$90 million in the bank as ARL Commission celebrates its billion dollar deal
August 22, 2012
Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer
NRL clubs are expected to receive an immediate $500,000 payment and a salary cap of up to $6 million will be discussed at next Monday's inaugural meeting of the ARLC Council after the new $1 billion television deal delivered an instant $90 million injection to the game.
And in a significant development for the code's future,
the game is finally free of News Ltd's grasp after the media company agreed to relinquish first and last rights of refusal on all media rights until 2027.
As a result, the game is now in the best place it has been since before the outbreak of the Super League war, which drained the ARL of cash reserves totalling more than $20 million.
For the first time since News Ltd launched its raids on the game in 1995, the code will have money in the bank after Channel Nine and Fox Sports agreed to advance payments of $80 million and $10 million respectively that will be paid before the start of next season.
In addition, the Herald understands that
the five-year agreement is frontloaded so that the broadcasters pay more in the earlier seasons than at the end of the deal.
The ARL Commission, whose chairman John Grant proudly declared had delivered on the first major expectation of stakeholders who wanted the game to control its own destiny, has already been working with clubs on future funding models.
However, $8 million will be paid out immediately as part of a deal negotiated late last year when clubs were holding out on signing licencing agreements to play in this season's competition due to concerns about their viability.
A salary cap of $5 million has already been agreed for next year but that is expected to rise to $6 million under a new collective bargaining agreement with the RLPA.
''We are in discussions with the clubs and have been for some considerable time,'' Grant said. ''We have got our first club council meeting on August 27 and the funding issue that was on that agenda is obviously top of mind now. ''We have already started the process working with the Players Association and this will obviously fold into that.''
The five-year deal is valued at $1.025 billion, which comprises $925 million in cash and $100 million contra in the form of $10 million per year in free advertising from Channel Nine and Fox Sports.
Nine will pay $85 million per year for three free-to-air games per week, State of Origin, Test matches and the NRL finals series, while Fox Sports is paying $100 million for five games per week on pay-TV.
The ARLC is confident the total media rights deal will rival the $1.25 billion that the AFL secured last year after finalising a new broadcast agreement with Sky New Zealand and negotiating online and mobile rights.
''We knew that we came into this role with a huge weight of expectation and at the end of the day we knew we were going to be judged by the broadcast rights and the strategy we put in place for the growth of the game,'' Grant said. ''I am just very comforted that I think we have delivered absolutely on the first expectation that we had.''
Grant declined to confirm that Nine was paying more than Seven and Ten had offered but he said the opportunity for the game to finally put some money in the bank and the willingness of News Ltd, Nine and FOX Sports to relinquish the first and last right of refusal on future deals had weighed significantly in the decision.
''What you can absolutely understand is that we got the best deal for the game - the whole package going all the way through to the relinquishment of rights,'' he said. ''In our view and the commission's view, the more significant rights are the rights that News Ltd had as part of their exit from the game as they had first and last rights over all of our media assets through to 2027. They have agreed as part of this process that it is in their interests and the game's interest for them to relinquish these rights.''
Souths chairman Nicholas Pappas said: ''This is another sign that the commission is fulfilling its charter and everyone's expectations of it.''
What it all means
- The new television broadcasting deal over five years is the richest television agreement in rugby league's history at $1.025billion.
- Between Channel Nine and Fox, $925million will be paid in cash to the NRL with a further $100million worth of advertising on both channels.
- The NRL's existing six-year deal, which expires this year, is worth $500million or $83million a year.
- The new deal is valued at $185million per year, plus advertising to the value of $20million a year. And the networks will make a $90million up-front payment at the start of 2013.
- The AFL's current five-year deal with Channel Seven and Foxtel is worth $1.25billion, $225 million more than the NRL. The AFL has teams in five states across Australia and an extra game every week. However the ARLC is yet to negotiate online rights, which were included in the AFL deal, and New Zealand television rights .
- To really narrow it down, the average match is worth just under $480,000 to the NRL and clubs, with a regular eight-match round valued at around $3.8million.
- The first 20 rounds will be scheduled ahead of the season, with the final six rounds to be scheduled in round 16 for fans to plan their travel.
What it means for the viewer
What hasn't changed
- Little, if anything, has changed from the existing Channel Nine broadcast schedule. Despite having several digital channels, Nine will still only show one live match on Friday nights with the other to be delayed until 9.30pm.
- Despite heavy demand, there will be no free-to-air games on Saturdays.
- Nine's Sunday afternoon game will remain on delay at 4pm.
- Channel Nine will continue to show only one live match of NRL a week.
- State of Origin will remain on Wednesday nights.
- The City-Country, Test stand-alone round will remain.
What's new on Nine
- Not much. The return of the 7.15pm night time grand final.
- Nine will show three Thursday night games and take back the Anzac Day match between the Roosters and Dragons.
- There will be two hours of rugby league every evening on digital Channel 94, plus two hours every Saturday and Sunday.
- Nine will broadcast the Queensland Cup and share Test football with Fox Sports.
On Fox Sports
- Fox Sports will broadcast five live games every week, including 13 new Sunday night games which will be shown at 6.30pm AEST.
- Super Saturday will remain, as will Monday Night Football.
- They will screen three games other than NRL each week which will be shared between Toyota Cup, NSW Cup and Schoolboys Cup.
- Fox will also show all of its matches live on computer and portable devices to Foxsports subscribers.
- Fox will show the Melbourne-Warriors Anzac Day clash each year except for 2014.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...dollar-deal-20120821-24ks4.html#ixzz24CbGFaL5
