RUGBY League's new Commercial Board have today informed the clubs of the next stages of IMG’s key strategy of Reimagining of Rugby League.

There has been a shake up of the governance of the sport in the UK following the realignment between the Rugby Football League and Super League Europe.

This coincided with the signing of a 12-year partnership with IMG, who have been charged with working with RL Commercial on reimagining the sport.

As part of this, each club will be graded and the criteria for that will be presented at a Special General Meeting on March 9, with a number of consultation sessions scheduled for the next six weeks until another SGM, including a vote, on April 19.

The Board is chaired by Frank Slevin, with IMG Media represented by Ed Mallaburn, their Head of Sport.

Slevin said: “We have assembled a high-calibre Board which offers a wide range of experience and expertise, and our first in-person meeting reflected a common desire to drive Rugby League to fulfil its commercial potential.

“It was important that we hit the ground running ahead of the February start to the 2023 season, and with memories still fresh of the Rugby League World Cup in the autumn of 2022.

“RL Commercial was born from the realignment of the sport which allows us to build on the successes of the World Cup, where we saw the value of the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair competitions running in parallel.

“We are determined to continue that momentum as we look forward to celebrating the inclusivity of our Super League and Challenge Cup competitions – in each case with Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair competitions, and not forgetting the Physical Disability and Learning Disability Super Leagues.

“That determination will be obvious when the 2023 competitions are formally launched over the coming weeks."

Slevin and Mallaburn have been joined by Simon Johnson, the Chair of the RFL; Anna Chanduvi, the Sports and Entertainment Media Partnerships Lead at Meta; Peter Hutton, a vastly experienced sports media specialist who has held senior roles with Eurosport, Fox Sports and most recently Meta; and Jonathan Murphy, the CEO of the listed medical property specialists Assura who is also Chair of the North West Business Leadership Team.