National Rugby League (NRL)
State of Origin opener draws 1.8m viewers to Nine
The opening match of this year’s State of Origin rugby league representative series drew 1.8
Papua New Guinea launches NRL expansion bid
Papua New Guinea has launched a bid to form a National Rugby League franchise
NRL explores pre-season match in US
Australia's National Rugby League is looking at running a pre-season match in the US, and could exploit its links to Hollywood to get the plan moving, according to media reports
Discovery secures free-to-air rugby league rights in deal with Sky NZ
Pay-television operator Sky New Zealand has announced a deal with media company Discovery that will see three rugby league matches televised on Discovery’s free-to-air channel Three and streaming service T…
AFL reveals NFT plans as Australian sports CEOs embrace digital token opportunity
Australian Football League chief executive Gillon McLachlan unveiled plans to exploit the burgeoning NFT space, speaking at the SportNXT conference in Melbourne today
NRLW to expand to 10 teams as part of major NRL investment in women’s league
The National Rugby League Women’s Premiership (NRLW) is to expand to eight teams in 2023 and 10 teams from 2024 as part of a major investment in women’s rugby league, the NRL has announced.
NZ Warriors allowed to extend Vodafone deal; NRL attracts record audience on Foxtel
The National Rugby League has granted permission for the New Zealand Warriors to extend their principal sponsorship deal with telco Vodafone following a long-running dispute between the franchise and the…
Riding the Storm: How Melbourne’s NRL team is bouncing back after the pandemic
The CEO of the NRL's Melbourne Storm talks commercial innovation, matchday experience, pandemic recovery, and more.
Sport1 bags three-season NRL deal
German pay-television sports broadcaster Sport1 has acquired platform-neutral rights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to show Australia’s National Rugby League from 2022 to 2024.
NRL posts A$43.1m surplus as bubble pays off
Australia's National Rugby League recorded a surplus of A$43.1m ($31.2m/€27.8m) last season, owing to an increase in media rights revenue, sponsorship revenue and major game receipts.
Swyftx deal marks NRL’s first cryptocurrency exchange sponsorship
Australia’s National Rugby League has signed cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx as its exclusive cryptocurrency exchange sponsor in a three-year deal, from 2022 to 2024, with a further two-year option until t…
Nine ‘close to NRL renewal’
Australian broadcaster Nine Entertainment is close to extending its biggest sports media rights property, free-to-air rights for the National Rugby League, according to local media
NRL reduces crowd for Brisbane’s Grand Final, postponement a possibility
The National Rugby League has today (Thursday) been forced into scaling back capacity for Sunday’s Grand Final at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium by 25 per cent due to a Covid-19 outbreak in Queensland, and…
Brisbane to stage NRL Grand Final for the first time
Brisbane will host the National Rugby League’s Premiership Grand Final for the first time after this year’s game was moved from Sydney due to escalating Covid-19 cases in the city.
Australian free-to-air broadcasters ‘prepare to challenge’ Nine for NRL
All three of the main Australian television networks are expected to be allowed to bid for free-to-air rights to the National Rugby League, with the Australian Rugby League Commission said to be looking…
Streaming launches stir Australian rights market, but deeper challenges limit rights-holder upside
Kevin McCullagh looks at the competition for media rights in Australia, after an outbreak of 'streaming wars' in Australia has injected life into a sports media rights market.
Organisers take ‘very difficult decision’ to postpone RLWC to 2022
This year's Rugby League World Cup in England has been postponed to 2022, following the earlier withdrawal of the Australia and New Zealand teams
RLWC2021 dealt blow as NRL backs Australia and New Zealand withdrawal
The Rugby League World Cup 2021 was dealt another blow after the 16 clubs in the Australian National Rugby League backed the withdrawal of Australia and New Zealand from the event