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BROADCAST BONANZA
V’landys originally planned to finalise the code’s next broadcast deal this year but the ARLC chair won’t be hitting the panic button as they look to leverage a bumper 2025 season marked by unprecedented crowds and TV ratings.
A record 4.6 million fans attended NRL matches this season at an average of 21,707 per game. TV ratings have gone through the roof with a 32 per cent increase for the NRL finals in Australia and a 13 per cent increase alone for the 2025 State of Origin series, which attracted a record 11.5m viewers.
It is understood five networks are in talks for the NRL’s next TV rights deal for 2028 and beyond and V’landys rubbished suggestions purported interest from streaming services is not real.
“The broadcast deal won’t be done this year,” he said.
“We’re going to take our time, it’s too important to rush it.
“We’ve had more interest than ever, people will be surprised by what interest we’ve got.
“People are playing these games behind the scenes but we hold the aces — we have the deck of cards.”
He also made it clear the NRL won’t be held to ransom during the bidding process.
“We won’t undersell,” V’landys said.
“I am excited because this will be a record deal. In the past, we’ve had to go to broadcasters cap in hand to a degree, but now the facts and figures speak for themselves. We are the No.1 watched sport in Australia and if the networks want the No.1 sport in Australia, they will have to pay for it.
“Our strategy has worked.
“The streaming services are genuinely interested. People would be surprised at who is interested but I won’t breach confidentiality.
“We will act in the best interests of our fans. We want to make sure the game is affordable for them to watch. There’s no point getting a sugar hit and pricing the fans out and not having them around watching in 10 years.
“Anyone who wants to stream our game in Australia will be keen, absolutely.
“We have the best sporting product and their business models survive or fail based on our product.
“If they don’t have the NRL, they will fail, so they need our product.”
