NRL supremo Peter V’landys has sent a warning to Super League club owners but hinted that a deal between the two competitions is closer than ever.
V’landys, who is head of the Australian Rugby League Commission, has helped transform the NRL to the point where it’s recent financial report revealed that profit last year climbed to $64.8 million with revenue amassing almost $850 million.
It’s a stark contrast to Super League and the game in England where two Championship clubs have gone bust this season and V’landys has now sent a message to club owners, explaining that he can help give them a return on their investment if they would just cede control..
Reports of NRL investment in Super League have rumbled for some time but V’landys, speaking to Sky Sports, has confirmed that it’s more of a reality than it was last year.
Confirming that NRL clubs see the ‘big picture’ and are ‘very supportive’ of investing in Super League, V’landys revealed: “We’re in a better position now than we were when we met with the Super League clubs and Nigel Wood last year. We’ll have more discussions in the next few weeks.”
Asked if anything concrete could happen, he responded: “Absolutely. There are a few little variables which we need to get right, which I can’t go into because they’re commercially sensitive, but if we get those right, I think we could be in a position that Super League would be happy with.”
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Super League investment only comes if NRL have control
With the NRL overseeing games in Las Vegas, a possible global round and the addition of two new clubs in Perth Bears and PNG Chiefs, V’landys was asked where Super League investment sat among his busy schedule.
On that, he was unequivocal: “It’s a priority. Super League investment has been on the table and has continued to be on the table. We want to see a vibrant, healthy game in England and for us it’s also a good investment.”
He then turned to the harsh reality that some in Super League won’t want to hear and that is that they would have to cede control with V’landys comparing it to shareholders in a company.
“If we put the investment in, then we need to control it independently. They’ll certainly be consulted but the model will never work if it’s a self-interest model and some of those clubs will have to relinquish control.
“It’s like shareholders in a company. If you’re a shareholder, you don’t operate the company – you trust a board of directors to run a company, to maximise the revenues and then maximise the dividends back to you.
“That’s the model we want – we want to be able to run the company and maximise their returns.”
Doubling down on that, he said: “If you have participant groups or the people involved in the game running the game, then self-interest will take over and you’ll never get the decisions you need to make.
“You need to make the decisions for the game as a whole, that’s the most important thing.”
Peter V’landys sends message to Super League owners
It would be understandable that some Super League club owners would not be receptive to ceding control particularly given the fact that they often subsidise their clubs to the tune of millions of pounds.
Peter V’landys has now told those owners that he can stop them investing and losing money, admitting that it would need some give and take.
He explained: “What I’d say to them is that I can stop you putting money in, I can make your investment a lot better but you’re going to have to give up control because it’s not working.
“At the end of the day, look at the model and tell me it it’s working. Look at the NRL in comparison, which is completely independent, and tell me it’s working. It’s chalk and cheese.”
V’landys added: “What I want to do for the Super League club owners is that I want to give them a return on investment, rather then them continuing to bleed losses but in order for them to do that, they have to have faith in us and faith in an independent model.
“They can put a time period or a sunset clause in there, but I can tell you I’m very confident that they’ll be much better financially than they are now.”
He also rubbished any talk of Super League becoming a feeder league, stating that if anything teams could become more like brothers and sisters and work together.
