Call Me God wrote:
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In all seriousness, sports sponsorship has been a tough market for a few years now......didn't the 2nd and lower tiers of soccer struggle a while back?
Indeed. The value of the Six Nations has also roughly halved and the Heineken Cup sponsorship has also been cut quite dramatically. Businesses are generally less willing to pay big money for sponsorships, and they're expecting more for that money - things like highly recognisable, media trained personalities for example. Hell, we still don't offer full-pitch digital pitch side advertising at most clubs even though many advertisers expect it.
I know that the Challenge Cup is an RFL property, but they are only able to sell the audience and the quality of product that the clubs provide them. This is an issue that has roots in all of those clubs and chairmen that "don't believe in marketing", and there's only so much that the RFL can do to polish that turd.