NRL agrees $50m deal with Western Australian government to seal the return of the Bears
A beefed-up offer from the Western Australian government has paved the way for the Bears’ long-awaited NRL return as part of a major expansion boost.
Peter Badel,
Brent Read and
Michael Carayannis
2 min read
April 24, 2025 - 9:11AM
5 Comments
North Sydney Bears score their second try against the Newtown Jets at Henson Oval. Photo: Tom Parrish
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The Bears are officially back in the big league after the ARL Commission approved a $50 million bid for a Perth team to enter the NRL in 2027.
This masthead can reveal a beefed-up offer from the Western Australian government has sealed the deal for the Western Bears to become the NRL’s 18th team.
The ARL Commission has agreed in-principle to the revised offer from WA, who had initially offered $35 million over five years.
The ARL Commission voted to accept the improved offer on Wednesday and the final step is taking the package to the existing 17 NRL clubs for formal approval.
The Bears are back. Art: Boo Bailey
If the NRL clubs rubberstamp the deal, as expected, the Western Bears will be alive and kicking and join the Telstra Premiership in 2027.
It is a landmark moment for North Sydney, the foundation brand which is set to return to the NRL after 25 years in the wilderness.
ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo have spent the past fortnight trying to salvage the deal after talks appeared on the
brink of collapse.
V’landys had said
the salvage operation was not insurmountable, even if NRL bosses believed the AFL had moved to politically sabotage rugby league’s planned incursion into the WA market.
Money, or a lack of it, was at the heart of the divide. The NRL sought $120 million over 10 years, not as a touted licence fee, but as a payment that would be pumped into building a rugby league grassroots bedrock in the far west.
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The WA government had offered $35 million over five years, plus an additional $20m to the creation of a Centre of Excellence.
WA Premier Roger Cook and the NRL have smoked the peace pipe. Picture: Jason Edwards/NewsWire
The NRL has also called for a $200-million plus redevelopment of HBF Park in a bid to turn the ground into Perth’s version of Sydney’s CommBank Stadium, home of the Parramatta Eels.
WA premier Roger Cook recently lashed the NRL and accused the code of taking the state for granted.
But Cook has come to the party with a $50m improved offer, convincing the ARLC to ratify the Perth bid subject to the imprimatur from NRL clubs.
The NRL are set to celebrate a 19-team league, with Papua New Guinea to enter in 2028, giving the code extra bargaining power as V’landys prepares to sit down for TV rights talks.
V’landys said a fortnight ago the Perth bid was not officially dead despite fears the Western Bears had collapsed.
“We aren’t taking Perth for granted at all,” he said.
“I have always said the business case has to stack up and if it doesn’t stack up, I can’t take it forward.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful to them. I am just trying to validate a business that I can take to the clubs, so that they can see there is a good business case in making this decision.”
Now the business case stacks up, clearing the path for the return of the mighty Bears to the NRL in 2027.
