Yep, the money involved isn’t that big of a deal for Sky in the grand scheme of things (compared to what they pay for the PL), and RL still plays a big role for Sky over the summer months.
Also, with the contract coming to an end at the finish of the 2021 season it would be silly of Sky to create issues over such a (relatively) small amount for them. If they are paying £40m a year (as stated today) then £70-80m to the end of next season is nothing when you think that they pay an average of £9m per game for PL football.
It also means that their ‘loyalty’ will probably be expected to be repaid when the clubs start looking at the next TV contract.
That's good news. We shouldn't forget that RL isn't the only half of this partnership that's in a parlous situation - Sky Sports will need live sport and plenty of it as soon as they can get their hands on it.
They also have the rights to Championship games but never show them. If RL comes back 'behind closed doors' in the not too distant future I could imagine there being a lot of games televised, as presumably it's going to be a good while before sports/events that involve a lot of international travel (e.g. F1, international cricket, golf) are going to be able to restart and fill up the schedule again.
It’s looking like we will be taking stock of how the NRL approach this as a blueprint for what we end up doing - as well as the Premier League. As we stand now in the middle of May I would say a starting date in early July is looking the most likely.
Early July definitely seems like the aim.
If anyone has any old flags or banners I'd advise you to get in touch with the club, as loads of them on the seats on the North Stand would look a lot better than empty seats!
I wonder if the GF will still be in October? I can't see it personally, even though it seems a few folk at the rfl are still looking at October as a possibility
If Premiership football is planning a June return is that the same for all sports (IE. RL) or are the UK doing it on an individual sport basis??
Looked very briefly at the football from Germany last night, soulless is the only way to describe it, no disrespect at all intended, but far worse than watching Salford at home to Huddersfield, when all you can hear is a bit of encouragement coming from the ground staff. I'm looking forward to the game starting again, but not with the same enthusiasm as normal, part of going to a game is being caught up in the communal reaction and support of the crowd, not sat in your living room watching a game played in an empty ground. I'm sure the players also will find it hard to raise their game without encouragement, despite what they say about blocking the noise out when they're playing. Sorry to be a pessimist, but I don't think I'm the only one
Difficult not to agree with you on this, but I guess that sport has to start off again in some way or other. Obviously the football lot think that this is the way forward.
I don't know what the £££ implications would be if RL followed suit. Sky money is important and probably our main income, but I assume that we have a heavier reliance on paying spectators than football does. Would our clubs be actually losing money if they played behind closed doors?