Former Everton chief executive Robert Elstone will use the Premier League model in a bid to improve the fortunes of Super League.
More than three weeks after Everton announced that Elstone would be leaving them to take up his new role, Super League confirmed his appointment as its new chief executive.
A former assistant to Rugby Football League chief executive Maurice Lindsay in the late 1990s, Elstone returns to rugby league as the successor to Roger Draper, who left Super League in January.
Elstone left the RFL to work for chartered accountants Deloitte and also headed up Sky's football business affairs team before joining Everton in 2005, working initially as chief operating officer and, since 2009, as chief executive.
"At the heart of the Premier League's success is compelling football played by some of the world's best players in great stadia that are almost always full," Elstone said.
"And, while there are many obvious economic differences, it is the quality of the product that has underpinned its appeal and growth.
"Super League needs to start at that same point by investing and improving what we offer to fans, partners and broadcasters.
"That's a big scope, which includes formats, calendars, rules, refereeing, facilities and player development and I'm looking forward to working with the Super League clubs, and building a team around me, firstly to determine that way forward but, most importantly, to begin to make it happen."
Elstone, who started his new job on Monday, is arguably the most powerful man in the game following the move last October by Super League clubs to seize control of their own destiny by ousting RFL chief executive Nigel Wood from the board of directors.
Significantly, Elstone's appointment was announced by the clubs themselves rather than the RFL's media department and it was hailed as "Super League's first major step into a new era".
The clubs say Elstone's role will be to focus on growth, prosperity and success of the game's leading clubs and to improve the promotion, marketing and selling of the best possible competition.
Elstone is expected to begin talks on a new television deal and crucially take the lead over potential restructuring of the professional game.
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