The International Rugby League (IRL) chair, Troy Grant, has criticised the BBC for not offering any money to televise the Rugby League World Cup. The 2026 competition is underway in Australia, but is being broadcast behind a paywall on Premier Sports.
This comes after the BBC broadcast all 61 matches across the men's, women's and wheelchair tournaments at the 2021 World Cup, but made a 'disappointing' offer to broadcast this year's tournament. Grant's comments add to a year of criticism for the BBC, which has also cut coverage of the Boat Race, live England cricket, bowls and the Commonwealth Games athletics.
IRL Chair Explains Commercial Decision
Speaking to The i paper, Grant revealed: "We're not a charity. Revenue into the game has to come from somewhere. And the reality is that in the IRL, we operate more like a not-for-profit organisation. So we're not there to make money for ourselves.
"We're a low-cost operation and the money we raise, we reinvest back into the participation of the game. So we have to make money. There were decisions made back for the 2021 World Cup and the broadcast was given away for a dollar.
"So the BBC got it for a dollar and then the organisers paid for production. From a commercial point of view, that's nuts."
Viewership Success Not Translated into Growth
Grant acknowledged the 2021 World Cup's viewership numbers were "enormous" and that he was "really delighted" with them, but argued the strategy did not translate into growth. He said: "That has not translated to better uptake overall on the Super League, the premier level of the game in England. I'm not sure quality-wise Super League has got much better in the last four years, given the size of the growth and the eyeballs.
"It just hasn't translated. And that was a big commercial decision that really whacked the organisers hard. As the IRL, we reduced our rights fee. We were prepared to take less because of the realities of Covid and the impacts and the postponement and all that."
Premier Sports Offer and BBC Response
Grant said everyone was offered the 2026 rights and the BBC were not out of the question. He stated: "Premier Sports came in with a decent offer that I believe is affordable. I think it's more a habitual thing where people aren't used to paying for sport, but that's the new world. We all pay for streaming and for £19 to get the amount of content and the quality of the content coming out of the World Cup is not a big price to pay.
"I understand times are tough for a lot of people as well. I get all that sort of stuff, but I think £19 was still a reasonable figure. We're really happy with Premier Sports, disappointed that the BBC didn't stump up, but that's a matter for them and for them to explain to their viewers as well."
Responding to Grant's claims, a BBC spokesperson told The i Paper: "We must make difficult choices to deliver the savings required while continuing to serve audiences as effectively as possible."
Meanwhile, Jon Trickett MP has called on the government to make matches at the Rugby League World Cup free-to-air and protected for the foreseeable future. He told City AM: "The problem rugby league has is that the feed stock has been cut off, that's ordinary kids watching sport on TV living in poorer families. A lot of the rugby league clubs come from deprived communities – they are not able to pay for pay-for-view TV and they're not able to see their heroes."
He added: "The [government] has the power to list sporting events and it's tragic that the World Cup is not seen on terrestrial television."
