Wigan Warriors • IMG Announce Proposed Criteria for Super League 2025

they are

however, it needs all parties to look at things differently instead of just protecting their own club / self interests if we are going to have a viable game in the future

TV revenues have fallen over recent years (SKY), so they arent seeing the same value in the game that they used to do, even though viewing figures still stack up well.

we cant say that everythign is rosy in the RL garden and just carry on as we are. There isnt a lot wrong with the game as a product and i am sure most fans find it far more interesting to watch than most other sports. However, that fan base is not massive and it doesnt get anywhere near the media exposure in any format, that football, RU, cricket etc etc get. We are at best an after thought somewhere 6 pages into a newspaper, in a small column

it will need some bold decisions from IMG and the clubs to really look to move the game forward. IMO the only way we will get real recognition nationally is if we extend beyond the M62 coridoor. I know people will argue that we have tried it before, but you cant just drop a club into town X, and hope it survives. There needs to be a long term growth strategy in place to allow clubs to develop. Catalans were probably a bit of an exception as they were sort of dropped in, but equally they were given 3 years exemption from relegation, and the rest they say is history. In terms of IMG criteria, they have a massive catchment area in the Catalan region, and if they can somehow tap into that, they could quite easily be attracting 20k+ crowds each home game, but need to be tasked to do that

With my example of Cumbria, you could apply that in other areas too, i.e. South Yorkshire, where we have a presence in Doncaster / Sheffield (poss others i've missed), but quite a big catchment area with other Cities in close proximity

With regards to the acadamies / junior levels within the current clubs, i would also be looking at the proximity and relationships with clubs within the catchment area and beyond, so with Wigan, we have St Pats, St Judes, Orrell St james, Rosebridge, Hindley etc etc, and we also have ties with clubs beyond the traditional Wigan borough. All of this should be taken into account when progressing the game as without the local amateur clubs, the game certainly wont grow if the next generations arent being produced at that level