IF NRL chief executive David Gallop negotiates the new television rights he'll be under a scrutiny no one in his position has endured. League has never been a cheap entertainment, the costs are high and the hits hard, but the stakes have never been as high for the code - or even its chief executive.
Parramatta chief executive Paul Osborne articulated the level of expectation on Gallop to deliver on the deal that will start in 2013 when he spoke of the $500 million the game gained last time. Osborne, like many others, said the figure didn't represent the true worth of the sport as a ratings puller and revenue stream for television stations.
''The television rights are the most important thing in the game's forseeable future,'' Osborne said. ''We have a great product, but we didn't get what it was worth as a television sports program.''
The pressure has arisen because Michael Searle, the Gold Coast chief executive who formed the independent commission's blueprint, said the expected windfall from the rights would underpin the code's future.
His comments came as expansion is back on the agenda, rival codes crave the likes of Jarryd Hayne and Benji Marshall, and the league must generate its own funds to survive.
''The television rights create stability in our model for sustainable clubs,'' Searle said. ''That's where the rights are really important, they provide a guarantee the clubs will be stable. Everything hangs off the television deal, and they're going to become a bigger part of professional sport here over the next 20-years, just like the US.
''I think the restructuring [of the hierarchy] provides a better environment for the rights, in my opinion. [But the television rights] underpins the future of the game. It underpins the benefits we can provide the players. It's an important aspect.''
The demand for more cash for content started two years ago when Sun-Herald columnist Phil Gould and South Sydney co-owner Russell Crowe voiced their concerns. Their argument gained momentum when the ratings showed league out-performed the AFL, even though that code exacted $780m, or $280m more, than the NRL did from television executives. Their view was strengthened by the revelation in 2009 the National Youth Competition regularly out-rated rugby union's showpiece, the Super 14.
Searle said league did itself few favours by not selling itself as a brash, dynamic and vibrant sport because such an image not only grated on the Australian character but went against the league ethos.
''Unfortunately some of the core values we have as a sport hamstring our game,'' he said. ''The humility, and the need not to be seen as arrogant, sometimes stops our code from really promoting itself. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, the game should be confident in what it is and the content it provides television. We've got the greatest product. The AFL has a grand final, but we have a grand final and State of Origin I, II, II and Test football and an All Stars event.
''We cross international borders. No other code has the traction we've got over the other three.''
Plenty agree Gallop has a tough job, and Souths chief executive Shane Richardson said hard work had gone into ensuring rugby league scored well in the TV stakes. He noted Colin Smith of L.E.K. Consulting, who helped the AFL secure its last television deal, had been recruited. Richardson also said clubs had been kept in the loop.
''We've never been more prepared as clubs for the broadcast negotiations,'' Richardson said. ''To David Gallop's credit he's been very consolidative throughout. Colin Smith from L.E.K. is on board and he has the clubs' confidence. It's been open and by far the best process we've had.''
Richardson said one of the great frustrations of the independent commission was many people viewed it as the solution to all the code's ills. At a time his club is generating profit and breaking new ground for sponsorship deals, he described the broadcast rights as a slice - albeit delicious - of a very large pie.
''Everybody has to come to a standard of operation that makes the game successful, it's not just about television rights,'' he said. ''Two-and-a-half years ago there was a meeting of the clubs and we discussed all the things that we needed to change in the game and we came up with things like more local derbies to create crowds.
''The independent commission won't give all the solutions, but it does provide a streamlined business model, an axe head approach, and that is as important an outcome as the television contract. The contract is important, but under the commission we'll have better corporate governance, we're going to have less RLs, the clubs will have to think about the game and not just themselves.''
But rugby league expects, and even though negotiations will be done under the independent commission's banner, there is a feeling in club-land the buck will stop with Gallop.
