A new seven-year deal worth $5.3 billion makes the National Rugby League the richest sporting property in Australian history, and it landed within days of a government package meant to squeeze the betting ads that help pay for it. That sequence is the story.
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the gambling measures on a Thursday. Under the plan, betting agencies would be limited to three ads an hour on television. Cross-promotion of gambling during commentary would face restrictions, and in-stadium and jersey advertising would be banned. Mumbrella reported that a rights expert had written off the chance of a record NRL deal after the announcement, while the league’s boss insisted nothing was wrong.
The expert was wrong. On 7 July the NRL confirmed the agreement with Foxtel, Nine and Sky NZ. It starts in 2028, runs seven years, and lifts the cash the league receives each year by 90% compared with the current contract. The Sporting News called it the largest media rights deal an Australian code has ever secured.
What the broadcasters get
Foxtel keeps every NRL and NRLW premiership match, finals included. Nine takes exclusive coverage of the Grand Final and the men’s and women’s State of Origin series, and will simulcast three games a week. Sky NZ will put more than 130 fixtures on its free platforms. The league also wins control of the season structure, scheduling and draws, which will no longer sit with the broadcasters.
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys said the day marked “a defining moment for rugby league”. He added: “We entered these negotiations with a clear objective – secure long-term growth while retaining control of the things that matter most. We have achieved that outcome.”
The ad question
Elizabeth Knight, writing for the Brisbane Times the day before the announcement, framed it as a paradox. A week after the government set out its bill, she noted, Foxtel and Nine were reported to be about to sign a combined deal of around $5.3 billion. Her question was whether the legislation did much to the economics of media companies that feed off betting advertising.
Her answer was largely no. Marquee sport is the programming lifeblood of the networks, she wrote, and gambling advertising is a meaningful part of the revenue, although the networks rarely say how much. Media and gaming companies had lobbied hard to keep as much ad inventory as possible, and as close to the game as possible. They did not win, Knight said, but they came close.
The rules she described were these: no more than three gambling ads an hour on television between 6am and 8pm, and none at all during live sport shown in those hours. On radio, betting ads would be barred at school drop-off and pick-up times. Her reading was that Foxtel’s new owners, DAZN, and Nine concluded the limits do not change the economics enough to break a seven-year commitment.
Why critics are unhappy
Almost nobody else was satisfied. People who compare gambling harm with smoking harm see no reason to stop short of a total ad ban. According to Knight, the Greens, independents, the wider Labor rank-and-file and even the Coalition have pushed back on what they see as a soft touch. She suggested the Prime Minister may be protecting free-to-air networks that have grown too reliant on sport and betting money, and that experts expect him to give some ground and tighten the screws a little just to keep the peace.
The networks have their own pressure. Knight described the escalating fees demanded for top-tier sport such as the NRL and the AFL as an existential challenge for Foxtel and the free-to-air broadcasters, at a time when free-to-air television is struggling. For them, a seven-year lock on the NRL is a bet that the ad limits will bite less than the critics hope.
Sources
- Labor gambling ad reforms won't stop NRL's massive TV rights payday (Brisbane Times, Elizabeth Knight)
- 'Next to no chance': Gambling ad reforms sink chances of a record NRL broadcast deal (Mumbrella, Nathan Jolly)
- ARLC confirms details of $5.3 billion NRL broadcast rights bonanza (Sporting News, Peter Maniaty)
