Bradford Bulls caught up in Betfred Championship TV shambles

What do you mean, that’s impossible?

In a situation that has become increasingly farcical, given it was made public LAST SUMMER that Viaplay Sports would not be extending their broadcast deal with the second tier in 2024, we still have no televised games pencilled in for the division (beyond an experimental, one-off solution with York v Toulouse this Sunday for £4.95 on Super League+) with the season having already started.

Can you imagine this happening to Leeds United or Huddersfield Town in the Sky Bet Championship, a blackout of coverage for two well-supported clubs? No, thought not.

And yet, while the quality is of course, a level below Super League, big fanbases like Bulls’, Widnes’ and Featherstone’s will currently be unable to watch their side play at all this season as it stands, unless they go to the stadium.

Bulls have seen games against Featherstone televised a few times in recent years, but that is not set to happen in 2024 as it stands. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Ideally, I think virtually all of us would rather watch a match at the ground, given the choice, but that might be near-impossible for some, for reasons ranging from travel to long-term illness.

I completely understand the prioritising of Super League, it’s where the best rugby in the country by far is played and is home to a multitude of internationals.

But for every game in the top flight to be televised this season, while just one single fixture is currently scheduled for broadcast in the second tier? That seems to be taking the bias to the extreme.

There has been months of talk and no action, such as the managing director of Rugby League Commercial, Rhodri Jones, insisting back in mid-January that a deal was coming.

At the season launch for the Championship and League 1, he told the assembled players, coaches and journalists: "We're in dialogue with broadcasters.

"Our League exists as a membership platform, and that Sportsman deal is already secured for League 1.

"Ultimately, there will be an opportunity for fans to see Championship action, but there's nothing to announce today."

“Nothing to announce today” soon spiralled into two months of “nothing to announce”, but a breakthrough looked to be on the horizon when Premier Sports tabled an offer, worth £225,000 over three years, to broadcast every Championship game, like Sky Sports do with Super League.

If someone handed you or I over £225,000 in cash, we’d bite their hand off for it, but that does not seem such a big figure when spread over three years, factoring in over a dozen clubs, and to incorporate every single Championship match until the end of 2026.

And a resolution to the broadcast coverage fiasco still looks miles away after seven clubs turned down that offer, including Bulls, while six accepted it and Whitehaven abstained from voting.

Concerns for clubs range from attendances being affected, by people choosing to watch their teams on the sofa every week, as opposed to coming to the ground and providing matchday revenue, to how it may negatively affect their IMG score, with points for broadcast currently only available on linear TV like BBC, Sky Sports and Viaplay’s main channels, as opposed to streams.

The criteria for the latter is likely to be refined to include streaming, given most Super League games are not being shown on Sky Sports’ main channels either, but it does not address the attendance fears, nor does it take away the risk of the lengthy commitment to a deal that may not help Championship clubs financially.

To Premier Sports’ credit, they have taken on board the ‘late-2026 issue’ and amended their offer to two years, with the option to extend to a third if the deal proves to be working out come the back end of 2025.

But the financial package on offer still does not ultimately sit right with many clubs, with Bulls CEO Jason Hirst exclusively telling the T&A this week: "The Bulls, in common with a number of other of the better supported clubs, didn’t feel able to support the proposal in the current guise.

"Obviously, each club has its own position on the subject (York and Toulouse do back the current proposal, so make of their Easter Sunday arrangement what you will), which they are at liberty to explain should they so wish.

"Our club does, however, believe that Championship Rugby League is a great product and worthy of the right broadcast solution.

"We would be very happy to participate if a different proposition was tabled."

That “great product” was in evidence last year, particularly during the end of season run-in, which saw hosts York break Batley’s hearts with a last-gasp drop goal to win 15-14 on a gripping Monday night, dumping their visitors out of play-off contention, just weeks after the Bulldogs had narrowly lost the 1895 Cup final at Wembley too.

How about Jordan Lilley’s televised last-gasp drop goal to help Bulls beat Sheffield 17-16 six days later?

With one swing of the boot last September, Jordan Lilley decided the play-off picture in the Betfred Championship. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

If that point had gone the other way, Bradford would have played eventually-promoted London Broncos in their play-off eliminator, having won against them in a tense thriller in the capital only a fortnight earlier.

Then there was London’s seismic play-off semi-final win on TV over promotion favourites Featherstone at Post Office Road, as we witnessed Rovers’ Super League gamble blow up in their faces, with much-publicised accusations over finances coming off the back of that for the beleaguered West Yorkshire club.

Hirst is right, the Championship is a product worth watching, and the sooner we can have it back on our screens, the better.