Nine, Foxtel win NRL rights in massive Australian sport media deal

Nine and Foxtel are on the cusp of a multibillion-dollar agreement to keep airing the NRL in what could be the most expensive rights deal for an Australian sporting code in history.

The pending deal, which is set to run until 2034, could make the sport more valuable than the AFL, a longstanding goal of the Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys.

Sources familiar with the matter said the seven-year $5 billion deal had not been signed yet, but comprised $150 million annually from Nine, for the free-to-air TV rights, with Foxtel paying $520 million annually for the pay TV component.

While the deal is yet to be signed and it is unclear how much of the headline figure will be made up of free advertising, the pact stands to amount to about $700 million a year, including the rights to broadcast the game in New Zealand.

That would eclipse the AFL’s record $4.5 billion deal over seven years, which the rival sport signed in 2022 and which runs from 2025 to 2031, despite mainstream media companies coming under increasing cost pressures in the years since. Live sport remains one of the few areas where traditional broadcasters can distinguish themselves with advertisers from online rivals such as YouTube or TikTok.

Nine, the owner of this masthead, Foxtel, and the NRL declined to comment.

The deal will also retain the long-time status quo in NRL coverage despite separate bids from Nine and Foxtel for all games and interest from Amazon Prime Video in securing up to two matches a week.

It is expected that Nine will continue to show the State of Origin series and NRL grand final exclusively under the new deal, which will begin in 2028, when the competition will have expanded from 17 to 19 teams.

Late-stage negotiations for the deal came during a busy week for Nine, which was simultaneously in exit talks with one of its biggest personalities, Karl Stefanovic.

Nine currently broadcasts three NRL games a week while Foxtel puts to air every match of the round, including keeping five of them to itself.

There will be an additional match per round in the competition from next year when the Perth Bears become the 18th team, while the Australian-government-backed PNG Chiefs will join the NRL in 2028.

A 20th franchise, most likely to be based in Christchurch or in the south-west corridor of Brisbane, could also be added to the league during the next rights cycle, bringing the number of games per round to 10.

The ARL Commission, which governs the NRL, is due to meet next Wednesday, by which time a deal could be finalised.

It would then be put to the NRL clubs’ consultation committee – made up of South Sydney chairman Nick Pappas, North Queensland Cowboys boss Lewis Ramsay and Manly owner Scott Penn – before being announced.

Attention is then set to turn to V’landys’ future role. He will become interim NRL chief executive from July 15, when Andrew Abdo departs to succeed Craig Tiley as Tennis Australia chief, but has left open the possibility of becoming an all-powerful full-time executive chairman.

The increase in the price for the NRL’s broadcast rights, from the current five-year $2 billion deal V’landys agreed with Foxtel and Nine in 2021, is shaping up as a win for the code, which has achieved record viewership and embarked on new projects such as starting the season in Las Vegas.

The NRL benefited from competitive tension in the market, with Nine pitching to take the streaming rights on Stan as well as the free-to-air coverage.

Foxtel, now owned by global sports streaming company DAZN, was determined not to lose the NRL, which is crucial to attracting subscribers to its streaming service Kayo Sports.