Yeah really gotta love the “if you take marvel out of the equation” types. Haha if we just take away all the smart business operations of AFL over the past 30 years then yes NRL is on the same level hahaha.
Before covid the media rights deals (where every code in the world makes their most revenue) we’re basically the same between NRL and AFL.
Post 2020, there’s a $500m dollar gap from until the next NRL rights deal which is what 2027 or 28. So from 2023-2027 AFL negotiated a gap of $500m. That’s never happened before. They go back to the 90s and go “NRL had 10m and AFL had 17m for media rights. So the percentage gap was higher in the 90s”.
I just used an inflation calculator and a $7m gap in 1995 is worth just under $14m in 2023. So in the 90s AFL had a $14m gap on NRL for media in todays money.
Fast forward to 2023 - about 30 years, and that gap is $500m. The AFL has increased the media rights gap by 35.7 times. This is all under one guys watch, PVL.
In 2015, NRL got $1.9b (including international rights) for 5 years. Around the same time AFL got $2.5b for six years. That’s $380m a year for NRL and AFL $410m annually.
So the difference was about $120m over a four year period. Fast forward 8 years later and the difference is $500m in four years 2024-27. That’s over a 300% increase ffs.
Haha the spin merchant PVL lovers on here just refuse to see AFL stayed quiet during COVID and had media eating out their hands.
Whereas NRL got there heads in the media every day saying how much better they did than AFL and that no one could have negotiated better money than what PVL got. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and Alpha Gil made NRL and Beta PVL look like amateurs.
PVL lovers twist them selves into pretzels making accuses for the poor return on media rights. It’s simple, prior to Covid they basically got the same money with 2 less teams. After covid they missed out on $500m until the next deal.
Oh and what helped AFL stay in a strong position to negotiate on media? Well not being BFFs with 9 and News Ltd due to being conflicted as Chairman and CEO of Racing NSW certainly helped.
In addition, owning Marvel stadium outright - a deal the AFL did a head of schedule just before covid allowed them to secure a $1b loan to protect their code.
Because the AFL was run so much better than NRL for the past 25 years and collected assets, they were in the stronger position in crisis. They also didn’t rush into negotiations and panic like NRL administration did, they also had a guy that had negotiated media rights deals for over a decade lead negotiations. NRL let a guy that’s never negotiated a proper media rights deal get bent over by 9 and News Ltd.
Oh how valuable an extra $500m could have been to set up 18, 19 and 20 teams. And as for talk I see on here about NRL getting to 20 teams quicker than AFL.
By the next AFL media rights, in 2033 they will have Tasmania and Perth3. Lions will have set up nicely in south west Brisbane/Ipswich for a decade and a new GABBA funded entirely from Qld government.
NRL might have 3 more clubs from either Perth, a PNG/Pasifika team and Brisbane3 (if the News Ltd owned Broncos allow it) or Central Qld or Melbourne2 or NZ2.
I really don’t understand why you PVL lovers buy into the bullshit. Without a presence in all capital cities you won’t really grow the game. As much as it makes sense to have 4 clubs in Brisbane after the Olympics, it won’t really grow ratings. Everyone in qld already watches NRL, regardless of the club they go for. What grows ratings is new markets and new eyes. Perth and Adelaide are the biggest markets in Australia available. But sure focus on Vegas you dingus’.
Also, I love how me and others say “well the AFL pretty much copied NFL etc from the 80s to grow their game and be no.1 - why don’t the NRL do the same?”… and we are the ones abused etc when we actually want NRL to succeed at its highest possible level.
When PVL came in he said perth was a waste of time. Me and others said that was an idiotic view. Morons on here backed PVLs insular view of NRL. PVL does a backflip and backs perth and not one PVL lover calls out his failings. They even have the gumption to say “yeah we’ve always been pro Perth”.
$500m could help fund local improvements to local Sydney stadiums. Instead of badgering government in an economic downturn to fund these white elephants, if NRL negotiated a better media rights deal in the same ball park as AFL they could fund stadia for poor performing Sydney clubs who’s supporters don’t turn up. Rather than the tax payer propping up a sport that in all honesty has proven time and agiancouldn’t run a f**king chook raffle.
And again, AFL looked at ground rationalisation in the 80s. All Melbourne teams got shifted to 2 state of the art grounds and minimised/shared ongoing costs. With two key stadia they locked in government to always update them.
In Sydney you PVL lovers expect NSW government and tax payers to fund stadiums for Manly, Parramatta, Penrith, Wests, Canterbury, Cronulla, St George, Easts and South’s. There’s like 10 or 12 grounds (including Woolongong and Newcastle) you idiots want NSW Government to fork out billions for, and at ground that’s are lucky to be half full most of the time.
Until you fix the bleeding obvious and at least rationalise where Sydney clubs play NRL ain’t gonna be as good as it can be. Until NRL focuses on Perth and Adelaide they can’t draw more eyes on the sport. If you don’t draw more eyes, even if it’s just for finals and State of Origin, media rights deals stagnate.
It’s all pretty simple stuff PVL lovers are just too stupid to understand.
