Christmas might be still almost two months away, but it's set to come early for the NRL's over 300 players.
While players were hit with a pay decrease during 2020 as the game grappled with COVID and a three-month long shutdown for the first time, there will be no such measures taken by the competition this time around.
Instead, a tightening of expenses by head office has led to an overall profit at the end of the year, despite a competition relocation to Queensland to keep it going which cost in the vicinity of $40 million.
Still, the cost of not playing the remaining rounds and finals series would have been far greater to the competition, despite the obvious strain it put on players as they lived out of a suitcase for months and were unable to live at home.
Despite the $40 million cost, the Sydney Morning Herald report the NRL turned a $50 million profit for the financial year.
That has already reportedly meant money is being plunged back into the clubs - likely around $1 million per team depending on how many home games were lost.
But the NRL has no plans to bank any of the money, instead, spending a large chunk of the remainder on increasing player salaries following the decrease of 2020.
The original six per cent pay decrease came with lowered representative payments, injury hardship funds and retirement accounts.
However, the NRL and Rugby League Players Association have agreed the players will share in the increased revenue, although to what extent it is not yet clear.
The game was on the brink of financial collapse in 2020 before players agreed to the pay cut.
According to The Herald the RLPA told players that not only has the game had increase profits, but has a better than forecast outlook for 2022 and are currently discussing with the NRL just how much the players will receive as a share of original revenues, as agreed upon under the collective bargaining agreement.
