New anti-siphoning laws will allow the National Rugby League to shake its tail feathers at heavyweight streaming titans like Netflix and Amazon as the battle for the code’s 2027 broadcast deal begins early.
As the NRL balloons from 17 teams to 20, rugby league’s bosses have begun plotting how to take the game globally through the biggest streaming platforms in the world.
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It’s perfect timing for the NRL too, with the federal government’s newly updated anti-siphoning laws now giving free-to-play broadcasters first rights for the NRL and State of Origin, but only for coverage delivered by aerial. This means digital platforms—which continue to overtake aerial faster and faster—now shape as very ripe battlefields.
The NRL wants to take immediate advantage by getting into bed with tech giants.
The game comes armed with several good selling points too, not least the mega 3.65 million viewership just raked in by the 2024 State of Origin decider last Wednesday. It clocked in just behind the Matildas’ World Cup semi-final when they lost to England.
The fact that a 20-team expansion means the Australian and New Zealand competition would have two more matches a weekend to spruik is going to help quite a bit; there may even be some spread across several hosts.
Whatever the offer, the NRL will have things rubber-stamped by October.
First cab off the rank will be sitting down with Amazon, with the Prime Video heavyweight an easy target considering it already waded into Australian sports with an $80 million deal to broadcast all cricket tournaments between 2024 and 2027. That includes both the illustrious World Cups and the Test World Championship.
Colin Smith, the principal of sports advisory firm Global Media and Sports, said he believes they could be interested, before adding nothing’s set in stone. “With the NRL they could say, ‘We want those NRL rights into England as well’—that could be of interest,” he said.
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Not everyone is so convinced though, with Jon Marquard, who runs TV rights consultancy Janez Media, also telling the Sydney Morning Herald the NRL “doesn’t have wide-ranging appeal.”
