http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...s/news-story/1cd8349add2264e037f8a17b6c8caba7
ARLC chairman John Grant faces crunch meeting with club chairs
- The Australian
- 12:00AM November 23, 2016
- Brent Read
John Grant faces what could be the most important meeting of his five-year tenure as chairman today as NRL clubs prepare to escalate plans to take greater control of the independent commission should they fail to have their concerns assuaged over the code’s future.
Club chairs will meet Grant and key members of the commission and NRL at Rugby League Central this afternoon, their frustration at an all-time high after 12 months of stagnation in talks over perpetual licensing agreements.
Even the most moderate figures in clubland have become concerned at the lack of progress, which has been viewed in some quarters as a sign of a lack of respect from the commission to the clubs.
The clubs go to the meeting on the same page, just as they were 12 months ago when they stared down the commission.
The licence agreements, which are due to expire at the end of next season and guarantee the clubs a place in the premiership, are no closer to completion, having become bogged down in argument over sinking funds and finances.
The divide between the clubs and the commission appears as wide as ever, the angst in clubland not helped by Grant and NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg spending the past three weeks in England at the Four Nations tournament.
Talks have already begun over giving the clubs some representation on the commission but they are likely to significantly step up the push for constitutional change should the commission fail to assuage their concerns at today’s meeting.
The constitution requires 75 per cent of the clubs as well as both states to effect change to the commission. It is understood the clubs are united in their frustration with the game’s leadership, leaving the states with the potentially decisive say.
The Queensland and NSW Rugby Leagues will also attend today’s meeting knowing they have the power to enact change. Should they side with the clubs, the commission faces a potential challenge to its authority.
At the heart of their dispute with the ARL Commission is money. The clubs are yet to finalise what their grant will be when a new broadcasting deal begins in 2018. The commission has advanced the clubs an additional $3 million leading into the 2018 season after receiving an advance on that broadcasting deal from the Nine Network.
However, the clubs have been told to treat that money as a loan pending middle ground being reached on negotiations over the perpetual licensing agreements.
Perpetual licensing agreements would guarantee the existing 16 sides a place in the premiership.
Under the commission’s plan, the only exception would be if a club were deemed insolvent, in which case they wanted the ability to seize the club’s licence as well as assets.
To protect against that, the commission had proposed that each of the clubs contribute to a sinking fund that would protect their rivals in times of financial crisis.
That plan prompted a backlash from the clubs, who say it is the commission’s responsibility to ensure there are 16 teams and that the code is able to meet its broadcasting commitment to put on eight games each week.
There is a fear among some clubs that the commission will cry poor and look to rewrite the funding agreement they reached to pay each side 130 per cent of the total player payments from 2018.
Some clubs also suspect the commission is trying to drive a wedge between the clubs and the players by playing the chairs and players’ union off against each other. It is understood the clubs have attempted to guard against that by opening up lines of communication with the Rugby League Players Association.
