If you were watching Sky Sports last week, you may have seen the future of rugby league. On Thursday night, there was a preview of what could be Super League 2 as Widnes squeezed past Salford in front of 4,000 spectators. The following evening, Leeds attracted their second-highest league gate in half a century when 23,000 attended Elland Road to see Castleford gain some revenge for their Grand Final defeat to the Rhinos. And while all attention has been on the Denver Test farrago, St Helens posted sold out notices for their Good Friday clash with Wigan. It is hoped Hull KR and Wakefield follow suit for their Easter derbies, too. These are exactly the type of events expected from a new-look Super League in 2021 and beyond.

But as the biggest clubs plot a bigger, better, brighter future, and League 1 clubs panic that they might be cut adrift – a fear, I am reliably informed, that is unjustified – there are a large group in the middle whose destiny is equally unclear. If Super League does become an elite 10-team competition, it will not be made up of the 10 biggest sides at the minute. The owners of our leading clubs have a vision of Wigan, Hull, St Helens, Warrington and a few others being joined by Toronto, New York, Boston, Perth and who knows where else. Denver, perhaps? But once the league becomes worldwide, will our clubs be strong enough to hold on to their seats?

Some of our clubs are not big enough to be in Super League now, let alone the next version. Many operate under a glass ceiling. Will St Helens ever attract more than 15,000 regulars to lovely Langtree Park? Warrington have doubled their crowds in Super League but there is little to suggest they will ever need to expand the capacity of the Halliwell Jones. Not that a 10-club elite division need be entirely size-ist. There is still be room for a vibrant, buoyant minnow, such as Castleford Tigers all but filling a bouncing new stadium, and Hull KR punching above their weight.

The issue is their lack of commercial clout. Are our clubs making the most of their potential? Almost all Super League clubs now break even or make a profit, after two decades of haemorrhaging cash. With the £2m salary cap almost covered by central RFL funding from Sky, they should all make a profit. Saints, Warrington, Castleford, even Wakefield, all have.

However, the revenues at most clubs are pitiful when compared with rival sports. Even our most successful clubs appear under-milked. In recent years, Leeds Rhinos’ turnover has been around £10m, while Wigan and Warrington have nudged up to around £7m and, having invested in their new stadium, St Helens have increased their revenue from just over £5m in 2013 to nearly £8m in 2015. But almost £2m of that is from broadcast rights.

With skeletal staffing levels and pitiful marketing budgets at many clubs, it is no wonder Super League is underperforming. Leeds Rhinos averaged 14,900 last year, almost the same as QPR, whose income was an astonishing £44m (although they are £100m in debt). Rotherham United averaged around 9,000 in the Championship, generating an income of £15m. Once you deduct around £6m in Sky money, their income is still more than double that of near neighbours Castleford without their slice of Uncle Rupert’s pie. Reigning rugby union champions Exeter Chiefs average more than 11,000 and have had a turnover of £17m for the past two seasons, making over a million profit each year, vastly more than Hull FC even without the broadcast revenues.

In their latest accounts, Wigan lost £605,000 despite reaching the Grand Final. Of their £7m income, £4.6m went in wages for a staff of 89, including marquee players Sam Tomkins and George Williams. Yet Wigan are spending the same now on players as they did in the early 1990s, when their turnover was around £3m a year. Given Wigan are one of only five Super League clubs who average five-figure gates, those at the bottom end of Super League need to keep growing on and off the pitch if they are to avoid making way for more international franchises. Super League 2 will have to think bigger. The likes of Warrington and Saints may regret issuing the party invites after all.

Foreign quota

No Helmets saw London Skolars match big-spending Workington for an hour last Saturday before Town’s six Super League veterans, led by the impressive Ryan Bailey, pulled them through to a 42-26 win. Rumours spread that Town, who received news the previous evening that Allerdale Council are building a new stadium, are trying to sign Fui Fui Moi Moi for a farewell tour after he brought his Toronto one to an abrupt halt.

Meanwhile, Skolars have signed two of the Wolfpack: they gave a debut to young Canadian Quinn Ngawati and hope USA flier Ryan Burroughs’ new visa comes through in time for him to play on Friday at Hemel. However, Skolars (or Hemel) are unable to sign many of the best amateur talent around London. Work permit restrictions mean the fine Antipodean players who are part of the capital’s cultural melting pot are no longer able to play “professionally”. That has strengthened amateur clubs London Chargers, Wests Warriors and Hammersmith Hills Hoists but weakened Skolars. So a gifted Australian teenager, who turned down a lucrative NRL contract to be with his girlfriend in north London, doesn’t meet the criteria to play in League 1!

Clubcall: Swinton Lions

The RFL’s impending move to the Etihad Campus has sparked debate about the need for a high-profile club in Manchester. There is an obvious solution: get City’s Abu Dhabi owners to buy Swinton, move the Lions to the Regional Arena, and get promoted to Super League. Swinton have had umpteen temporary homes since selling Station Road in 1991, none of which have been in Swinton. They are Swinton are currently renting at Sale FC, a suitably-sized venue but, like Salford and Oldham’s grounds, seven miles from the city centre.

City Sporting Group could change that with a couple of million quid a year – loose change to them. Toronto Wolfpack, who train at Manchester Met’s Platt Lane grounds in Fallowfield, could be on the move, too. Owner David Argyll is apparently in talks to move their entire UK operation to a current League 1 club in another city. Watch this space.

Goal-line drop-out

Several coaches working in Super League and the Championship have thrown their hats in the ring to replace Steve McCormack as Scotland coach. SRL chairman Keith Hogg has received over 30 applications for the post, which is available for the first time since 2004. McCormack resigned after the World Cup and his replacement will have until late October to prepare for the European Championship, the format of which will be confirmed next month. Expect a continuation of the round robin format – featuring Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France, with Italy missing out – unless a TV deal to finance England’s participation appears at the eleventh hour.

Fifth and last

Prepare for the annual moan-athon that is Super League’s Easter programme. It is unlikely that Easter Monday’s crowds will be particularly larger than usual for an uninspiring set of fixtures, more evidence that there is no need to play three times in a week.

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