The Super League Money Table: Ranked by Size, Not by Silverware
St Helens is Super League's biggest employer by a mile. Bradford Bulls, a Championship club that year, out-ranks half of Super League on the same measure. Salford Red Devils rank near the bottom on headcount, and their accounts already showed the debt problem that would end the club within eighteen months.
This table ranks the 13 clubs in this dataset by company scale, using the "top companies ranking" field in the underlying filings, largest to smallest. That field tracks each club's workforce size (its registered employee headcount), not turnover, on-field results, or league position. It is a financial-size index, not the real league table.
Three mismatches jump out immediately. St Helens tops this ranking by a wide margin on headcount, yet posted this dataset's heaviest loss and missed the Super League play-off semi-finals. Bradford Bulls, playing Championship rugby that season, rank 3rd overall, ahead of eight Super League clubs, including that year's Challenge Cup finalists Warrington Wolves. And Salford Red Devils, mid-table on the pitch that year, sit second from bottom on headcount while carrying one of the heaviest debt loads in the whole dataset, a warning sign in the numbers well before the club's well-publicised financial collapse in December 2025. Company scale, competitive tier and financial health clearly don't move together.
Read the individual club articles for the season each club had on the pitch. This page is only about the size of the business behind the shirt.
How to read this
Every figure covers the accounting period ending October or November 2024, filed with Companies House in 2025, and is matched here to the 2024 Super League or Championship season. Figures are rounded for readability: under £5m to the nearest £0.5m, £5m to £50m to the nearest £1m, £50m to £500m to the nearest £10m, and £500m or more to the nearest £25m. Where a figure rounds to less than £0.5m, it's shown as "under £0.5m" rather than as zero. Where turnover or staff costs weren't disclosed in a club's filing, that's marked "n/d", not estimated.
Ranked by company size
| Rank | Club | Turnover | PBT | Cash / Bank | Net Assets | Staff Costs | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Helens→ | £9m | −£3.5m | under £0.5m | £0.5m | £6m | 565 |
| 2 | Wigan Warriors→ | n/d | −£3.5m | £0.5m | −£15m | n/d | 162 |
| 3 | Bradford Bulls→ | n/d | £0.5m | under £0.5m | £1m | n/d | 161 |
| 4 | Leeds Rhinos→ | £12m | −£2m | under £0.5m | £10m | £6m | 160 |
| 5 | Hull Kingston Rovers→ | n/d | −£1.5m | £1m | −£7m | n/d | 145 |
| 6 | Warrington Wolves→ | £7m | −£2m | under £0.5m | −£3m | £6m | 135 |
| 7 | Huddersfield Giants→ | n/d | −£1m | under £0.5m | −£17m | n/d | 105 |
| 8 | Castleford Tigers→ | £4.5m | −£1m | under £0.5m | £3m | £3.5m | 103 |
| 9 | Hull FC→ | £6m | −£1m | under £0.5m | −£5m | n/d | 91 |
| 10 | Leigh Leopards→ | n/d | £0.5m | £0.5m | £1.5m | n/d | 90 |
| 11 | Wakefield Trinity→ | £3.5m | −£2m | under £0.5m | £1.5m | £4m | 80 |
| 12 | Salford Red Devils→ | n/d | −£1.5m | under £0.5m | −£5m | n/d | 57 |
| 13 | York Knights→ | n/d | £0.5m | £1m | ~£0m | n/d | 53 |
n/d = not disclosed in the filed accounts, not estimated.Negative figures shown in the accent colour.
Takeaway
On this measure, the biggest company in Super League and Championship rugby league in 2024 finished mid-table or worse, proof that the money table and the league table are two entirely different competitions.