ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys has slammed the AFL after it reportedly told stakeholders that the NRL sacrificed up to $300 million in its revised TV rights deal.
Speaking to The Herald Sun, V’landys described the claim as “fictional” and accused the AFL of releasing “completely false” figures when announcing its new TV deal.
“It’s not correct. It’s laughable. I’m disappointed that they feel they need to make up figures,” V’landys said.
“Nobody knows our figures because we’ve kept them commercially in-confidence.
“But looking at their figures, if they have given up $150 million, we have done substantially better than them.
“For them to go out and say such fiction without knowing is a concern about them more so than us.
“I don’t know where they are getting their fictional figures from because they are not accurate. They are completely false.”
“And if they knew the real figures, they’d be stopping the comparisons very quickly, because it doesn’t help them. I think they have had a dose of reality.”
The AFL extended its partnership with Channel Seven for a further two years but failed to agree a renewal with Foxtel.
Foxtel and the NRL signed a broadcast deal that will run through until the end of 2027.