What we should all hold onto in relation to concerns about the sports future is that too many people care passionately about the game and its impact on northern communities to allow it to disappear. There will always be a game though it could well look very different in the coming years. A Phoenix may have to rise from the ashes in certain RL towns but hopefully the game will come together and rebuild together. I can see a lot of fundraising efforts over the next few months and we will need some significant support from the government.
I think the most likely outcome is some clubs will fold but professional rugby league will survive in some form. The worst case scenario is the game goes semi-professional but fingers crossed it wont come to that.
The NRL are in a far worse position as their TV contract is worth far more and they've racked up far higher expenditures based on that level of income. In theory, the relative expenditures of the SL clubs will be far less.
The biggest concern I have is that I feel governments in any country affected will be very reluctant to consider bringing back mass gatherings until a vaccine is produced in 12-18 months. We will likely see some gradual and controlled relaxation of certain measures when we have suppressed the initial virus wave but I think mass gatherings will probably be near the bottom of the list.
