Rugby Australia secures $65m uplift in new broadcast deal with Nine

Rugby Australia will bank an extra $65 million in a new five-year broadcast rights deal with Nine Entertainment, and potentially more through bonus payments if the Wallabies and Super Rugby sides hit success targets during their campaigns.

But Super Rugby games will no longer be shown automatically on free-to-air television under the terms of the new agreement, which was officially announced on Wednesday by RA and Nine Entertainment, owners of this masthead.

After reaching an in-principle agreement to extend the partnership following an exclusive negotiating period over summer, RA and Nine Entertainment have formally signed a deal worth about $215 million in cash and free advertising, according to sources with knowledge of negotiations who are not authorised to speak publicly.

The deal will see Nine and subscription streaming service Stan Sport screen all Wallabies, Wallaroos and Super Rugby fixtures, for both men’s and women’s competitions. It does not include the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but Nine are also deep in talks with World Rugby about securing the broadcast rights to the tournament, and the 2025 and 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cups as well.

Nine’s previous deal with RA was worth around $150 million, meaning RA will see an uplift from around $30 million a year to around $43 million a year.

RA could also pocket significant extra cash if the Wallabies and men’s teams in Super Rugby Pacific win more games, as part of new incentives built into the deal. The Australian Financial Review reported RA could bank more than $30 million extra over five years if the success targets are met, which can presumably turn bigger interest levels and higher ratings into more subscription and advertising revenues.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on the charge for the Wallabies against England.Credit: Getty Images

The new deal will see all Super Rugby games shown on Stan Sport, but without guaranteed games on Nine’s free-to-air channels.

Under the existing agreement, one Super Rugby match is shown on free-to-air each round but the uplift in overall value for RA has seen the organisation agree to Stan Sport having exclusivity for the games. Nine and RA said on Wednesday select the broadcaster could still elect to show select Super Rugby games on free-to-air, however.

It could return the game to the days when RA’s long-time broadcast partner Foxtel showed all Super Rugby games exclusively on Fox Sports, and will no doubt spark debate in the game about the merits of exposing the game to wider audiences.

The move was announced just a day after Super Rugby Pacific issued a release with stats spruiking the success and popularity of the competition this year, including a 30 per cent increase in year-on-year viewership on Nine.

Fraser McReight surges against NSW in Super Rugby Pacific.Credit: Getty Images

Club rugby will get some free-to-air love under the new deal, however. In Sydney and Brisbane, one game per round in the Shute Shield and the Hospital Cup will be shown on free-to-air in their respective cities.

Nine picked up the rugby rights in 2020 on discounted terms after RA walked away from a renewal offer from Foxtel, who’d been the code’s broadcast partner for 25 years, since the game went professional in 1996.

The initial Nine deal ran for three years, and included a two-year extension, which expires at the end of this year.

The broadcast deal is first of two major announcements planned by Rugby Australia over the next two weeks, with the organisation also hoping to unveil the identity of the next Wallabies coach.

With Joe Schmidt departing at the end of the Rugby Championship, RA has been searching for a successor and has interviewed a number of candidates. The frontrunner is Queensland coach Les Kiss but former England and Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster is also in the frame for a senior coaching role alongside Kiss.

Meanwhile, Super Rugby Pacific boss Jack Mesley has hailed the success of the competition at the halfway point of 2025 season, with a range of data points highlighting the quality of the rugby being played and increases in off-field engagement

In stats released by the competition, SRP said “static time” had been reduced by 73 seconds per game, with the average match duration 1 minute and 39 seconds shorter than last season.

The competition is currently the highest scoring of all time, with an average of 61 points and 8.8 tries per game.

The jeopardy inside games still exists, though, with an average of 4.3 lead changes per match, and 28.2 per cent of games including a lead change in the last 10 minutes.

Tournament organisers said there has been a 21.5 per cent increase in average game attendance across the competition to round eight.

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