Super League club slams IMG and calls for ‘level playing field’
The Salford Community Stadium, home to Salford Red Devils
Salford Red Devils have criticised IMG’s grading structure, calling for changes to be made to the way that scores are worked out in order to ‘maintain a level playing field’.
The Red Devils have maintained their Grade B status heading into 2025, and saw their score rise by 0.17 points when compared to the provisional gradings dished out by IMG this time last year.
Despite that, they have actually fallen four places in the overall IMG table and now sit 12th, officially the lowest-ranked club plying their trade in Super League in 2025.
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Super League club slams IMG and calls for ‘level playing field’
Baring all on their latest IMG grading, Salford released a statement on their club website on Wednesday afternoon which broke down how they’d amassed a score of 13.97 out of a possible 20 points.
The two sections of the points where the Red Devils score pretty lowly compared to others in the top-flight is in the stadium and the finances, which the club say they have had ‘limitations’ over due to the battle over the ownership of the Salford Community Stadium that is set to come to an end shortly.
4.5 of the 20 points are available in the finance section, and they were only able to obtain 2.15. Meanwhile, in the stadium section, 1.8226 points of a maximum three came their way from IMG.
Expressing their discontent at what they believe is an uneven method of scoring, Salford’s press release reads: “As a community-owned club, we are committed to representing the city of Salford at the elite level of rugby league.
“With the (ownership) decision on the stadium having taken some time, and the subsequent progress having tempered our expectations in terms of our projected grade, we can now look forward to an imminent stadium agreement with Salford City Council removing the limitations in both the (IMG) Finance and Stadium criteria.
“IMG Grading was introduced to incentivise clubs to grow their fanbase, grow top-line non-centralised revenue, to better engage with fans, to be run in a best-in-class way, to invest both in their club and the sport in a sustainable manner, and to ensure strong governance.
“However, we believe that additional due diligence within the reporting system may be necessary to maintain a level playing field.
“As a community-owned club, we cannot rely on private equity to improve certain criteria, therefore achieving a Grade A status is critical to the future of the club, as well as the City of Salford.”
