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Financial fragility of the game

Cactus

Juniors
Messages
759
The NRL are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stay with Fox/nine on a lesser deal or go your own digital way. Do the the latter and Fox will go hard promoting AFL (like they’ve threatened in the past) and sabotage league at any opportunity. AFL never seem to get the same treatment probably because they have better/smarter administration

Better to die standing up than live begging on your knees.
 

nick87

Coach
Messages
12,403

If that report is true, Greenberg should be sacked on the spot
Its a dereliction of duty. He's made a lot of mistakes over his time and his leadership for the code and management of the code have proven to be so devastatingly lacking that its quite frankly embarrassing. This has to be final straw if that report is accurate
 

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,969
The News agenda is always so far from the truth. I read an article by John Grant which explained the funding in an intelligent and logical way after Richo had ranted and carried on.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/no...fires-back-at-richardson-20200327-p54ejf.html

The same as when Kent was carrying on clubs will go....RL is the only sport I know that puts up with such rubbish.

No wonder Grant and Smith were setting up the digital arm to shut these f@#$wits up and get the game the reporting it deserves.
 
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Brutus

Referee
Messages
26,354
News ltd really beating on the game now. He’s got at least two things wrong in this,
1. The WA govt paid millions for the nines, didn’t cost nrl a cent,
2. The $6mill rainy day fund was redistributed back to the clubs two weeks ago. What sht journalism!
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...y/news-story/4e3150d7c17a849b6108866e68402942

Fancy News LTD having a go at the NRL for its spending habits over the past few years.

This is the mob that undersold the game for years.
 

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,969
If that report is true, Greenberg should be sacked on the spot
Its a dereliction of duty. He's made a lot of mistakes over his time and his leadership for the code and management of the code have proven to be so devastatingly lacking that its quite frankly embarrassing. This has to be final straw if that report is accurate

Poor reporting again to feed the agenda, check the facts Hoops!!!

The CBA doesn't require the money (estimated $5 million a year) to be placed into the fund until the end of the final year of the five-year agreement in 2022.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/th...fore-accepting-a-pay-cut-20200329-p54f3g.html

 
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Mr Parramatta

Juniors
Messages
410
I was thinking about this recently. Do you think fans would walk away as easily knowing that this was such a unique event, and out of their control? I don't think you would lose as many fans compared to the NRL making the call on whether a club continues or not.
Are you fkn nuts? I would be pissed of big time, these idiots could not manage their cash which cost fans their club!!! All this virus did is expose the disgraceful management of funds, so you are way off the mark!!!
 

Mr Parramatta

Juniors
Messages
410
I was thinking about this recently. Do you think fans would walk away as easily knowing that this was such a unique event, and out of their control? I don't think you would lose as many fans compared to the NRL making the call on whether a club continues or not.
:thumbsdown:
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,890
The NRL is delivering a $40 million rescue package to the 16 Telstra Premiership clubs to help them cope with the financial impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.

After the ARL Commission met on Monday morning, chairman Peter V'landys and NRL CEO Todd Greenberg held a phone hook-up with the clubs, announcing each team would receive $2.5 million to help get them through this unprecedented period where the competition has been suspended.
V’landys and Greenberg issued a statement to say the plan "provided funding certainty for the remainder of the 2020 season".

The deal, unanimously supported by all 16 clubs, was created on the back of a significant whole of game cost reduction.
The revised financial models give clubs the capacity to survive the financial year with a remodelled 20-week competition, including final series and Origin, or a worst-case scenario of no football being played again this year.

Details of the recovery plan include:

  • The NRL will pay a total of $40 million in monthly grant payments to the clubs between April and October to cover their ongoing operational costs. This is an increase of $6.4m of funding compared to the 2020 budget;
  • The NRL will reduce its operating costs by 53%, including a 95% reduction in staffing levels during the shutdown period and a 25% cut in executive salaries.
In addition, the NRL has proposed a funding model for player payments to the RLPA which will be provided to its members for consideration.

RLPA boss Clint Newton will brief his members on the proposals and it expected to be resolved in the next 48 hours.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/03/30...utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=NetworkContent
 

Nerd

Bench
Messages
2,827
The NRL are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stay with Fox/nine on a lesser deal or go your own digital way. Do the the latter and Fox will go hard promoting AFL (like they’ve threatened in the past) and sabotage league at any opportunity. AFL never seem to get the same treatment probably because they have better/smarter administration
Possibly but lets remember without the NRL would Fox still exist?
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,890
It’s a shame the nrl is so beholden to tv revenue, I’d love to see a leader with balls, like smith had, tell them to get fcked and watch them wither and die and realise that afl can’t save their arses!
 

Danish

Referee
Messages
32,019
The NRL are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stay with Fox/nine on a lesser deal or go your own digital way. Do the the latter and Fox will go hard promoting AFL (like they’ve threatened in the past) and sabotage league at any opportunity. AFL never seem to get the same treatment probably because they have better/smarter administration

Foxtel would be dead inside of 2 years if they lost the NRL (same if they lost the AFL).

The NRL would take a short term hit if they went it alone, but ultimately we'd wind up with a 2 year head start on the AFL in making a move that is 100% inevitable.

Pay TV NEEDS live sport to survive. Not the other way around. Drug dealers make their money selling to addicts, but no one mistakes the addict for holding the power in that relationship
 
Messages
11,990
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/th...didn-t-want-to-read-them-20200330-p54fdr.html


NRL clubs who chose to study headquarters’ finances in a desperate search for funds after the coronavirus pandemic would have a) found no hidden funds, and b) could have examined the books earlier, given they demanded access to NRL financial records some time ago.

Clubs and the Rugby League Players Association protest about a lack of transparency, yet a simple addition of Rugby League Central’s expenses, as detailed on page 125 of the annual report, dated October 31, 2019, would have shown a total expenditure of $182m.

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NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford says, “on a surplus view, the NRL outperformed the plan [for 2019] by $6m”.Credit:peter Braig

Admittedly, this is an excessive amount, particularly considering the belt-tightening that now envelopes the entire code.

But, as the NRL’s chief financial officer Tony Crawford points out, annual expenses (excluding broadcast contra) were $498m against a plan of $476m, which is a $22m increase. This compares to actual revenue (excluding contra) of $529m, against a plan of $501m, an increase of $28m. So, as Crawford says, “On a surplus view, the NRL outperformed the plan by $6m”.


There is always devil in the detail, which can be interpreted to suit agendas. For example, the numbers in the statutory accounts in the NRL annual report are higher because they include broadcast contra, but this was not included in the plan numbers.

However, given the turnover of CEOs at NRL clubs, with only half of them in the same job from five years ago, it’s not surprising few have bothered to interpret how much RL Central spends, even apart from considerations about raising their own club revenue. (NRL clubs contribute 29 per cent to the total game revenue pie; AFL clubs 50 per cent).


The National Rugby League has agreed on a recovery plan with Clubs relating to the impact of Covid-19 on the 2020 Telstra Premiership competition.

Another way of looking at the $182m of total NRL expenses in last year’s profit and loss account, or “$500,000 a day” as the Herald has reported it, is to separate operating expenses from costs associated with raising revenue.

As Crawford points out, total NRL operating expenses were $79m and revenue servicing costs, or "cost of goods sold", as accountants term it, was $103m.


Add the two figures – the operating costs of football, referees, welfare, community, integrity, insurance, interest, depreciation etc of $79m, with costs directly correlated to raising revenue of $103m, and it equals $182m.

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If you are a club official interested only in how much NRL CEO Todd Greenberg spends on hire cars, or the cost of the diamond ring to Barb Smith, the wife of 400-plus-game player Cameron Smith, you must drill down into the administration expenses.

Call them head office corporate costs, or overheads, if you like, but the annual report shows the total to be $20.342m. This includes the expenses of running the ARL Commission, executive, media, finance, IT, HR, facilities, buildings, government and legal.

The report doesn’t itemise whether Greenberg caught a taxi or called a hire car, or whether Barb’s ring cost $5000 or $15,000 but, Crawford says, administration expenses represent "only 4 per cent of revenue".


So, according to that logic, 96 per cent of expenditure was on everything else. The annual report details this as monies distributed to clubs ($228m), states and affiliates ($48m), development ($40m), running the football department ($25m) and community and player welfare ($17m).

There is another big cost - “event game sponsorship” ($103m), which, as indicated above, is the cost of raising revenue.

Monies spent on the NRL’s digital department, for example, are included in this figure, while the revenue raised from this division is included in broadcast revenue.

NRL clubs asking ARLC chair Peter V’landys to search the books at headquarters to find additional funds to pay their bills could have accessed all this information if they were diligent in detecting any over-spending.


The Herald understands clubs were granted access to accounts on a quarterly basis, although V’landys suspects this was changed to half-yearly meetings.

Calls by the RLPA for greater transparency are risible, given the annual report was published last year and it took this old ex-school teacher only the recent weekend of the coronavirus lockdown to interpret NRL accounts.

Yet the blame game over “where did the [2018-22] $1.8 billion broadcasting money go?” continues, despite only one-and-a-quarter years of the contract being outlaid.

Whether you prefer the NRL “wastes” $182m a year, or spends a sober $20.342m on administration, V’landys says, “the coronavirus crisis has highlighted that the cost structure of the game as a whole is not sustainable and the ARLC will lead by example in significantly reducing its spending on the administration of the game”.
 
Messages
11,990
Nine Entertainment Co has outlined plans to strip up to $266 million from its cost base this year to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly half of the savings contingent on the NRL season being cancelled.

The diversified media company, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, said in an update to the stock exchange on Monday it could save $130 million this calendar if the NRL season is scrapped. It could also save money by removing bonuses and commissions to staff, deferring spectrum payments to the government and by altering spending on local content.

72d5b0b534b8777e79aac4117bc9bc6ece6ad342

Nine CEO Hugh Marks.Credit:Louise Kennerley

Nine's latest initiatives build on the $100 million in savings it is already seeking to extract from its television division, a plan it announced at its half year results in February. Those savings, which included reducing spending on one-off sports events and US programming, will be brought forward where possible.

Chief executive Hugh Marks also previously flagged cost savings in the company's metropolitan publishing division through efficiencies in printing, distribution and output deals like newswire service AAP, which is facing the prospect of closure.

The announcement, posted to the ASX, comes two weeks after Nine withdrew earnings guidance, citing "quarter four uncertainty".

On the assumption the NRL season is cancelled, $130 million will be saved by the company, while changes to the timing of local content will save almost $30 million. The company will also reduce sales and production costs and remove bonuses and commissions, a decision which will save $68 million. Deferral of spectrum payments will save $10 million this financial year, while deferral of capital expenditure projects will save $30 million.

The savings on content and spectrum will hinge on assistance from the Morrison government. Last week, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed Communications Minister Paul Fletcher was considering providing temporary relief from spectrum tax fees and forbearance of content quotas, but no formal announcement has been made.

Nine chief executive Hugh Marks said he was confident the business would emerge from COVID-19 as "stronger" and "more competitive" despite expecting a 'material negative impact' on advertising from April.


Group revenues for quarter three remained within guidance, Nine said, while reporting audience and subscriber growth through services Stan and 9Now.

"This is a very difficult time for all Australians, on many levels," Mr Marks said. "Notwithstanding an expected significant impact on on our business as conditions continue to evolve, we are confident that with our enhanced audience position, our mix of assets and the commitment of the Nine team, we will emerge from this period a stronger and more competitive company."

The company cautioned that a prolonged economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak is "likely to result in further initiatives."

Nine shares closed up 11.7 per cent to $1.05.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/com...-nrl-season-is-cancelled-20200330-p54fb3.html
 

Johnny88

Juniors
Messages
1,335
NRL has wildcards and wooden spoon playoff in works


The NRL has formed a football innovation committee involving its two host broadcasters as it prepares to discuss the possibility of playing a three-game grand final series, a wildcard weekend and a playoff for the wooden spoon should the competition return in a truncated form later this year.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg confirmed discussions were ongoing with the Nine Network and Foxtel over the shape of a 20-week season, head office willing to consider any and all options as it seeks to extract as much money as it can for its broadcast rights.

The NRL reiterated its desire to have players return to the field as early as July 1 in a meeting with club bosses on Monday morning, using the telephone hook-up to finalise a deal with chief executives and chairs over funding for the foreseeable future.

READ NEXT
As they were plotting a path forward, it emerged that Channel Ten was keeping a close eye on rugby league’s increasingly fractious relationship with the Nine Network as it weighs the prospect of using the sport to reinvigorate ratings.

Sources close to Ten confirmed to The Australian that it was keeping all options open as it sits back and watches events unfold at its commercial rival.


The Nine Network has already indicated it will not make its quarterly payment to the NRL on April 1, its preference to renegotiate its existing deal and extend beyond 2022.

READ MORE:Coronavirus delivers $1bn reality check|Change coming once the blame games are over
The NRL has held its nerve, realising it is currently in a position of weakness because it is strapped for cash and struggling to stay on its feet in the wake of the coronavirus.

The Nine Network fanned the flames of discontent further on Monday when it lodged a document with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission outlining its long and short-term cost initiatives for 2020.

Discussing its operational initiatives in response to COVID-19, the Nine Network told a virtual conference for JP Morgan that it had the potential to save $130,000 should the NRL not manage to go ahead this season.

It was another shot across the NRL’s bow as the game struggles to get some matches in the bag — and some money in its coffers via the broadcasters — before the end of the year.

Despite the tension between the NRL and Nine, the game’s commercial partner will be part of the committee put together to discuss the way a shortened season should look in the event that the game returns to the field in 2020.

There remains serious doubt over when and if that will happen but the NRL has been working on contingency plans for some time now.

It is now ready to take a deeper dive into the permutations with their broadcasters.

“Everything is on the table,” Greenberg said.

“We’re thinking about it completely differently. I don’t think there is a bad idea at the moment.”

It is understood the NRL has also discussed the prospect of playing the games in quarters rather than halves, a move that would be more conducive to games being played in the summer heat.

BRENT READ

SENIOR SPORTS WRITER
Brent Read is one of rugby league's agenda setters but is also among the nation's most well-known golf writers. He also covers Olympic sports, writing with authority, wit and enthusiasm. Brent began his career ... Read more
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...s/news-story/3915a810c49f26b7d4537327dd2a4c70
 

Johnny88

Juniors
Messages
1,335
If you believe the rumours Ch 10 now owned by ViacomCBS has been talking to the NRL about bidding on the next tv deal. They want a top line sport to improve there ratings in Sydney and Brisbane and are not interested in AFL.
 

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