{"id":450779,"date":"2026-02-28T19:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T19:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450779\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T19:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T19:20:10","slug":"nrl-deal-with-super-league-a-priority-but-warnings-made-to-club-owners-over-self-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450779\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL deal with Super League a \u2018priority\u2019 but warnings made to club owners over \u2018self-interest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

NRL supremo Peter V\u2019landys has sent a warning to Super League club owners but hinted that a deal between the two competitions is closer than ever.<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys, who is head of the Australian Rugby League Commission, has helped transform the NRL to the point where it\u2019s recent financial report revealed that profit last year climbed to $64.8 million with revenue amassing almost $850 million.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a stark contrast to Super League and the game in England where two Championship clubs have gone bust this season and V\u2019landys 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..<\/p>\n

Reports of NRL investment in Super League<\/a> have rumbled for some time but V\u2019landys, speaking to Sky Sports,<\/a> has confirmed that it\u2019s more of a reality than it was last year.<\/p>\n

Confirming that NRL clubs see the \u2018big picture\u2019 and are \u2018very supportive\u2019 of investing in Super League, V\u2019landys revealed: \u201cWe\u2019re in a better position now than we were when we met with the Super League clubs and Nigel Wood last year. We\u2019ll have more discussions in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if anything concrete could happen, he responded: \u201cAbsolutely. There are a few little variables which we need to get right, which I can\u2019t go into because they\u2019re commercially sensitive, but if we get those right, I think we could be in a position that Super League would be happy with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Super League investment only comes if NRL have control<\/p>\n

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\u2019landys was asked where Super League investment sat among his busy schedule.<\/p>\n

On that, he was unequivocal: \u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s also a good investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then turned to the harsh reality that some in Super League won\u2019t want to hear and that is that they would have to cede control with V\u2019landys comparing it to shareholders in a company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we put the investment in, then we need to control it independently. They\u2019ll certainly be consulted but the model will never work if it\u2019s a self-interest model and some of those clubs will have to relinquish control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like shareholders in a company. If you\u2019re a shareholder, you don\u2019t operate the company \u2013 you trust a board of directors to run a company, to maximise the revenues and then maximise the dividends back to you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the model we want \u2013 we want to be able to run the company and maximise their returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doubling down on that, he said: \u201cIf you have participant groups or the people involved in the game running the game, then self-interest will take over and you\u2019ll never get the decisions you need to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to make the decisions for the game as a whole, that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter V\u2019landys sends message to Super League owners<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Peter V\u2019landys has now told those owners that he can stop them investing and losing money, admitting that it would need some give and take.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cWhat I\u2019d say to them is that I can stop you putting money in, I can make your investment a lot better but you\u2019re going to have to give up control because it\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, look at the model and tell me it it\u2019s working. Look at the NRL in comparison, which is completely independent, and tell me it\u2019s working. It\u2019s chalk and cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys added: \u201cWhat 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can put a time period or a sunset clause in there, but I can tell you I\u2019m very confident that they\u2019ll be much better financially than they are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NRL supremo Peter V\u2019landys has sent a warning to Super League club owners but hinted that a deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-450779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}