Game will be shot into new orbit by $1.8bn deal
THE AUSTRALIAN
NOVEMBER 11, 2015 12:00AM
John Grant has an appointment scheduled with the powerful group of NRL club chairmen in the middle of next week. In some quarters, the meeting has been viewed as make-or-break for the ARL Commission chairman.
Suddenly, it looks a lot more make than break. There seems a very real chance Grant may arrive at that meeting with $1.8 billion or more in his back pocket, courtesy of the broadcasting and digital rights for rugby league — more than enough money to silence those agitating for his head.
Things don’t look so gloomy now. More than a few within the game had taken the view that rugby league was rotting from the head. Former chief executive Dave Smith was widely viewed as the biggest stumbling block to the game realising its broadcasting potential and it cost him his job.
Grant was next in the firing line. But less than a month after Smith’s departure, rapid progress has been made. Reports suggest Grant and co are on the verge of striking a deal with Fox Sports to extend its coverage of the game well beyond 2018, piecing together a broadcasting agreement that threatens to take the game into a new orbit.
The landscape will change forever. An early game on Friday night, played generally in Queensland or New Zealand to take advantage of the accommodating time zone — daylight saving may confuse the cows but it has proved a godsend for rugby league — will mean viewers get two live games on a Friday night.
Fox Sports appears certain to retain its ratings winner on Saturday when it telecasts three consecutive games — Super Saturday is back. All games are likely to be simulcast on pay television, which will mean a slight reduction in the Nine Network’s $925 million outlay.
Regardless, the game appears certain to get what many believe it is worth — a deal comparable with the AFL.
It shapes as a victory for Grant, who was held just as culpable by some for the deal with Nine that alienated News Corp Australia powerbrokers.
Clubs were reconsidering their support of the chairman in the wake of recent talks over funding for next season and beyond.
As revealed in The Australian yesterday, the clubs had tabled nine demands, the most serious centring on funding in the future.
Between them, they lost in excess of $40 million this season once leagues club funding was removed. The average loss was $2.6 million despite two clubs — Brisbane and South Sydney — registering a profit in 2015.
Some clubs are their own worst enemies, spending beyond their means because they know they can rely on leagues club support. Others simply don’t have enough in the coffers. That, at least, is about to change.
A broadcasting deal worth close to $2 billion means they should be flush with funds like never before. So will the game, which could mean even more money trickles down to the clubs.
Among their demands is a proposal that the clubs get a 30 per cent share of any future profit by the NRL. Profit has long been a dirty word in rugby league. It may now be the norm rather than the exception.
No doubt the players will put their hands out for a share of the ever-increasing pie and they should be justly rewarded. Sam Burgess is already on his way back to Australia, touching down in the early hours of this morning as he returns to South Sydney.
The NRL should now set its sights on getting Israel Folau and Sonny Bill Williams back in the fold.
The game needs to take a good, hard look at expansion, with a second Brisbane side on the agenda. Issues still need to be resolved.
At least the NRL and clubs can ponder the future in the knowledge that they have money — and oodles of it — in the bank.
