Super League growth plan puts Sky TV money in peril

Super League's long-term partnership with Sky Sports that bankrolls the sport could be jeopardised by plans to expand the competition to 14 teams next season.

- Matt Hughes Aaron Bower

The existing 12 Super League clubs voted in favour of expansion earlier this week following the recommendations of a strategic review led by the Rugby Football League chair, Nigel Wood, but the Guardian has learned that the plan has yet to be endorsed by their broadcast partner.

Under the terms of the current deal, Sky broadcasts every Super League game live, but it is understood that the cost of televising an extra game across 27 rounds next year would be around £500,000.

The Guardian has been told Sky is reluctant to pick up the additional cost for matches it did not buy in a tender process that concluded almost two years ago, and has no intention of increasing its rights fees to support two extra clubs.

Sky's three-year deal to provide exclusive live coverage of Super League enters its final 12 months next season, and while there is no suggestion of the broadcaster terminating that contract, senior sources have indicated that the expansion could affect negotiations over future deals.

RL Commercial officials are understood to have been locked in discussions with Sky since the vote on Monday about what expansion means for the existing contract, and have yet to receive the reassurances they are seeking.