Extraordinary Channel Nine statement heaps pressure on NRL CEO Todd Greenberg
Channel Nine’s longstanding love affair with rugby league that has stretched decades is close to breaking point in the wake of an extraordinary take-down of the NRL governing body.
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Update: Channel Nine’s longstanding love affair with rugby league that has stretched decades was close to breaking point on Thursday night as huge pressure mounted on Todd Greenberg to stand down.
On the day the NRL announced it would relaunch its season on May 28, a genuine concern emerged that the game’s free-to-air broadcaster was trying to torpedo the NRL’s attempt to reboot the season to save $130 million.
Nine also placed further pressure on the already under-fire Greenberg after sensationally accusing the NRL of mismanagement “over many years” while wasting “hundreds of millions” over decades.
Greenberg wasn’t mentioned by name but there is no doubt Nine’s bombshell statement was directed squarely at the NRL chief executive and his executive staff, and not at ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys who only took over from Peter Beattie as chairman late last year.
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While Nine’s statement was not attributed to an individual, it clearly highlights the worrying divide between Nine chief executive Hugh Marks and Greenberg who has been under increasing pressure for months.
Marks could not be contacted but the statement read:
“At Nine we had hoped to work with the NRL on a solution to the issues facing Rugby League in 2020, brought on so starkly by COVID-19.
“But this health crisis in our community has highlighted the mismanagement of the code over many years.
“Nine has invested hundreds of millions in this game over decades and we now find they have profoundly wasted those funds with very little to fall back on to support the clubs, the players and supporters. In the past the NRL have had problems and we’ve bailed them out many times. Including a $50m loan to support clubs when the last contract was signed. It would now appear that much of that has been squandered by a bloated head office completely ignoring the needs of the clubs, players and supporters.
“We now find ourselves with a contract that is unfulfilled by the code. We hoped we could talk though a long term plan.”
A point that wasn’t missed at NRL Central was that the astonishing attack came at the exact time the NRL was holding a high powered meeting to discuss how to relaunch its season.
Only last week Nine announced to the stock exchange that it would save $130 million if the game did not resume this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, while outlining plans to cut $266 million from its costs.
Nine has now claimed it was angry that they had been left out of the loop during these critical negotiations.
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But there was a genuine feeling among several high placed sources that Nine’s brazen attack was nothing more than an orchestrated attempt to push the NRL into a corner so Nine can renegotiate the TV rights for a better price.
Nine has also expressed concerns that having crowd lockouts because of the coronavirus would diminish the value of the TV rights.
V’landys did not take it to heart and vowed this was not the end of the relationship between Channel Nine and rugby league.
“If Hugh Marks walks away unhappy and I walk away unhappy it means that we have done the right deal,” V’landys said.
Asked to respond to Nine’s claim that the game had been mismanaged for years and wasting hundreds of millions, V’landys said: “I have said publicly that the cost structure of the whole game is non-sustainable.”
Meanwhile, the NRL responded with a three line statement that hardly addressed the stinging attack.
“We are disappointed by Nine’s comments,” the NRL statement read.
“We are continuing to work on a number of scenarios for the 2020 season in consultation with all of our stakeholders including our broadcast partners.
“Our obligation is to resume the competition as soon as possible, within public health guidelines. No decisions have been made.”
Several sources said Greenberg took the criticism like water off a duck’s back at Thursday’s meetings, showing virtually no signs of his growing unpopularity.
But there was an expectation on Thursday night that the attack had basically left Greenberg’s position untenable given the unrest within the game that also stretches among the clubs and the playing group.
It was only last week that angry NRL players demanded that Greenberg and his executive staff take the same 72 per cent pay cut the players were facing.
V’landys also spoke openly last month about Greenberg’s image problem and conceded powerful figures within the game were fed up with his perceived “arrogance”.
Greenberg’s contract expires in October but so far V’landys has refused to offer any guarantees.
TIMELINE-CODE’S BID TO CONQUER CRISIS
November, 2015
Nine and Foxtel sign a $1.8 billion to broadcast the NRL for five years from 2018.
March 13, 2020
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg announces that from round two, games would be played in closed stadiums without spectators.
March 18
Former News Corp chairman and chief executive John Hartigan says that the NRL and broadcasters should re-negotiate a new long-term deal to save the game.
March 23
Greenberg and ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys announce that the 2020 season will be suspended indefinitely.
March 27
Nine and NRL bosses meet. Nine informs NRL that it would not make its quarterly payment on April 1. The broadcaster indicates plans to both renegotiate its current rights deal and extend its broadcast partnership with NRL beyond 2020.
March 30
Nine tells shareholders that it would save $130 million this year if the 2020 NRL season was axed. The network intends to strip $266 million from its books this year to cope with the pandemic. The Daily Telegraph reports that Channel 10 is positioned to take over the rights if Nine abandons the game.
March 30
NRL gives clubs $2.5 million to help them survive the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic
April 2
NRL and Rugby League Players’ Association reached an agreement that players would take a 72 per cent pay cut for the rest of 2020.
Meanwhile, the NRL announces “Project Apollo” — a bold mission to resume footy by July 1. The Innovation Committee is led by ARL commissioner Wayne Pearce.
April 6
The Warriors voice concerns that New Zealand’s national lockdown and international travel bans will force them to miss out on a June restart.
April 9
The Innovation Committee announces the NRL is aiming for a season restart on May 28, but do not reveal details of the competition structure. Channel 9 launches a stunning attack on the NRL, accusing it of mismanagement and squandering millions of dollars from broadcast rights deals. The NRL’s current deal with Foxtel, Nine and Telstra runs until 2022.
- Jocelyn Airth
Originally published as Extraordinary Channel Nine statement heaps pressure on NRL CEO Todd Greenberg
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