The newly appointed Australian Rugby League Commission is well placed to immediately start official negotiations of the upcoming broadcast rights deal.
While the new board only officially started running the game today, the process of talking to key stakeholders is already well and truly underway.
Inaugural chairman John Grant told NRL.com in an exclusive interview that the commissioners had been meeting twice a month and were already well prepared to tackle the highly publicised issue.
“The commissioners have been well briefed on the aspects of the broadcast rights,” Grant told NRL.com.
“The team within the NRL already has a huge understanding and a demonstration of the way we can start to reconfigure the aspects of the game that are going to play to the broadcasters' value.
“What we want is broadcasters who pay the right amount of money that we think is fair for the rights and we want to work with them to make sure they get the return they want.”
While understandably reluctant to reveal too many details about the process, Grant said the end result of the negotiations is guaranteed to make rugby league fans the real winners.
“You can expect more opportunities for live-to-air and there will certainly be more opportunities in the end product for a different level and style of engagement by the fans,” he said.
“I think we have a lot of tools at our disposal to make the game a lot more valuable to the broadcasters.
“It is a long process that needs to be finished by the end of the financial period for the league. It is a conversation between parties, one who has some wonderful content to offer, and multiple parties that want that content.”
