Australia’s National Rugby League is considering a proposal to purchase a 33% stake in England’s Super League competition, it has been reported.
However, the NRL is only willing to consider such investment if it gains “complete administrative control” of the competition from 2028, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Talks of NRL investment in Super League have been ramping up in recent weeks amidst major change at the Rugby Football League (RFL) governing body and more financial difficulties for the game in England.
The NRL’s condition of gaining full administrative control would be a monumental change, breaking the cycle of English rugby league’s major decisions being made by its own clubs.
However, the potential change is one that is arguably needed with the NRL believing it would help it grow the game internationally.
It is understood that two key Super League team owners are behind this move, with Wigan Warriors’ Mike Danson and Warrington Wolves’ Simon Moran recently meeting with NRL officials in Las Vegas in a “secret meeting”, according to the Herald.
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By GlobalDataDanson and Moran are reportedly speaking to rival Super League clubs before putting together a proposal to those Down Under with Australian Rugby League Commision chief Peter V’landys.
The Warriors and Wolves faced off in Super League’s first-ever game in Las Vegas last month as part of the NRL’s showcase in the US city.
The Herald also reported that the NRL would be “willing to sell back its share” of Super League once the competition can be financially viable, with the NRL not seeing the English game as a cash cow but simply a way to ensure the future and development of international rugby league.
Before the Las Vegas games, V’Landys drew comparisons between the financial strength of the NRL and the comparatively cash-poor Super League, even hinting that the NRL would buy its English counterpart if it came to it.
He remarked: “If they approached us, we'd certainly look at it. At this stage, they haven't approached us, but we're a firm believer in having a strong game in England, and we're a firm believer in the international game.
"You can't have an international game without England. I don't want to breach any confidentiality, but it's important for us that the game in the United Kingdom is strong. At the moment, it's got its challenges."
It is also believed that any potential deal for the NRL to take control of the Super League depends on the continued presence of French clubs in the British game.
The NRL’s powerbrokers could abandon plans to buy a stake if Catalans Dragons and Toulouse are ejected by clubs leading a review into the sport in the UK.
There is an increasingly hostile power struggle developing in English rugby league after several clubs – led by Leigh Leopards and Batley Bulldogs – successfully removed Simon Johnson as the RFL chair and installed the governing body’s former chief executive Nigel Wood as his replacement.
Wood will lead a strategic review over the coming months that could determine the future direction for the sport. Clubs met last week and were asked for their views on several subjects, including the long-term deal with the IMG agency, the structure of Super League, and, perhaps most pertinently, the role of Catalans and Toulouse in the pyramid.
However, that is not a viewpoint shared by many teams, including Wigan and Warrington, who are fully supportive of Catalans and Toulouse and did not vote in favour of Wood’s return.
They also have minimal desire in working with a regime spearheaded by Wood before the review is published this summer.
Among the NRL’s leading options for change, should it complete a deal, is a reduction in the Super League from 12 teams to 10. But the NRL wants Catalans and Toulouse – the latter side now plays in the second-tier Championship – to be in that elite competition.
Sources in the UK and Australia have intimated that if a vote to eject the French teams succeeded, it could have a major effect on the NRL’s plans.
Peter Scrimgeour, GlobalData Sport's senior analyst, commented: “Over the last decade, the NRL has seen impressive growth across numerous key metrics in Australia and the Pacific, to become the self-proclaimed number one sporting code in the region. The NRL is now turning its attention to growing the sport around the world.
“The league now opens the season in Las Vegas as it attempts to crack the US market, welcomes a team from Papua New Guinea who joins the competition in 2028, and has revised the rugby league Ashes with Australia touring England in autumn for the first time since 2003.
“Taking a stake in the cash-strapped Super League, where the majority of clubs posted financial losses last year, will allow the NRL to take control of the competition, with the ambition of transforming the game in the northern hemisphere. A strong game in the United Kingdom and France, grows the game at the international level, strengthening rugby league as a global force, and ultimately, offering new and significant commercial returns.”
