Rivals Round was broadly a hit but the product needs to look as good as it can to secure a favourable broadcast deal
There is still plenty for all 14 Super League clubs to play for as the regular season approaches the final stretch. But as the competition enters a potentially era-defining fortnight, there are arguably much bigger narratives at play for the sport off the field than on it.
There is a mixture of familiarity and freshness at the top with seven rounds to go. Two of the competition’s heavyweights, Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors, are split by just a solitary win at the summit after the Rhinos comfortably defeated Bradford on Sunday to close out a successful Rivals Round.
But sandwiched in between them are Wakefield Trinity, a Championship team two years ago and without a league title since 1962. It is the kind of story Super League should be primed to exploit as it attempts to market itself to the world as a competition that is unpredictable and exciting; the story of Hull KR’s historic treble last year should further fuel that fire.
Why is all of this important right now? Super League deliberately placed its latest instalment of Rivals Round – the biggest derbies all on one weekend – at this particular juncture in the summer. They are in the closing stages of negotiating a TV deal with Sky Sports and are acutely aware that their product needs to look as good as it can to strengthen their position at the table.
To that end, this Sunday afternoon in West Yorkshire, and the past few days on the whole, have been a success. Nearly 17,000 fans watched two old foes go head to head in the Headingley sunshine, with Leeds being far too strong for the Bulls, who themselves will hope to return to Super League’s elite in the coming years after promotion last winter.
But across the weekend, there were nearly 85,000 fans at the seven games: the highest figure of the season for a single round by some distance, and the sixth-highest in Super League’s history. Three of the most reliable clubs for support – Leeds, Wigan and Hull FC – delivered with bumper crowds, all approaching 20,000.
However, an interesting layer to this particular story is that the Rhinos-Bulls derby was tucked away on Sky Sports’ red button. The current deal only calls for two of the seven games each weekend to be shown on main channels; ask people at Sky and Super League whose decision that is, and you will get two different answers.
The Guardian has been told that a deal with Sky Sports is “10 to 14 days” away from completion. The noises are that it is going to produce an increased financial offer, but with the caveat of just two or three games being televised each round, as opposed to all seven in the current deal. That means Super League either has to take its non-Sky games elsewhere, or produce them centrally.
The optics of a competition being unable to offer fans every single game on TV would be undoubtedly poor and represent a backward step. For neutrals and hardcore fans, the opportunity to watch less rugby league in a world where more sport is at our fingertips than ever before must be a worry. Do other broadcasters want the scraps of games Sky don’t? That is a tough sell.
The competition has its own platform, SuperLeague+, where it can stream games, but that will come at a cost production-wise which could eat into the money clubs get as a result of a likely increased offer from Sky. They themselves may well be in a position to offer more if they are producing as much as 60% or 70% live rugby league.
There will be clarity on that in the next fortnight. But in the immediate term, there is a compelling run-in to the finish, with Leeds looking good value to claim a first league title since 2017. The Bulls battled gamely at Headingley until Jake Connor took control of proceedings, with four assists and a string of brilliant individual moments to ensure a 42-12 win for the Rhinos.
Beneath Leeds, Wakefield and Wigan, there are three playoff spots up for grabs and four teams vying for them. The now coach-less St Helens are in the thick of that fight and aiming to preserve their record of never missing the playoffs.
Connor, a certainty to play for England at the World Cup this autumn, is the kind of player existing rugby league supporters love watching and who new fans would be captivated by. At full time here there were dozens of young Leeds fans clamouring for pictures with him. It would be a travesty if, next year, there are fewer opportunities to see him and the stars of this sport.
They deserve the greatest of platforms; those in charge now have to deliver it.
