How to resolve AdBlock issue? NRL broadcast deal recasts free-to-air TV, live streaming and gambling relationships -- Monash Uni analyst
THE NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE (NRL) competition recently announced a new broadcast rights deal worth $5.3 billion over seven years, the largest ever for an Australian sporting code.
The new deal with Nine and Foxtel Group, which starts after the 2027 NRL season, is also a transitional indicator for the future of Australian sports broadcasting and its relationship to sports gambling, according to Monash University professor Brett Hutchins from the School of Media, Film and Journalism.
The previous highest broadcasting rights deal has surpassed the Australian Football League's (AFL) $4.5 billion broadcast deal struck in 2022.
“The significance of this deal is the way it recasts the relationship between free-to-air television and live streaming, and further embeds betting services and gambling advertising at the core of our football codes,” Prof. Hutchins said of the agreement, announced by the NRL in July.
“Live steaming is now the major revenue stream source for the game and fast becoming the primary way for fans to consume the sport.
“The less restrictive conditions around gambling advertising during live streamed sport mean that the NRL’s reliance on gambling revenue is only set to grow, which is consistent with the fact that the chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission, Peter V’Landys, is also the chief executive of Racing NSW,” Prof. Hutchins said.
“The open question is the cost to fans and followers as games continue to migrate behind the paywalls of streaming providers.”
ends