With the game played at warp speed and the ball-in-play for around 60 minutes of NRL matches, the RLPA has advocated for a reduced season of 22 games per club for some time.
Doing just that with 19 teams when Papua New Guinea enters the NRL would deliver broadcasters 209 regular season games.
The Bears are back in 2027.
The Bears are back in 2027.Credit: Steven Siewert
“We’ve always said that we’ll look at the season structure in the new cycle once we know the number of teams and obviously now a lot of those pieces of the puzzle have started to fall into place,” NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said this week.
“It’s too early to know what not just the premiership, but State of Origin, the pre-season and growing international schedule look like, but locking in the Perth Bears secures an attractive market for us.
“2.3 million people live in Perth with the highest GDP per capita in Australia and a great time zone where daytime football there comes into primetime, nighttime viewing here [on the eastern seaboard].”
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has been typically bullish about rugby league’s bargaining position with negotiations imminent and rightly so.
A $3 billion TV rights deal was floated in a Courier Mail interview with the ARL chairman two weeks ago, who proclaimed “this will be a record deal”.
The current deals that are due to expire in 2027 are said to be worth around $1.7 billion once New Zealand broadcast rights are included, which were negotiated with COVID-19 discounts five years ago.
Rugby league has been trending upwards ever since and is now flying.
The same can’t be said of traditional media companies though given a softening advertising market and shift from free-to-air/traditional broadcasts to streaming services.
Foxtel’s new owner DAZN adds a host of new variables given scrutiny on the streaming platform’s financial sustainability and the sheer unknowns of how the ‘Netflix of sport’ will approach upcoming talks
As has been the case for numerous negotiations, the rise of streaming services like regular old Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ and their potential buy-in to the game have been talked up.
The legitimacy of any interest there and from Channel Seven - who are locked into the AFL’s $4.5 billion until the end of 2031 - remains to be seen.
So too, the prospect of splitting individual assets like State of Origin and selling to the highest bidder as the NFL does with Monday and Thursday night football.
And then there’s the argument of less is more. Feedback from players to the RLPA has been overwhelming in terms of the NFL’s shortened campaigns.
“Players love playing, let me be clear, but the majority of players are [thinking] a number like 22 games per year is a strong starting point,” RLPA boss Clint Newton said.
“Impacts that we’ve had raised, and then surveyed as well, are along the lines of you would increase the quality of games, the longevity of careers, you would have more star players playing more games, all sorts of positive impact.
“We’ve had commitments from the NRL, certainly not to be involved in negotiations with the broadcasters, but to consult and offer the players’ perspective on the schedule that goes hand-in-hand with the game and the broadcasters maximising their returns.
“We’re fully supportive of the approach the NRL is taking because we’ve got a great product that’s growing in terms of men’s, women’s and international competitions.”
Women’s Origin has been a rugby league success story in recent years.
Women’s Origin has been a rugby league success story in recent years.Credit: Getty Images
The RLPA has also raised the prospect of added travel for players with Perth and PNG in play as yet another scheduling hurdle.
Numerous stake-holders have cautioned just how critical the pathways set-ups are to finding another 70-odd NRL players and sustainably bringing players into the most brutal collision-based competition in the world.
Concerns rightly exist for the quality of a contest if new players aren’t up to scratch. Newton points out “there is a risk of churning through young players too if the game’s pathways aren’t properly funded and resourced.”
Abdo reiterates that the Bears - who have appointed Channel Seven news director Anthony de Ceglie as chief-executive and are interviewing coaches Brad Arthur and Mal Meninga - won’t be getting any salary cap leg-up. Or access to off-contract players before November 1.
“The feedback from our existing clubs, which we completely respect, is that it needs to be an even playing field,” Abdo said.
As the NRL settles in to break bread with broadcasters old and potentially new, a similar balancing act looms.
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