MEDIA ON THE MENU
On Friday night, V’landys and chief executive Andrew Abdo dined at a restaurant at Resorts World with Nine chief executive Matt Stanton, chairman Peter Tonagh, director and Dragons chair Andrew Lancaster, and streaming and broadcast boss Amanda Laing.
On Saturday afternoon, the rugby league powerbrokers met with Amazon representatives. In the Champions Club at ground level, media execs from all networks eyed each from across the horseshoe bar normally filled with Las Vegas Raiders fans and sponsors.
Having hatched NRL deals for Nine and Foxtel many times over many years, Laing is the intriguing player in these negotiations.
Speculation won’t abate about Nine wanting the rights to every NRL match, with most of them on their subscription service Stan Sport, including putting Friday night matches behind a paywall – something Nine privately denies because talks haven’t progressed that far.
Laing was on the ARL Commission but stepped down in March 2020, citing a conflict of interest heading into broadcast negotiations. She was Foxtel chief commercial officer at the time. Her resignation, though, was a shock. Some considered her a future chair who could take over from V’landys.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is driving plans for London, Abu Dhabi and beyond as he chases a record-breaking broadcast deal. Picture: Jonathan Ng
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is driving plans for London, Abu Dhabi and beyond as he chases a record-breaking broadcast deal. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Broadcast negotiations in rugby league are brutal affairs, much like the game itself.
There’s a famous story from the early 1990s about former ARL chairman Ken Arthurson launching across the table to throttle Nine owner Kerry Packer, who had ripped up a draft contract in his face.
Channel 10 tried to snatch the rights from Nine many years later, but the deal fell through when a Nine exec spotted their Ten counterparts in the carpark at NRL headquarters. The meeting room door was locked and the parties stayed up all night to strike a deal.
Laing was in that meeting, working for Nine. She’s as just tough as V’landys at the negotiation table, according to those who have seen her in action. She’ll need to be if the game’s free-to-air broadcaster since 1993 is to remain so as speculation swirls about a strained relationship between Nine and V’landys.
The chairman believes recent negative coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald (which Nine owns) about racing governance has been about influencing broadcast talks.
“That’s what I’ve been told by some credible people,” V’landys told The Australian in an interview last week. “I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that’s what I’ve been told.
“I’m not going to deny what has been stated to me. If they’re doing that, they’re really stupid because that just makes me more determined. I will go like a bulldozer in getting the best deal for rugby league. So they’re wasting their time if they are.”
What is the best deal for rugby league? The magic figure seems to be $4bn over five years, although some have talked as much as $5bn, which sounds as likely as me leaving a roulette table at the Bellagio with money in my pocket.
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The NRL is cognisant of the dissatisfaction from NFL and NBA viewers about having to subscribe to so many different streamers to watch their sports. Only this week, NBA legend Charles Barkley launched into the game’s bosses for slicing the pie too thinly. “It is so difficult for fans to find the games now,” he said. “We’ve done a disservice to the fans and to the game.”
The AFL was kicked in the teeth by its own fans last year for putting every Saturday match behind a paywall. V’landys reckons it has cost them 400,000 viewers a week. (The AFL says that number is “rubbish”, saying Foxtel and Kayo numbers have exploded on a Saturday night).
“We’re going to make sure that we do a deal that doesn’t hurt the fan, because everything I look at is through the lens of a fan,” V’landys said. “I’ve got to make sure that whatever broadcast deal we do, it’s not passed onto the consumer.”
To minimise the cost to the fan, V’landys is toying with the idea of allowing fans to pay for a specific rugby league on a streaming service.
Channel 7’s interest in breathing life into Monday night football is real, although its competitors wonder if it has the money to compete when talks get serious. Seven scoff at this, saying it’s hosting this year’s Rugby League World Cup for a reason.
Most media analysts reckon the status quo will remain, as it usually does. Sports and broadcasters in Australia need each other to survive. Legacy media such as Nine knows its future is in news and big-ticket sport.
DAZN in Australia needs rugby league as much as rugby league needs it.
It’s going to be a blockbuster deal
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