The NRL will reportedly seek compensation after Foxtel’s AFL deal hit the billion-dollar mark.
Although the NRL inked a seven-year deal with Foxtel and Nine, rumours are rumbling that the NRL could still strike.
SMH had reported that there are rumours that when the NRL made a rights deal with Foxtel at the beginning of the pandemic, it included a clause known as “most-favoured”.
Basically, the clause would prohibit Foxtel from giving the AFL a better deal without offering the NRL compensation. But, that is a pretty big clause for NRL to have in its back pocket, but it seems too good to be true.
There are conflicting rumours, but B&T’s money would be on the reports that while Foxtel ultimately didn’t agree to a “most-favoured” clause, it did agree to potentially talk money again if the AFL’s deal was crazily lucrative, and there’s no denying it was crazily lucrative.
Reportedly Foxtel’s deal is worth around $200 million a season for NRL, in comparison to AFL’s Foxtel deal is worth around $400 million a season.
Now that NRL has heard about AFL’s deal, it might be negotiating for more. But the bigger question is, does the NRL really have any leverage?
