{"id":246804,"date":"2025-10-28T17:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246804\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T17:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:38:12","slug":"aussie-rugby-league-chief-peter-vlandys-holds-positive-talks-with-english-clubs-as-speculation-mounts-the-nrl-could-buy-a-stake-in-the-super-league-all-options-are-on-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246804\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie rugby league chief Peter V’landys holds positive talks with English clubs as speculation mounts the NRL could buy a stake in the Super League: ‘All options are on the table’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter V\u2019landys has confirmed that Aussie rugby league chiefs held positive meetings with Super League bosses in London on Tuesday, amid speculation that the NRL<\/a> is interested in purchasing a stake in the English league.<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys, the chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC), was unable to comment to this masthead on the intracacies of the discussions, as well as whether the NRL is interested in purchasing a stake in the Super League, but told Daily Mail that \u2018all options were on the table.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a pathway forward, which naturally we\u2019ve got to keep confidential because it\u2019s commercially sensitive,\u2019 V\u2019landys said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Not all of the Super League clubs were there,’ he added. ‘But they will go back to their stakeholders to feed back on the discussion. ‘We\u2019ve got to go back to ours.\u00a0So it\u2019s early days.\u2019<\/p>\n

The <\/a>Sydney<\/a> Morning Herald<\/a> has previously reported that talks over a potential partnership between both organisations had begun earlier this year during the NRL\u2019s season opener in Las Vegas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The outlet adds that the NRL had also opened up discussions to purchase a 33 per cent stake in the Super League, on the basis that it would take administrative control of the league, but any talk over a potential purchase is yet to be confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Australian <\/p>\n

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys (right) has confirmed that positive talks were held on Tuesday between NRL representatives and some Super League clubs (NRL CEO Andrew Abdo, pictured left)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"It <\/p>\n

It comes as speculation has risen in recent months that the NRL could be interested in purchasing a stake in the English competition<\/p>\n

\"Rugby <\/p>\n

Rugby League chiefs met in London on Tuesday after this weekend’s clash between England and Australia at Wembley<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys did state that league bosses, who met in London ahead of this weekend\u2019s second Ashes Test between England and Australia at Everton\u2019s Hill Dickinson Stadium, spoke on ways in which both leagues could grow and market the game better.<\/p>\n

He told Daily Mail that the NRL and English clubs are hoping to help protect the future of the Super League to \u2018ensure that it thrives in England\u2019, that it is financially viable and attracts new fans.<\/p>\n

The meetings come at a time when the Super League has been struggling financially, with multiple clubs around the league alarmingly reporting operating losses for the year ending in October 2024. Powerhouses St Helens recorded a whopping \u00a31,921,533 worth of losses, while Leeds Rhinos posted another huge figure of \u00a31,443,433.<\/p>\n

There are hopes that plans to expand the league in 2026 from a 12-team competition to a 14-club franchise will further aid the league’s endeavours to reach more audiences, with French side Toulouse Olympique XIII and York RLFC set to enter the competition from next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One area the ARLC chairman believes the NRL can help the Super League is with it’s TV exposure,\u00a0noting that the Australian franchise has seen an explosion in viewing figures in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018I believe in rugby league, and rugby league might be the greatest game for all,\u2019 he added. \u2018We\u2019ve just got to market our sides better and market it in England to a greater audience and that\u2019s what the NRL can bring.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve increased our audience from 137million to 230million because we believe in our game and we think we can add some value here and there in that regard.\u2019<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s NRL finals, Australian TV networks reported that the football league had amassed some incredible viewing figures, with an average of 4.46m people in Australia tuning in to watch Reece Walsh\u2019s Brisbane Broncos epic Grand Final comeback against Cameron Munster\u2019s Melbourne Storm.<\/p>\n

\"V'landys <\/p>\n

V’landys (right) stated that the NRL can add some value to the Super League in regard to how it has grown its television viewing audiences in recent years\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"It <\/p>\n

It comes as multiple Super League clubs have reported major losses in the past year, with several clubs, including powerhouses Leeds and St Helens, posting figures of over \u00a31million<\/p>\n

It also comes as the NRL are currently negotiating a brand new television rights deal with US streaming giants, including Netflix, DAZN and Amazon, which could be implemented following the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

But the footy boss added that for the game to grow on a global scale, the NRL needs to have the English league moving forward too.<\/p>\n

\u2018The NRL wants to make rugby league a global game. In order to make it a global game you need England to be striving.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a global strategy for selling rugby league. For us it\u2019s not about making money. It\u2019s about growing the game. We believe in the game.<\/p>\n

\u2018So whatever we do here it\u2019s not going to be at our financial advantage but it is for the betterment of the game.\u2019<\/p>\n

More to follow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter V\u2019landys has confirmed that Aussie rugby league chiefs held positive meetings with Super League bosses in London…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,100,1208,2022,158,760,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-246804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-nrl","14":"tag-rugby","15":"tag-sport","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}