The 2025 Rugby League Season’s Significant Change
The 2025 rugby league season will mark a significant change as the full IMG grading system comes into force. This means that a club’s competition placement will not be solely determined by on-field performance. Under the new rules, London Broncos are expected to be relegated to the Championship, while Wakefield Trinity are poised to earn promotion to Super League.
The introduction of the grading system has sparked discussions around the potential expansion of Super League to a 14-team competition. However, in a recent RFL media briefing, Chief Executive Tony Sutton firmly stated that Super League will remain at 12 clubs for the 2025 season. Sutton emphasized that the “future aspiration” is to potentially grow the league, but only when there are sufficient A-grade clubs to fill the expanded competition.
Sutton also addressed the financial implications of the new system, explaining that the gap between the bottom of Super League and the top of the Championship is expected to remain relatively small in 2025. This is intended to mitigate the losses for clubs that fail to achieve the required IMG grading. Sutton noted that the 2025 budget is not yet finalized, but the financial disparity is not anticipated to differ significantly from the current season.
“The 2025 budget is not yet finalized, but the financial disparity is not anticipated to differ significantly from the current season.”
- Tony Sutton, RFL Chief Executive
The RFL is exploring alternative financial models to potentially lessen the difference between the top two divisions, but Sutton cautioned that no definitive decisions have been made on this matter.
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