Sky pundit labels ‘mental’ Super League expansion as plan to ‘ditch’ IMG mooted

Jon Wilkin believes Super League owners are devising a plan to ‘ditch’ IMG and RL Commercial – before labelling plans to expand the competition to 14 teams as ‘mental’.

Super League clubs remain locked in talks about a possible expansion of the league as early as 2026, with differing views on whether 12 or 14 is the optimum number for next year due to a variety of reasons.

However, one thing that is clear is that if the league does go to 14 teams, the existing 12 would either have to sacrifice some central funding or force the two promoted sides to enter without any distribution.

Oldham have already confirmed they would happily do that this week and Love Rugby League understands that at least two more Championship sides are prepared to do the same for 2026.

But Wilkin has called those intentions ‘crazy’ – and had a similar view about the possibility of going to 14 teams.

He said: “The irony is that they want to stretch it to 14 teams. Are they mental? As a business, if your costs are inflated what are you going to do, stretch your competition even wider? My view is we narrow the competition.”

When asked about Oldham self-funding a possible promotion, Wilkin said: “What does that do? It’s crazy because the pot’s not big enough.

“We’re in a market where broadcast revenues have gone down, cost pressure on businesses are increasing and we’re talking about expanding. How sustainable is a club that’s self-funding. How much money would Oldham lose trying to keep up? It’s crazy.”

Wilkin then addressed Nigel Wood’s return as permanent chair of the Rugby Football League before admitting that he felt club owners had one clear plan in mind.

He said: “I imagine there’s a plan being hatched to ditch IMG and ditch RL Commercial. That’s what it appears to me. The owners are getting together, they’re disgruntled with their lot and are tipping in more money than they ever have.”

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