City of Salford Construction on a new 20,000 seat £35 million pound stadium was complete in 2012. Now named the AJ Bell stadium it is home to Salford Red Devils and Sale Sharks rugby union team. Swinton Lions were founded in 1866 and play in the Championship at heywood road sale. They won the Rugby Football League Championship six times between 1927 and 1964, before it was superseded by Super League. They have also won the Challenge Cup three times between 1900 and 1928. Broughton Rangers were founded in 1877 and won the Rugby League Challenge Cup in the 1901–02 and 1910–11 seasons.
Salford Red Devils Ian Stewart lent almost £200,000 to the club to keep them afloat, without consulting others at the Council. Salford City Council also part-own the stadium where the club play. In September 2015, controversy occurred when four star players: £115,000 a year man Rangi Chase, captain Harrison Hansen, Cory Paterson and Théo Fages were all released by the club by new Director of rugby and Australian national team coach Tim Sheens. In 2015 Salford failed to finish in the top 8 of Super League and ended up in The Qualifiers. In 2015, they finished 3rd in the table and secured Super