NRL to buy share of Super League

[bad boy bubby]

Anyone got the full article?

NRL 2025: NRL to consider proposal to buy 33 per cent stake of Super League and to control operations

With the Super League competition on its knees, NRL bosses met with owners of Wigan and Warrington in Las Vegas five weeks ago.

www.smh.com.au

The NRL has agreed to consider a proposal to buy a 33 per cent stake in the Super League on the proviso it gets complete administrative control of the struggling competition from 2028 as part of a bid to grow the sport internationally.
With the Super League competition and its clubs on their knees financially, NRL bosses agreed to a secret meeting with Wigan owner Mike Danson and Warrington owner Simon Moran in Las Vegas five weeks ago.


The wealthy owners want the NRL to rescue the competition and are speaking to all Super League clubs before submitting a formal proposal to NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys.
The NRL has made it clear that it will not approach the Super League to buy a stake in the competition, but would be open to striking a deal if the clubs are keen for the NRL to take over the running of the game.

The NRL’s willingness to listen isn’t motivated by a financial windfall, but rather a desire to grow the game in both England and internationally on the back of a decade of growth in the Pacific region.
That’s why the NRL has indicated it would be willing to sell back its share in the competition once it is set up and financially viable.

Australian Bevan French has starred for the Wigan Warriors.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson and South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly have been the driving force behind the conversations, which have the support of Abdo and V’landys.
Richardson and Solly facilitated the meeting between the NRL and Super League clubs in Las Vegas. The pair have both been previously employed by Super League clubs.

All parties agree that there is a rare window of opportunity to strike a deal with the NRL, Super League and international broadcast rights all up for renewal at once (the end of 2027) for the first time.
It gives V’landys and Abdo the option to sell all the rights to prospective broadcast partners, exposing the competitions to new markets.
Under one of the proposed models being considered, the Super League could be renamed and see a 10-team competition run across two countries. The preferred model would see eight teams play out of England and two out of France.
Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality told this masthead that the six powerful clubs - St Helens, Warrington Wolves, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos, Hull Kingston Rovers and Hull FC - have all indicated their willingness to be part of the revamp.

The two clubs in France would be the Catalans Dragons and a team in Toulouse. The remaining two spots would be filled by two English clubs that best fit a set of criteria that will be used to determine their involvement. The European competition is also seen as a potential gateway to North America.
Another option available is for the NRL to start a breakaway competition in Europe given the clubs own their intellectual property.
NRL clubs have been briefed, with some clubs expressing interest in being affiliated with an NRL Europe team. At least two NRL clubs, including South Sydney, are considering buying into a team as owners if the NRL was to take complete administrative control of the game.

NRL considering 33 per cent stake in European rugby league revolution

 

[Dark Corner]

The NRL has agreed to consider a proposal to buy a 33 per cent stake in the Super League on the proviso it gets complete administrative control of the struggling competition from 2028 as part of a bid to grow the sport internationally.
With the Super League competition and its clubs on their knees financially, NRL bosses agreed to a secret meeting with Wigan owner Mike Danson and Warrington owner Simon Moran in Las Vegas five weeks ago.


The wealthy owners want the NRL to rescue the competition and are speaking to all Super League clubs before submitting a formal proposal to NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys.
The NRL has made it clear that it will not approach the Super League to buy a stake in the competition, but would be open to striking a deal if the clubs are keen for the NRL to take over the running of the game.

The NRL’s willingness to listen isn’t motivated by a financial windfall, but rather a desire to grow the game in both England and internationally on the back of a decade of growth in the Pacific region.
That’s why the NRL has indicated it would be willing to sell back its share in the competition once it is set up and financially viable.

Australian Bevan French has starred for the Wigan Warriors.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson and South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly have been the driving force behind the conversations, which have the support of Abdo and V’landys.
Richardson and Solly facilitated the meeting between the NRL and Super League clubs in Las Vegas. The pair have both been previously employed by Super League clubs.

All parties agree that there is a rare window of opportunity to strike a deal with the NRL, Super League and international broadcast rights all up for renewal at once (the end of 2027) for the first time.
It gives V’landys and Abdo the option to sell all the rights to prospective broadcast partners, exposing the competitions to new markets.
Under one of the proposed models being considered, the Super League could be renamed and see a 10-team competition run across two countries. The preferred model would see eight teams play out of England and two out of France.
Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality told this masthead that the six powerful clubs - St Helens, Warrington Wolves, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos, Hull Kingston Rovers and Hull FC - have all indicated their willingness to be part of the revamp.

The two clubs in France would be the Catalans Dragons and a team in Toulouse. The remaining two spots would be filled by two English clubs that best fit a set of criteria that will be used to determine their involvement. The European competition is also seen as a potential gateway to North America.
Another option available is for the NRL to start a breakaway competition in Europe given the clubs own their intellectual property.
NRL clubs have been briefed, with some clubs expressing interest in being affiliated with an NRL Europe team. At least two NRL clubs, including South Sydney, are considering buying into a team as owners if the NRL was to take complete administrative control of the game.

NRL considering 33 per cent stake in European rugby league revolution

10 teams will be boring and it will kill the game in England and you can't have Hull FC, Castleford, Wakefield and Leigh ignored....madness I tell you madness.

 

[Gobsmacked]

10 teams will be boring and it will kill the game in England and you can't have Hull FC, Castleford, Wakefield and Leigh ignored....madness I tell you madness.

Imagine if the plan was in step with the 20 teams they want in the pacific...a broader concept:
3 × 10 team conferences
10 Sydney team conference
10 outside Sydney conference
10 European conference
All get the same grant under 1 governing body and same salary cap.
Each team within the conference plays each other twice for a 20 Round competition.
Top 2 from each comp goes through to finals plus 2 wild cards ( 2 highest ranking clubs across entire league excluding the top 2 of course)
8 team finals series.

 

[Dark Corner]

Imagine if the plan was in step with the 20 teams they want in the pacific...a broader concept:
3 × 10 team conferences
10 Sydney team conference
10 outside Sydney conference
10 European conference
All get the same grant under 1 governing body and same salary cap.
Each team within the conference plays each other twice for a 20 Round competition.
Top 2 from each comp goes through to finals plus 2 wild cards ( 2 highest ranking clubs across entire league excluding the top 2 of course)
8 team finals series.

It not work and what I was hoping instead of wasting good money on paying failure's CEO and others below staff just get someone in from the currant NRL to change things.

 

[Gobsmacked]

It not work and what I was hoping instead of wasting good money on paying failure's CEO and others below staff just get someone in from the currant NRL to change things.

I think it's all part of the plan.
It would be lit.

 

[Perth Red]

Nrl can’t get a team in perth and Adelaide but they think they can run a comp up against football, a class system and the great north/south divide in England? Good luck with that!

 

[Perth Red]

Imagine if the plan was in step with the 20 teams they want in the pacific...a broader concept:
3 × 10 team conferences
10 Sydney team conference
10 outside Sydney conference
10 European conference
All get the same grant under 1 governing body and same salary cap.
Each team within the conference plays each other twice for a 20 Round competition.
Top 2 from each comp goes through to finals plus 2 wild cards ( 2 highest ranking clubs across entire league excluding the top 2 of course)
8 team finals series.

Playing only your conference would make it an 18 game season. Good luck selling that to tv. Only 9 guaranteed home games a ayear? Would need Avery big grant to cover revenue loss.

 

[siv]

With ongoing global warming

Why is returning to a winter comp such a bad thing? This is the final thing to fix from the 1995 SL War

The NRL wants control of the international side of things

Is the ESL really better now than in 1994

 

[taste2taste]

Nrl can’t get a team in perth and Adelaide but they think they can run a comp up against football, a class system and the great north/south divide in England? Good luck with that!

The NRL can get a team in Perth but they want a successful team in Perth, not a team like half the English clubs that live hand to mouth.

The NRL taking control of SL couldn’t do any worse than the current admin.

 

[taste2taste]

With ongoing global warming

Why is returning to a winter comp such a bad thing? This is the final thing to fix from the 1995 SL War

The NRL wants control of the international side of things

Is the ESL really better now than in 1994

They moved the season to get away from soccer, trying to get any cut through during soccer season is impossibl.

 

[Perth Red]

With ongoing global warming

Why is returning to a winter comp such a bad thing? This is the final thing to fix from the 1995 SL War

The NRL wants control of the international side of things

Is the ESL really better now than in 1994

Said by someone who has never stood on the terraces of a Northern ground in Dec/Jan lol

 

[siv]

Said by someone who has never stood on the terraces of a Northern ground in Dec/Jan lol

Does February count?

 

[Perth Red]

Does February count?

Yeh Feb is no better! SL fans would love to push the start back to mid/late march!

 

[siv]

They moved the season to get away from soccer, trying to get any cut through during soccer season is impossibl.

But that work financially?

As the ESL feels like its at its weakest ever

 

[Perth Red]

But that work financially?

As the ESL feels like its at its weakest ever

Dont believe the doom mongers. Its not. Crowds are healthier than in the winter era. Tv audiences are bigger than winter era. The quality of RL is better than winter era. Palyers get paid more now than at anytime in the games history. Stadiums are better now than anytime in the games history.
Only place its struggling is tv revenue. And that's largely due to football becoming so big and expensive for media it leaves little money left for any other sport. Rl is not an orpahan in this.

See below for history of 'rugby' deals.

Rugby codes: Tackling the fall in media rights value - Sportcal

UK media rights values have failed to reach pre-pandemic levels for rugby competitions in recent years.

www.sportcal.com

The Premiership Rugby deal is rumoured to have dropped again to 28million a year from last year.

Premiership Rugby and ITV in two-year FTA deal renewal - Sportcal

ITV has provided domestic live coverage of English Premiership Rugby action since January 2022.

www.sportcal.com

 

[siv]

Dont believe the doom mongers. Its not. Crowds are healthier than in the winter era. Tv audiences are bigger than winter era. The quality of RL is better than winter era.

Yet the standard compared to NRL is closer to Reserve grade

 

[Perth Red]

Yet the standard compared to NRL is closer to Reserve grade

its really not, at least at the top clubs. Id say its probably 20-30% lower than NRL. Which considering the money here for jnrs, development etc isnt any great surprise. I reckon you take any of the top 5 english SL sides and put them in an NRL set up for a year or two and they'd be more than competitive. They are world club champions two years running against supposedly the best side the NRL has ever seen lol

 

[taste2taste]

Fast forward to 28 minutes for the NRL taking over the SL chat

 

[taste2taste]

A bit more chat about the NRL and SL at 6 minutes.

 

[Estoniandogg]

I think it should be 14 team comp.
Current teams plus Toulouse and Bradford or London.
Maybe both and the hassan chop on wakefield or Leigh.