The NRL is in the midst of ongoing negotiations over the next era of NRL broadcasting rights from 2028 onwards, with Foxtel bringing to the table a $4 billion mega-deal that may blow its competition out of the water.
According to fresh reports from The Australian Financial Review, Foxtel has offered to purchase the TV rights of the NRL on a seven-year deal, including an intricate split of matches over two channels.
The NRL's current deal sees Nine and Foxtel share the rights, with State of Origin, NRLW and the Grand Final being held with Nine, and the latter held on a pay-to-air subscription, expiring at the end of next year.
Although this new mega-deal from Foxtel would see them purchase the entirety of the NRL, and sub-license to Southern Cross Media, who owns Seven Network, and Paramount, who owns Network Ten.
ARL Chairman Peter V'landys has made it known that he would like a deal to exceed four billion to compete with the rival code AFL, who recently signed off on a deal in a similar ballpark.
It is understood that Seven would take care of Sunday and Monday matches accompanied by the State of Origin series, while Ten would hold Thursday and Friday nights' NRL action.
Foxtel, along with Kayo Sports, will hold the streaming rights if the deal were to be agreed to by V'landys and the NRL.
The publication also revealed that Nine is interested in purchasing the entirety of the NRL rights to cut Foxtel out of the equation and boost its streaming platform Stan. It would mean Foxtel would step away after 30 years of service if the deal were to transpire.
One of the biggest challenges Foxtel faces is that certain sports, such as the Olympic Games, NRL, AFL, major cricket matches, the FIFA World Cup and the Australian Open tennis tournament, need to be made for public consumption and not hidden behind paywalls.
This is due to Australia's anti-siphoning laws, which are in place to keep sports open to the general public and are deemed essential to free-to-air viewership.
It is unknown at this stage who is the frontrunner for the rights deal for 2028, although reports from the Code Sports reveal that broadcast industry experts believe that Nine's ambition to keep the English Premier League rights in a $600 million deal may hurt their chances of having a good swing at the NRL.
Broadcast expert Colin Smith, who has advised major sporting codes for over 20 years on contract negotiations, believes they may face a tough uphill battle to juggle both.
“What they've done is bet the farm and say, ‘Let's bank EPL and then let's have a battle for the NRL afterwards', it's really pushing their balance sheet,” Smith told Code Sports.
“When you think about $600 million for EPL and then potentially a $4 billion for the NRL, that is very significant. And the capital structure of Nine, that's a real challenge.
“The market cap of Nine is about $1.7 billion, and we're now talking about bidding on assets that are around $4.6 billion.
“It is very significant and they'll be paying for all of this, and they probably won't get it back in growth in subscribers.
“But the issue for them, for Stan Sport, they've got to have sustainable sport that is popular and if they don't have EPL and NRL, then that's a real problem for them.”
Following NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo stepping down from his role in July, he and V'landys have narrowed their focus on getting a deal done before his departure.
