not the Super League clubs. I don't think this funding would be dished out to clubs other than in the guise of community projects maybe.

This decrease shouldn't effect the debt level of super league clubs - but obviously it isn't good for the sport.

[gillysmyhero]

On the programme it said that the salary cap was 1.65 million,does anyone know how much each club actually gets per season from the TV money .

[jobo]

I like the way Hethrington blames financial mis-management. It may or may not be true but it's easy to say when you've got the support and facilities Leeds have, not so easy if you're pumping millions of your own money into clubs like Broncos, Widnes, The smellys, etc.

I didn't like the whole negative aspect to this programme.

RL has been around for a long time and will be around a long time yet. In the north, where fans have a choice, it's much the preferred spectator sport over everything bar football.

Far as I'm concerned, RL is the best sport in the world and the world is poorer for not promoting it more.

[morley pie eater]

I saw the programme and, yes, it lacked analysis, failed to name clubs, negative etc etc . . . BUT wake up and smell the coffee.
The bloke got his figures from company records and no-one's disputed them. The RFL spokesman, a slack Aussie, sounded complacent "We're no worse than other sports".
Work it out for yourself (or let me do it for you!), if 3 or 4 clubs out of 11 are ok, and some are not too bad, then most of the £68,000,000 debt is from 6 clubs at the most. That's 11 million each on average, which probably means the worst is over £20 million.
I've joined the "blame the southerners" chorus many times in 50 years, but there's more to this than can be dismissed as glibly as many of the posts seem to do.

[Nezza Faz]

The average debt is contributed to greatly by those clubs who have carried out stadium revamps, or actually built new stadiums.

Warrington, Leeds, Wakefield, Hull KR(in building phase),Catalans and Saints have all undertaken major capital investments in their ground. These are unique debts being incurred which obviously impact on average debts when all added up together as a Super League total. Presumably when clubs undertake these ventures they have ways and means to manage this debt ?

[Mike]

Presumably when clubs undertake these ventures they have ways and means to manage this debt ?

Presumably? Hmm - maybe they do, but Salfords ways and means were to magically double their attendance overnight or go bust. I wonder how many other crazy business plans there are out there in RL?

[Nezza Faz]

Yeah Mike, I purposely left Salford out of the list as they moved into a new stadium without any control over it whatsoever. For this move they are indebted, apparently, to Peel Holdings and Salford City Council, so they have little or no assets in this property, right now. Would think much of their debt is owed to John Wilkinson who has financed them for at least a decade.

When their new ownership goes through, then their debt is wiped, and immediately the total Super League debt reduces by that same amount.

[Owd Codger]

Typical of the BBC to produce a negative report on Rugby League on the eve of the season and the start of their beloved Six Nations Championship.

You can be assured that they will not bring out a similar report about the poor finances of the many Union clubs outside the top level and especially in the welsh valley's which has occured since the introduction of profession in 1996.