Hull FC will likely drop down to a Grade B club in the IMG rankings next week. The RFL’s strategic partner will release the scores for all of rugby league’s professional clubs on Wednesday, with the make-up of the 2025 Super League competition to be determined.

The Black and Whites were one of seven clubs—the other six being Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Catalans Dragons, Warrington Wolves, and Hull KR—to have been awarded provisional Grade A statuses last October. However, Hull Live expects Hull, who were placed 7th, to fall to a Grade B score with the club dropping below the 15-point Grade A threshold—a total they achieved by the skin of their teeth last year with 15.05 points.

And while the exact points Hull provisionally received for four of the five pillars—fandom, finance, stadium, and community—are unknown, it is public knowledge what the club score on performance, with Hull Live reporting such totals on Tuesday. Finishing 11th on the performance chart, Hull will drop 0.12 points, moving from 10th to 11th, and in the process, dropping to a total of 14.93 IMG points.

 

That puts them in the Grade B bracket, and that’s without considering other areas where the club may be hit on points. Looking at the criteria, there are two other areas that Hull Live has identified that will possibly hurt the club further from last year’s provisional score: stadium ultilisation and TV viewership figure.

A drop in the stadium ultilisation score is obvious, with an average MKM Stadium attendance of 12,364 in the 2023 season dropping by 1,083 to 11,281 in the 2024 season. That is due to the size of the facility, with Hull scoring maximum points in attendance.

It’s also possible that the club could see a reduction in points in the TV viewership criteria—an area they scored top points in in 2023. Although these figures are not publicly available, it is feasible to think that Hull’s poor performances in 2024 could see that figure drop below the top threshold with fewer viewers tuning in. However, the club won’t be on their own in that department with every game broadcast live this year.

Those two areas could contribute further to Hull’s drop, which may go below 7th place in the IMG table, but while enough damage to put the club deeper into the Grade B bracket, they won’t impact their Super League status. Hull should expect to score well over 14 points, perhaps even 14.5 points, keeping them as a topflight entity in 2025.

However, that won’t hide the disappointment of the 2024 season, with Hull knowing that their performance score can be improved with a better campaign next term, which in turn would bring back more fans to the stadium and also more interest on their TV audience.

Once again, they will score highly in areas of fandom. They will get full marks for attendance (average over 7.5k), while they should expect to score well in their digital outputs. As for finance, the exact points are speculative at best, but Hull are not alone in the challenges they face. However, they will do okay in turnover with a strong core of members (over 8,000), merchandise sales, and commercial partners.

For the stadium, they will score well for facilities, but are obviously limited on the primary of tenure given the MKM Staduim is owned by Hull City Council. Finally, their community score is unknown. Hull has a strong club foundation but obviously shares the city’s population with neighbouring Hull KR. A full breakdown of the IMG criteria and points can be found below:

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