The NRL has flexed its appreciable monetary muscle forward of a historic opening spherical in Las Vegas revealing income topped $700 million for the primary time in 2023 amid the best inflow of money in rugby league’s 116-year historical past.
As gamers headed to the US the newest figures revealed on the annual common assembly on Wednesday morning paint a glowing image of the work accomplished by ARLC chief Peter V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo within the combat to be Australia’s No.1 sport.
Among the extraordinary outcomes, the NRL’s whole income reached a report $701.1 million, up greater than $100m on the earlier yr with the league recording a $58m revenue and an enormous enhance in belongings after the current buy of two accommodations.
“(The figures) have enabled us to now be in the best financial position the game has ever been in, with net assets of $260 million,” V’landys stated on Wednesday.
“And that’s very important, because during COVID we were three-to-four months from being insolvent.
“That means that we wouldn’t be able to pay our bills, if we hadn’t started on May 28 (2020), and the game would not be in the position it’s in.
Other figures included in the revelations were:
* The NRL now boasts net assets in excess of $260 million, not including recent acquisitions the 81-room Mercure Sunshine Coast Kawana Waters hotel and Quest Hotel at Woolooware Bay.
* The NRL delivered record distributions of $447 million to stakeholders, with players receiving a record $216.3m.
* Rugby league is now Australia’s most-watched sport with total viewership of 171.8 million, up 14 per cent from 150.6m in 2022.
While the players received a big piece of the financial pie, the 17 NRL clubs also received $98.2 million, a 33 per cent increase with investment in participation and pathways rose up to $82.8m last season.
The NRL has also now got a strong claim to be the most viewed TV sport in Australia with a cumulative viewership of 93.2 million, up 2.4 per cent from the previous year, compared to the AFL’s 91 million total viewers. The figures were derived from 213 NRL matches and 216 AFL games.
It’s a significant statement which comes in stark contrast to Rugby Australia needing an $80 million loan to keep rugby union afloat, and after the NRL was close to insolvency during the Covid shutdown in 2020.
“When I first got on the commission, we were looking at two clubs actually going broke,” V’landys stated.
“We believe that the funding they were getting was inequitable.
“I’m happy to say now that every club is in the best financial position they’ve been. And that’s because we have given them distributions on top of $98.2 million.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
