Yahoo Finance NRL says clubs financially secure despite Covid pandemic losses
The Australian Rugby League Commission recorded a deficit of $24.7m following the Covid-disrupted 2020 season, but Peter V’landys claims NRL clubs and all state leagues have emerged from the pandemic financially secure.
V’landys, who was re-elected as ARLC chairman at its AGM on Friday, said the game “finished the financial year in much stronger shape than first predicted”, despite the impact of the pandemic.
The “modest” $24.7m loss excludes net revenues from the State of Origin series, which was delayed until after the season had been completed and fell outside of the 2020 financial year.
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Had the three-game origin series been played midway through the season as it usually is, the ARLC would have been far closer to breaking even, with a deficit of just $3.7m.
The result comes after the NRL enforced drastic cost-cutting measures in response to the impact of Covid, including cutting a quarter of its staff across all roles in September.
Operating expenses were also drastically reduced – by 32% on the previous year – despite a significant increase in competition expenses due to new Covid protocols.
The NRL also increased net payments for clubs by 300% to give them the financial support needed to stay viable and in a secure position for the future.
“This is in stark contrast to other sports which either reduced funding to their clubs or maintained the same level of funding in their clubs’ time of need, given the disastrous impact of Covid-19 on their other sources of revenue,” V’landys said.
At the same time, the NRL’s revenue saw a 25% dip of $130m due to the reduction in the number of games played during the 2020 season, reduced crowds – including a period when no fans at all were allowed – and the knock-on impact of that on broadcasts, commercial and game-day revenues.
But that was offset after the league negotiated a massive new broadcast deal with existing partners Nine Entertainment Co and Foxtel in May. Financial details were not revealed, but the multi-year deal was reportedly worth close to $2bn.
The bullish approach employed by the NRL in getting the league back up and running after it was suspended at the beginning of the pandemic in March was also credited with staving off what V’landys termed an impending “financial catastrophe”.
“What I’m most pleased about is that these results were achieved while ensuring the financial security of all stakeholders,” V’landys said. “The commission made it a priority to make sure all clubs were provided with additional funding to ensure they survived the pandemic.”
The new NRL season kicks off on 11 March, with hopes that it can be played out without the disruption that blighted last year’s competition.
