It's an astounding figure - mostly because it is hard to see where the money will come from. Need to wait for the details to come out - it will be interesting to see what Fox and Seven have paid.
Too much panic in this thread - it is just sport.
I think the main gain was being able to split the components up and being able to share content. Previously they sold all the TV to one bidder and they on-sold to pay-tv so the broadcaster bidding had the risk associated with on-selling. The only on-sale rights there is with the current deal is 7 allowed to sell up to 2 of their 4 games to either 9 and or 10.
This is also the first major deal which incorporates digital FTA technology and has allowed the AFL to place the game live into development markets on a secondary digital channel, it used to cost the AFL a fortune getting games into NSW and QLD during prime timeslots on analogue channels because of how poorly they rated.
There will also be shared content via IPTV and Mobile devices so much more I would expect is coming from Telstra.
NRL has to distance itself from News Ltd. Storm needs to be a member owned club and every one of their games must go into Melbourne every week in prime time on a secondary digital channel. The exposure here is non-existent, most of the games that are shown here on FTA do not involve the Storm, it is not the way to penetrate the market. NRL doesn't have a good model for expansion at present.
NRL also has to stop the war on AFL, they are coming to NSW and QLD for viewers, they do not care about NRL. Some people like rugby, some like AFL, some like both. AFL are after those that do not like rugby, trying to turn the loving of sports into an us vs them battle wont win more viewers.
At the AFL Anzac day game they advertised to go to the Storm game after the Anzac day clash and gave pamphlets for a 20% discount at the game and Storm got a solid crowd to the game. This would never happen at NRL games for AFL games.
The best course of action is for both codes to co-exist in harmony, people who love both codes are leaning to AFL because the AFL seem less petty about the rivalry.