Two hours sleep in three days to meet deadline for record NRL broadcast deal
Date
November 27, 2015 - 5:25PM
Brad Walter
A deadline imposed on News Corp and Telstra to reach agreement with the ARL Commission and Channel Nine this week was the key to the NRL's record $1.8 billion broadcast deal.
Negotiations began several weeks ago after former News Corp chief executive Julian Clarke approached ARL chairman John Grant to reopen talks but stepped up in earnest in recent days after it was decided to bring the parties together in a bid to secure a deal.
With the deadline looming, some members of the large negotiating team managed just two hours sleep in three days before the biggest deal in the game's history was announced at a 1.15pm press conference on Friday at League Central.
"This is a historic day for rugby league," Grant said. "The agreement is worth $1.8 billion to the game and we still have the sale of our international, New Zealand and radio rights to come, so we are poised to secure a package worth well over $1.9 billion when it is finalised."
News and Telstra are paying $1.175 billion for the pay-TV, digital and mobile rights, while Nine's bill from the $925 million free-to-air deal that so upset Rupert Murdoch in August has been reduced by $300 million after the network sold back 21 Saturday night games per year and agreed to allow Fox Sports to simulcast all matches.
Asked about Murdoch's comments at the press conference to announce the AFL's $2.5 billion broadcast deal about how he preferred Australian football, News Corp Australia CEO Peter Tonagh said: "We love the NRL, we love both our children equally."
However, Grant revealed it had taken an approach from Clarke, who was recently succeeded in the role by Tonagh, to get the deal back on track after negotiations stalled over the decision to negotiate the deal with Nine first. "We have had ongoing discussions obviously, but post the Nine deal there was a need for us to get together," Grant said.
"To be very, very frank about it, Julian Clarke reached out to me and we had a discussion about it and we kicked this off. That is being frank and I want to compliment News on taking that step and we have worked extremely constructively through this process."
Optus' purchase of the English Premier League rights increased the pressure on Fox Sports to secure a deal and with the telco expressing interest in the NRL rights, News and Telstra were given a deadline to finalise a deal with Nine and the ARLC.
"We brought the three parties together and put them together in a period of exclusivity to get the deal done," Grant said. "We said 'let's do this and let's do this by a date, and let's get it done'. That is basically what happened. There were moving deadlines as the deal continued to morph, but what we had was a total determination to make sure we finished. I know two of our lawyers have had two hours sleep in three days, but that is the type of intensity this needs."
To get a deal worth 70 per cent more than the current $1.025 billion agreement with Nine, News and Telstra, the ARLC also needed competitive tension and Grant rejected criticism of Smith's handling of negotiations or suggestions it had cost him his job. "What that deal did when it was announced was actually catalysed all of the rest of the parties to where we sit today, so it was a great deal then and a great deal now," Grant said. "Dave Smith did not become collateral damage, Dave Smith resigned. Dave Smith resigned because Dave Smith made the decision that he had done three years and he had contributed as much as he could and he needed to move on. He resigned to me, I know why he resigned, that is why he resigned. I don't think Dave Smith had any negative impact at all on this deal being done. If Dave Smith had still been here he would be sitting next to me at this table."
