Rugby league’s governing body has agreed to a revised bid to revive the North Sydney Bears as the NRL’s 19th team, in Perth, from 2027. But the other clubs need to sign off.
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Clubs getting $500k each off the bat.
Clubs offered $500k sweetener to get Perth NRL team over the line
Zoe Samios and Tom Rabe
Apr 24, 2025 – 7.10pm
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Western Australia has edged closer to securing its first NRL team after the code’s governing body agreed to a revised bid from Premier Roger Cook that the government described as its final offer.
The NRL’s 17 clubs met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the potential arrival of the new team, to be known as the Perth Bears, from 2027, in a deal that sources said could deliver them an extra $500,000 each.
Negotiations to revive the North Sydney Bears via an NRL team in Western Australia have been long and tumultuous. Steven Siewert
Any agreement for a new NRL team requires consultation with the existing 17 clubs and the Rugby League Players’ Association before the governing body can go back to the WA government with its position.
Sources with direct knowledge of the meeting, not authorised to speak publicly, told The Australian Financial Review there was broad support for the proposal from a commercial perspective.
However, the clubs are frustrated by the lack of consultation on the revised bid before it was leaked to media outlets. Consultation is a requirement of club licence agreements signed with the NRL last October.
The sources said the clubs were each expected to receive a $500,000 distribution from the NRL in 2027 and had been told the arrival of a Perth team would result in a bigger broadcast deal.
The clubs would also receive a one-off $500,000 for commercial outperformance of the competition in 2027. They had yet to receive the specific financial details of WA’s revised bid.
Clubs are also concerned about the implications of the NRL owning the Perth team for its first five years. They are expected to communicate their views to the NRL in the coming days.
The WA government confirmed it had put “a revised and final” offer to the Australian Rugby League Commission.
“While we have taken a strong negotiating position, these discussions have been positive and respectful,” a statement said.
“Throughout the negotiations, the WA government has been adamant that the Perth club should not be forced to pay a licence fee to participate in the NRL. The WA government also wants a guarantee that any future financial assistance to the Bears to be spent in WA.”
Long negotiations
Cook said on Thursday that talks with the NRL “are positive”.
“We look forward to those discussions continuing,” Cook said.
People within the WA government, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said they were optimistic a deal would be reached with the league, but noted questions remained about timing and how the team would operate.
Negotiations for an NRL team from the west have been long and tumultuous. The NRL originally negotiated with a private consortium but entered talks with the WA government after an initial bid was rejected for reasons including the absence of an offer for a licence fee.
WA paying a licence fee is not part of the revised bid.
Cook, who played both codes of rugby in his youth, has been an advocate for securing an NRL team for WA but said in February rugby league was a relative minnow west of the Nullarbor compared to other sports and his government would not bend over backwards for a deal.
Under a previous proposal, the WA government was willing to commit to a centre of excellence and to contribute $35 million to grassroots.
The government and the NRL have been back and forth since then, negotiating over a range of conditions, including a multimillion-dollar commitment to join the NRL premiership, investment in grassroots and an upgrade of HBF Park to give the NRL a state-of-the-art, CommBank Stadium-style facility in Perth.
Plans looked all but over until early this month when Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys said there was still a chance a deal could be made.
“I have always said the business case has to stack up and if it doesn’t stack up, I can’t take it forward,” V’landys said.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful to them. I am just trying to validate a business that I can take to the clubs.”
Establishing a new WA team is a part of the NRL’s plan to grow its competition to 20 teams by 2030 and secure a record broadcast deal to fund the sport after the existing agreement expires in 2027.
The time difference between Perth and the east coast would bring scheduling flexibility and more games to the competition that could be valuable to potential partners. It could also generate sponsorship money from sectors that thrive in the region.
A WA team would mark a return to the NRL for the North Sydney Bears, who were relegated more than 25 years ago. It is expected to enter the competition before a new Papua New Guinea team, which is slated to play its first season in 2028.
In the years before the NRL, Perth was home to the Western Reds in Australian Rugby League competition from 1992. The club switched to the Super League competition in 1997 as the Perth Reds.
But WA lost its spot in the top tier of rugby when the ARL and Super League merged as the NRL.
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