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AFL will earn more, but NRL TV revenue to lift

Roar Guru
20th April, 2010
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Roar Guru
20th April, 2010
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5883 Reads

In life there are some certainties: birth, taxes, death, and that the AFL will get more TV rights money than the NRL. It’s a fact that I hope one day will change.

But as the next media rights for all the codes are the most important in their histories, we have to be ready to be beaten once again.

In comparing the AFL and the NRL, both codes are so similar – with the majority of ratings coming from the heartlands – but the AFL has the better deal in which games involving the Swans or Lions and some big games are shown live.

The NRL and its fans around the country are incredibly envious of it.

Comparing the first couple of rounds, the AFL wins the battle with a average combined TV audience of 3.542 million compared to the NRL’s 2.668 million.

Now, is it just me, or does the NRL do pretty well when free to air games only go to two cities, whereas each of the major capital cities get at least free to air games live or next to live each week.

Going from the average weekly ratings, the NRL is about 25% below that of the AFL, so with the AFL going to the magical $1 billion mark, it’s not unrealistic for the NRL to go for $750 million.

The NRL has more power than they’ve ever had before coming into the next round of TV media rights. Will they get
as much as the AFL?

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The answer is no.

But with probable expansion plans to the Central Coast, and hopefully Perth, the bargaining power gets a little more viable for the NRL.

It all makes for very a exciting negotiating processes.

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