If you have never heard the story how British rugby league’s broadcast deals with Sky Sports were supposedly negotiated in the past, then make yourself comfortable because it’s a good one.
Rumour has it that whenever the rights were approaching renewal time, the RFL executive responsible would get into their chauffeur-driven car and make the trip down from Red Hall to the broadcaster’s West London headquarters to thrash out a new deal with one of their Sky counterparts.
When negotiations commenced, they would apparently involve both writing down an amount on a piece of paper they were, in the RFL’s case, seeking or, in the Sky‘s case, willing to pay for the extension.
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Once they had reached a number each, they would swap their pieces of paper, look at what the other had written down, and then simply agree to meet somewhere in the middle before heading out for a lengthy lunch.
The world of handshake deals and so-called gentlemen’s agreements all seems quite quaint compared the modern world of broadcast rights negotiations which include tendering processes, narrowing down to preferred bidders, followed by offers, counter-offers and months of hard negotiations over the finer details before anything is finally signed.
One thing which has not changed is that Sky, with the exception of at least free-to-air games a season simulcast on BBC platforms, remains the biggest player in town when it comes to Super League’s broadcast rights.
The pay-TV outlet’s relationship with rugby league goes back to before Super League and the switch to summer, but with the value of the competition’s rights having dipped significantly in recent years which has led to Rugby League Commercial seeking other interested parties.
The news global sports streaming giant DAZN, as exclusively revealed by rugbyleaguehub.com, has shown interest in doing a deal with Super League for the next rights renewal due at the end of the 2026 season will have provided a welcome boost to the competition.
Sky has been a long-term partner and now shows every Super League match of the season live either on linear television or via its Sky Sports+ streaming platform, but the value of their contract has plunged from a high of £40million per season from 2017 to 2021, to just under half of that at £21.5million per season for the current 2024 to 2026 contract.
Despite reports of interest from and talks with – a phrase which can mean anything from the basis of a deal has been hashed out to someone from RL Commercial has left a message with someone’s secretary – the likes of TNT Sports and DAZN, Sky were ultimately the only ones sat around the negotiation table with Super League.
Those negotiations were, rugbyleaguehub.com understands, close to breaking up without a renewal before the current reduced contract was agreed.
Competition for the rights would therefore be welcome for Super League and its cash-strapped clubs as it would undoubtedly drive the value up, even if it might not be to the highs seen prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A similar situation, rugbyleaguehub.com understands, has not really existed since the rights package for 2009 to 2011 was up for grabs when it seemed as if Setanta Sports were poised to snatch the rights before a late-in-the-day £17.6million-per-season bid saw them stay with Sky.
Given Setanta‘s UK business went into administration midway through 2009 though, there can be few doubts that particular deal worked out.
Broadcast rights are not the only commercial contract up for renewal at the end of 2026 though, with Betfred’s sponsorship which is reportedly worth a significant seven-figure sum per season, coming to the end of its current deal.
Next year marks the 10th season of the bookmaker’s involvement with rugby league, which has grown from title sponsorship of the men’s competition to encompass the Women’s and Wheelchair Super Leagues, plus the men’s, women’s and wheelchair Challenge Cups, the Championship and League One, plus all three England teams.
Whatever moral objections there might be, Betfred has been a rare valuable long-term partner for the competition beyond just the financial side, putting rugby league at the forefront of its advertising and being an active in promoting the sport. Nor is there any suggestion the company is set to end its relationship.
It was notable, however, that Betfred has started to increase its presence in horse racing again, becoming the first company to sponsor all five English Classics in 2025.
Betfred had, in 2017, scaled back its sponsorship of racing to just betting shops at Ascot and Chelmsford racecourses – around the same time they began to establish a foothold in rugby league.
There is also the looming threat of restrictions being imposed on gambling advertising, which although unlikely to affect any renewal of the Betfred deal for 2027 onwards is still something which all sports may have to wrestle with in the future.
In a sport where every year seems like a make-or-break year, it does seem that next year especially is shaping up as a crucial one for Super League with its two most significant deals financially up for renewal.
