NRL inks multi-billion dollar broadcast rights deal with Nine, Foxtel
Nine and Foxtel will today announce a multibillion-dollar deal to continue broadcasting the NRL, the most expensive rights deal in history for the Australian sporting code.
The deal, which is set to run until 2034, makes the sport more valuable than the AFL, a long-standing goal of Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys.
This masthead previously reported He said the NRL had agreed to a seven-year, $5 billion deal with its existing broadcast partners, with Nine paying $150 million a year for free-to-air TV rights and Foxtel paying $520 million a year for the pay-TV component.
This dwarfs the AFL’s record $4.5 billion over seven years deal, which the rival sport signed in 2022 and will run from 2025 to 2031, although mainstream media companies have since faced increasing cost pressure.
Kishor Napier-Raman is senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He previously worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliament press gallery.Connect with: X or email.
Chris Barrett is senior sports correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Southeast Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age newspapers.Connect with: X or email.
