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Stupid fumblers laughed at vlandys when he said he was starting early then when they realised he was right were in a mad scramble to copy him
A minimum ten Percent return is decentRugby league boss Peter V’landys has set his sights on expanding to England and turning the league into a major hotel operator – and handed his board a big pay rise – after the sport reported record revenue driven by broadcast and wagering fees.
Talking down rivals, including rugby union and soccer, and declaring his chief executive to be one of the best in any business, Mr V’landys on Wednesday laid out an audacious vision to the NRL’s 17 clubs at the league’s annual meeting.
The NRL reported revenue of $701 million, an increase of 18 per cent, and an operating surplus of $58.2 million, a 7 per cent fall, for the year to October 31. The revenue rise was driven by broadcast partners Foxtel and Nine Entertainment, the publisher of The Australian Financial Review, product fees from bookmakers and a $20 million uptick from sponsorship, game receipts and investment income.
Mr V’landys and his fellow seven commissioners – including high-profile investor Gary Weiss, former Queensland premier Peter Beattie and Sydney silk Alan Sullivan, KC – were handed a $400,000 pay increase, bringing the total pool to $1.2 million.
Mr V’landys declared CEO Andrew Abdo “one of the best chief executives in any industry” as he laid out his plan to grow the game, including a proposal to grant tax-free status to Australians involved in bringing Papua New Guinea into the NRL fold.
“To be making three consecutive profits ... is an extraordinary result, especially if you compare us to other sports,” Mr V’landys said. “Excluding the AFL, who are performing strongly, you’ve got rugby union [with] an $80 million loan that it’s relying on to stay solvent, rugby union clubs going broke, A-League clubs going broke.”
The NRL’s asset base has also increased, the accounts showed, up 29 per cent to $260.1 million. The league has already started buying hotels and currently owns three: The Quest Hotel Woolooware Bay in Sydney, the Mercure Sunshine Coast and Gambaro Hotel in Brisbane. It plans to expand the portfolio.
“The surplus is for reinvestment,” Mr Abdo said. “That new revenue stream will not only result in more funds available for distribution – more to clubs, more to players, more to grassroots football – it will future-proof the game against an impact on other revenue.”
Mr Abdo said buying hotels was about cost and revenue synergies. Mr V’landys said he expected the hotels to generate a 10 per cent annual return on investment.
“So far, all three [hotels] are bought in vicinity to where we play grassroots or elite rugby. The plan is to grow quite significantly using rugby league IP and our major events, which we place in these markets to drive the performance of these assets,” he said.
The other element of the growth plan is building the NRL’s offshore fan base.
The most ambitious part of the strategy – two matches in Las Vegas at the same venue the Super Bowl was played last week – will be played on March 2.
The intent is to capture more of the hundreds of thousands of Australians living in the United States to pay $US160 ($242) for the NRL’s subscription app, Watch NRL. It now has 3000 US users.
“Even if we just got a small percentage of them, that’s $25 million extra revenue,” Mr V’landys said. “We’re aiming for much higher than that, naturally.”
The matches between Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbitohs, and the Sydney Roosters and Brisbane Broncos, will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1, the Murdoch family-controlled Fox Corp’s main cable sports television network. Mr V’landys said he wanted to be on Fox Sports 1 every week, but no deal has been signed.
“If we can get 1 per cent of the market in America ... that’s 3 million subscribers,” he said. “It’s a big strategy, it’s a big risk. It could be a game changer.”
Another element is plans to secure an NRL team in PNG, among the largest of South Pacific nations, where rugby codes are hugely popular.
Mr V’landys signalled he also wants to penetrate the English market. “We already have Super League and there’s hardly a [Watch NRL] subscription sold in England,” he said. “So we’re going to attack that market as well.”
Britain has its own national competition in rugby league, though it is generally considered the third most popular version of football after rugby union and the dominant soccer code.
Audacious V’landys outlines plan to turn NRL towards Britain, hotels
The NRL chairman has set his sights on expanding to England and turning the league into a major hotel operator – and handed his board a big pay risewww.afr.com
he isnt interested in SL, he just wants english rl fans to buy the watchnrl app. For that to happen theyd need to get it off sky, get one game a week on ch4 and promote the nrl much better over there. It'd be an easier conversion than trying to get americans interested.
Do they need to get it off Sky?
if you want to sell the Watch NRL Id suggest yes. People wont buy the app if they have nrl on sky. 1 game on FTA a week to generate interest and sell the app would be the go Id have thought.
He has applied his own version of ‘critical analysis’ to come to a conclusion that best suits his own bigoted views about our game and our administration. Same as it ever was.
no, but neither do you to show it hasnt.
The ‘lol’ is you making a negative out of every positive story about our game. You are a broken record of negativity.
I guess the issue is how much money do BSkyB pay the NRL the rights to broadcast the game. I assume nothing or very little?
Yes its a smart strategy, they already have the product there so try and sell more of it at zero extra cost to produce.
sorry Im not feeding your unicorns and fairies delusion.
how do they match? Contra we know was $34mill, are you suggesting the tv cash in 2023 was $416mil and if so where is it from given we know Sky+fox was $32.2mill - $5mill contra?
Do you own a little dog? If so go and kick it. You’ll feel better.
Well fed on your own ego?
Problem is much of what we are doing is speculating. It’s clear though that Vlandys had a broad vision for expansion on multiple levels East West and Centre. See Brad Walter’s article on the NRL app. That’s a great article about where we are heading. The investment in participation will be interesting to watch because it’s going to be harder to get registered tackle players. Tag and touch are going to become even more prominent. Smith got that right at least back in the day.
