NRL set to surpass AFL with record breaking TV rights deal

After several months of talks, the NRL is now on the verge of announcing its next TV rights deal.

With the existing contract expiring at the end of 2027, discussions between the ARLC and interested parties are nearing their end.

Those parties include existing broadcast partners in Nine and Foxtel (owned by DAZN), who have both expressed interest in being the exclusive broadcast partner with Foxtel willing to work with Channel 7 and/or Channel 10 instead to help satisfy anti-siphoning laws.

Amazon, through its streaming service Amazon Prime have also expressed interest in broadcasting up to two NRL games per week, creating plenty of competition within the market.

With that competition, Peter V’Landys has been vocal in wanting the NRL’s next TV rights deal to surpass the AFL’s, which was worth $4.5 billion over seven years ($643 million per year).

And according to News Corp’s Peter Badel, the competition’s interim executive chairman is set to get his wish.

“I'm hearing this deal will be done in the next week or two,” Badel told SEN’s Morning Glory with Matty Johns.

“The ARL Commission have a scheduled board meeting for July 1.

“I'm told that there may be an emergency meeting called even before then to ratify this and rubber-stamp this TV rights deal. So, this is huge news.

“It could be done in the next 10 days or so, and I know we're saying it will be a record deal. That's obvious given the last deal (worth $400 million per season).

“But I'm told it could even be bigger than the AFL's deal. The AFL's deal at the moment is $4.5 billion over seven years, so $643 million a season.

“I believe the NRL's deal will surpass that.

“I wouldn't be surprised if we see something in the vicinity of $650 to $700 million a year, which would be an enormous result for rugby league and just rams home how good Peter V’Landys and Andrew Abdo are in their leadership of the NRL.”

And there is now a growing possibility that Nine could lose the rights for the first time since 1992.

"I think there's an absolute scenario where we see Fox, for example, who are now owned by DAZN, but I wouldn't be surprised if they get the rights wholly and solely, and then it becomes a distribution issue to the free-to-air networks under anti-siphoning laws," he added.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the masterstroke here from Peter V'Landys has been to say, we don't want Nine and Fox colluding to try and get the best deal, we want them competing with genuine offers, and that means that the likes of Channel 7 and Channel 10 come into the picture.

"So there is a scenario where Nine could lose the rights completely, and Fox then sell off games to Channel 7 and Channel 10."