They may not be a broadcaster themselves, but retail giant Harvey Norman is shaping as a wildcard factor in who lands the next NRL broadcast rights deal according to reports in the Australian Financial Review.

As one of the game’s longest-standing corporate sponsors, Harvey Norman injects millions into NRL and broadcaster coffers every season via significant advertising, naming rights and in-game sponsorship arrangements across the men’s and women’s competitions.

Keeping them happy is therefore rather important for Peter V’landys and the ARLC which potentially throws a major spanner in the works for one of the main broadcast deal bidders, Amazon.

According to the AFR negotiations are in the advanced stages with Foxtel/Dazn, Nine and Amazon’s Prime Video platform all firmly in the mix as the ARLC looks to lock in a new multi-billion-dollar rights deal from the 2028 season.

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It raises the potential for an highly awkward decision given Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey has long been a vocal critic of Amazon.

The 86-year-old business icon once famously labelled the e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos as a ‘parasite’ that contributes nothing to society, so it’s hard to imagine he’d be thrilled about pumping millions of advertising dollars into the US company’s coffers should their bid successful.

Asked about the prospect of NRL being streamed on Prime Video from 2028, Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page made her company’s position crystal clear.

“We are happy with the status quo,” she told the AFR.

Harvey Norman is also a major advertiser with Nine Entertainment across its television network and various mastheads, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review.

Beyond rugby league, Gerry Harvey and Peter V’landys also enjoy professional links through the Australian horse racing industry where they have both been key figures for many decades.

It’s understood the ARLC hopes to announce its new broadcast rights deal before the departure of NRL CEO Andrew Abdo on July 15.