Why the numbers add up for ARLC's broadcast deal
Date
August 27, 2012 - 1:36PM
Chief Rugby League Writer
WINNING STARTS MONDAY
Would NRL fans prefer to watch sub-standard games televised live or one of the best sporting competitions in the world with some matches on delay for a further five years only?
That was the choice the ARL Commission had to make when they agreed on the new $1 billion television rights deal with Channel Nine and Fox Sports last week.
It was a deal that provided the immediate cash injection the ARLC so desperately needs after inheriting a game bereft of cash reserves and paves the way to give fans what they want in the next agreement after News Ltd relinquished a first and last rights arrangement on all media rights until 2027.
The Herald reported that Channel Ten had offered $800 million for four games per week and many have said that would have been preferable to the deal negotiated by the ARLC, which will see three games on free-to-air per week - but only one of which will be live.
However, Nine and Fox Sports tendered a joint bid, whereas Ten and Seven did not have a pay-TV partner.
If the ARLC had chosen one of those networks as the game's free-to-air broadcaster, they would have then had to find another outlet to show the remaining matches and the overall value of the deal would have been significantly less than the $1.025 billion Nine ($475 million) and Fox Sports ($550 million) have agreed to pay, including $50 million each in advertising.
A 20 per cent reduction in the value of the broadcast deal, which Ten's offer effectively represented, would have directly impacted on the money available to fund struggling NRL clubs and increase payments for players, as well as provide more support at grassroots level.
For those who think players are paid enough, consider this - the highest paid player in the game, Johnathan Thurston, earns about the same amount of money that Anthony Mundine was paid when he quit the game in 2000.
And Mundine's $700,000 per year pay cheque was no larger than the likes of Laurie Daley, Ricky Stuart and Bradley Clyde received at the outbreak of the Super League war in 1995 - meaning the game's top players have not had a real pay rise for almost 20 years.
At the other end of the payscale, every club has players earning the NRL's minimum wage of $60,000 per year to put their bodies through a gruelling off-season and brutal 26-week premiership, plus a possible finals series.
Without an increase in the salary cap, more players could be expected to follow the likes of Sonny Bill Williams to rugby union or Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau to AFL, where they can earn $1 million-plus pay packets.
However, only two NRL clubs - Brisbane and South Sydney - made small operating profits without leagues club grants or top ups from private owners last season, and they are dependent on extra funding from the television money.
Significantly, the ARLC managed to negotiate $90 million upfront from Nine and Fox Sports and a deal that is frontloaded, so that more money is paid in the earlier years than later.
This will provide an immediate cash injection to a game that has been surviving hand to mouth since the end of the Super League war.
Equally as important, News Ltd agreed to forego an arrangement negotiated as a key condition of its exit from the game that gave the Murdoch empire first and last rights on all media rights - including online, mobile and technology not yet invented - until 2027.
With Nine retaining the exclusive rights to three games per week but viewers only able to watch one of the two Friday night matches live and the Sunday afternoon fixture being broadcast on delay to accommodate more advertisements, fans have complained the deal is the same as the current one but for twice the money.
According to a poll conducted on the Herald's website after details of the new deal was announced last Tuesday, 31 per cent of the 7520 people who voted believed the coverage provided by Nine and Fox Sports was 'poor' and comments posted on smh.com.au were overwhelmingly negative.
There were many valid points, but the deal provides the money needed to ensure the growth of the game and puts the ARLC in a position to call the shots when the next broadcast agreement is negotiated.
