{"id":784177,"date":"2026-07-07T05:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784177\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T05:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:56:10","slug":"nrl-broadcast-deal-2026-what-it-means-for-state-of-origin-schedule-grand-final-monday-night-football-kayo-sports-and-foxtel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784177\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL broadcast deal 2026: What it means for State of Origin schedule, grand final, Monday night football, Kayo Sports and Foxtel"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s official. The NRL and NRLW will continue to live on Kayo Sports and Foxtel for at least the next nine seasons after a record deal was announced on Tuesday. <\/a><\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

ARL chairman Peter V\u2019landys, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany all spoke to a large media contingent at NRL house, answering questions on a range of topics. Here are some of the key topics discussed. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

GOING GLOBAL<\/p>\n

According to V\u2019landys, attention now turns to extending the global reach of the NRL.<\/p>\n

The game\u2019s international reach will be expanded with Foxtel\u2019s parent company DAZN taking NRL matches into 200 markets around the world, but V\u2019landys is aiming higher, stating that there\u2019s no reason for the NRL to one day have a team based in Europe or the USA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s the one that is next up. Global Round is very important, you know. We\u2019ve got one chance to globalise the game and now is when we\u2019ve got to do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s to say that in 2050 that there\u2019s not a team in the NRL from Europe. That\u2019s the aim. Why can\u2019t there be one from America? <\/p>\n

\u201cWith changes in transport, changes in technology, the world\u2019s our oyster. So we\u2019ve got to look at all that. If you sit back and do nothing, you\u2019ll perish. If you sit back and embrace technology, embrace AI, embrace everything that\u2019s coming towards you, you\u2019ll be successful. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna make sure that we\u2019re ahead of that game and be a global game. <\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal Round is a goal for next year. That ambition has not changed, and more so now that with the deal that we\u2019ve done with DAZN, it really is in our benefit to grow the game globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

WILL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL RETURN?<\/p>\n

Even with two new teams to join the comp in the next two seasons, there appears to be no immediate plans for Monday Night Football \u2014 although it hasn\u2019t totally been ruled out.<\/p>\n

At this stage, the likelihood is that there will be a Sunday night clash each week to accommodate the nine fixtures rather than one on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t worked out (when to schedule the additional game) because there\u2019s a lot of variables we\u2019ve got to work out, and one of the most important ones is turnaround times for our players,\u201d V\u2019landys said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure the welfare of our players is front of mind. So we want to make sure wherever we place it (the extra game) there is sufficient turnaround time for players. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think Monday night is an option, in my view, at this stage, because of the fact you have that player turnaround, but we\u2019ll work in the next few weeks with both DAZN and Channel 9 to work out when it should be played.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Most viewed sport in Australia’new deal | 01:16<\/p>\n

STATE OF ORIGIN… AND GRAND FINAL<\/p>\n

There has been talk the Origin period could be condensed to a three-week schedule mid-season, or even moved to later in the year. <\/p>\n

No decision has been made on when or how long it\u2019ll be, but according to V\u2019landys, all options are still on the table. <\/p>\n

What is for certain is that for now, Origin games won\u2019t deviate from Wednesdays \u2014 while Fox League will continute to broadcast the event on delay featuring its own commentary team.<\/p>\n

\u201cA (different schedule) it\u2019s not off the table. The only requirement for us is that it\u2019s on a Wednesday night. It could be five weeks apart, one week apart, it could be anywhere in the seasonm\u201d V\u2019Landys said.<\/p>\n

Abdo said the introduction of the Perth Bears next season already meant a change to the draw dynamic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interesting thing is next year fans get to see an 18-team competition which means the distribution of the byes in and around the Origin period changes,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the dynamic around Origin and the premiership will change next year and I think that\u2019s exciting for the players the clubs and the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

V\u2019Landys also confirmed the NRL grand final would continue to remain in its Sunday evening timeslot each year.<\/p>\n

AFL RIVALRY<\/p>\n

Would it be a Peter V\u2019landys press conference without a jab at the NRL\u2019s biggest rivals? <\/p>\n

After announcing the richest broadcast deal in Australian sport, V\u2019landys couldn\u2019t help himself when asked if he was proud that the NRL was the most viewed sport in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know anything called AFL, it\u2019s F-L-A isn\u2019t it? But no, that was never a driving force really I just wanted to maximise our game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

‘FLA?’ PVL takes swipe after record deal | 00:34<\/p>\n

PVL\u2019S FUTURE<\/p>\n

With Abdo moving on to to become the CEO at Tennis Australia on July 15, V\u2019landys will assume the NRL CEO role on an interim basis while a permanent replacement is found. <\/p>\n

V\u2019landys could end up in that position full time, but the administrator has yet to make a call on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be quite candid with you, I have not made up my mind,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201c… Up until (now)my whole and total focus has been on this broadcast deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the cons for me is, I\u2019ve done everything I can in the game …. that crosses my mind naturally.<\/p>\n

\u201c… But I\u2019ll make that decision in two months and a lot can change between now and then, but all I know is it\u2019s going to be very, very hard to replace Andrew Abdo\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official. The NRL and NRLW will continue to live on Kayo Sports and Foxtel for at least…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-784177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784177","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=784177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}