Bears are safe despite $65 million funding fight threatening to end NRL’s expansion into Western Australia
The NRL is preparing for urgent talks to resolve a $65 million funding spat that threatens to kill off an NRL team in Perth - but it won’t affect the Bears’ bid to return to the top flight.
Peter Badel, Brent Read and Michael Carayannis
Peter V’landys insists the Bears are not dead yet as the ARL Commission boss prepares for urgent talks to resolve a $65 million funding spat that threatens to kill off an NRL team in Perth.
V’landys is adamant the ARLC has not shut the door on the birth of the Western Bears amid mounting speculation the NRL’s plans for an 18th team in Perth for 2027 are doomed.
V’landys’ stance came as West Australian premier Roger Cook lashed the NRL, accusing the governing body of lacking respect for the state as relations between the parties, once seemingly cordial, turned toxic.
The ARLC will make a definitive call within a fortnight but unless the NRL and Cook can smoke the peace pipe at the eleventh hour, the much-hyped Western Bears bid will officially collapse.
Sources close to negotiations say the parties hit a roadblock over two key agenda items - the proposed $120 million ‘entry fee’ and a $200m-plus redevelopment of HBF Park.
Should the ARLC walk away from expansion across the Nullarbor, it would have near fatal consequences for North Sydney, the foundation brand looking to return to the big league after 25 years in the NRL wilderness.
V’landys stressed the ARLC remains in talks with the mooted state-backed WA team and says he is determined to resurrect the North Sydney Bears as an NRL force, whether it’s with Perth or another region.
“The Commission has yet to make a decision,” V’landys said.
“We haven’t called a meeting yet to discuss it but we are likely to do so in the next week or two.”
Asked if the feared collapse of a Perth bid would put the Bears into NRL hibernation for good, V’landys vowed to do everything possible to return North Sydney to the top flight.
The ARL Commission is exploring a second NRL team in New Zealand and a fifth franchise in Queensland. Both of those regions could be asked to strike a joint-venture deal with the Bears if the Telstra Premiership expands to 20 teams by the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
But V’landys’ primary and immediate mission is salvaging the Western Bears amid explosive claims rival code the AFL has moved to politically sabotage rugby league’s incursion into Perth.
“The Bears will be front and centre for any future expansion bid,” V’landys said.
“If it’s not Western Australia, it will be somewhere else.
“Whoever we go with, we want to have the Bears involved ... if we go with anyone.”
The reality is if the NRL chooses not to expand beyond the introduction of Papua New Guinea in 2028, there is no legitimate avenue for a Bears revival.
The fate of the Western Bears hinges on Cook and resolving a fiscal fallout involving WA government bean counters.
The NRL was seeking $120 million from the WA government over 10 years, not as a touted licence fee, but a financial investment that would be diverted into rugby league’s grassroots growth in the state.
That figure was not palatable to WA chiefs, who have offered $35 million over five years, plus a further $20m to the construction of a Centre of Excellence, which was a key NRL condition.
That’s effectively a $65m shortfall.
The final nail in the coffin is negotiations over a major upgrade to HBF Park.
The NRL wanted the ground to represent Perth’s version of Sydney’s state-of-the-art CommBank Stadium, the home of the Parramatta Eels, but the facelift cannot take place until after the women’s Asian Cup in 2026 and men’s rugby World Cup in 2027.
“The NRL have to get serious and have to treat us with more respect and not like a cash cow,” Cook told Perth media.
There were suggestions the NRL could delay Perth’s entry by 12 months, aligning them with PNG for 2028, but sources indicate it’s either 2027 or bust for the Western Bears dream.
“It’s in the balance,” a high-powered expansion source said. “Either the bid’s up to scratch or it’s not.
“If this falls over, where do the Bears go?”
Former Western Reds chairman Peter Cumins, who had a fresh WA bid rejected by the ARLC late last year, said the prospect of the NRL not returning to Perth would be a crushing outcome for rugby league.
“I am gutted,” Cumins said.
“It’s how I felt when our bid was rejected.
“To hear this (Western Bears bid) could be all over, red rover, I’m gutted all over again.
“This is bad for the NRL in general. We truly need a national competition and the Western Bears would have been a step in the right direction.
“From a player’s perspective, it’s a great city to come and play, it would be more appealing to come to WA than PNG to be honest.”
Asked if he believes the AFL has sabotaged the NRL in Perth, Cumins said: “No, I don’t think so.
“The local press have never been great supporters of rugby league, they are very pro-AFL, but when the Western Reds were around, we co-existed comfortably and we got press in the Perth media.
“I would be surprised if the AFL were involved in derailing the bid.
“The NRL simply has to make this happen.”
