UK Super League club owners await details of NRL deal

V’landys said the NRL was compiling a business case on the Super League to be put to its clubs for approval in the next month.

It would involve the NRL making a capital injection into the competition, whose teams lose an average of £2 million ($3.75 million) a year.

“We’d do it to get them back to where they were and hand it back to them,” V’landys said. “We’re not trying to do a takeover. All we’re trying to do is get them viable. We’re there just to invest and get rugby league going in England.

“For us, it’s not about making money. If we break even, we’re happy.”

Invigorating Super League is part of the NRL’s plan to broaden the reach of the sport and the revenue it returns. The Las Vegas venture and the proposed Global Round, with possible games in London and Hong Kong, comes under the same umbrella.

While rugby league is booming in Australia and New Zealand, the gulf between the NRL and Super League has widened with poor management and plummeting broadcast income since the pandemic.

McManus said the management structure of Super League was misunderstood in Australia, with control in the hands of the independent board of the Rugby Football League, England’s governing body, and team owners only having a vote on select matters, such as the competition’s broadcast deal.

The St Helens chairman insisted, “We’re not precious about that … we’re open to discussions on that”.

But owners want to retain some level of input.

“We’ve got to have some influence because it’s our sport, and we own it,” he said.

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McManus said the competition had turned a corner with new leadership at the RFL, expansion to 14 teams and crowds and television figures up in the new season this year.

But joining forces with the NRL could hasten their recovery, he said.

“We don’t feel as though we’re on our knees. We feel as though we are weak, but we are able to work our way out of this gradually,” he said.

“But with the NRL we could do that on an accelerated basis that would obviously be better for both parties and the game as a whole.

“We [could] take each other to the next level. If we do have some sort of merger or partnership for the two sports, it’s a powerful body to grow from.”