Peter V’landys reveals the secret to his success and the ‘greatest danger’ to us all

NRL supremo Peter V'landys reveals his philosophy that transformed two of Australia's biggest sporting industries.

Peter V'landys AM. Picture: Richard Dobson

For Peter V’landys it was the dream trifecta.

The race he created, The Everest, setting attendance and broadcast records, his bold decision to open the rugby league season in Las Vegas continued to kick goals and NRL TV viewing was off the charts in 2025, eclipsing arch rival the AFL.

The philosophy underpinning his long-term history for success – apart from the strong work ethic he attributes to his parents who arrived from Greece 60 years ago – is innovation based on learning.

“Absolutely, you’ve got to look outside the square,” ss V’Landys, who was the top ranked sporting identity on The Daily Telegraph’s Power 100 list at no. 6.

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“But it’s through the lens of your customer and what they need. Generations change, tastes change, and you’ve got to accommodate those changes.

“People are going to perish in the end if they haven’t kept up with what their customers want. I base everything on the customer. In rugby league it’s the fan, in racing it’s the punter. What do they want, what’s going to drive them to continue supporting the sport?

“Then keep up with technology. AI is the number one thing people need to address at present. It’s going to change every aspect of business. You’ve also got to look 20 years out. Businesses start to fail because they haven’t looked into the future and into innovation.”

Peter V'landys AM. Picture: Richard Dobson

V’landys looks back with pride on steering the state’s thoroughbred industry through the equine influenza outbreak in 2007, three years after his appointment as Racing NSW CEO.

The lessons served him well when rugby league had to chart a course through COVID.

Critics laughed when he set a date for the game’s return two months after a competition suspension was forced by the pandemic in March 2020. Come May and the game returned.

“When we had equine influenza in the horse racing industry, everyone got together and we beat it. With COVID and rugby league we did the same thing. We united in a way we never had before because we had a common enemy of this pandemic – and we were able to beat it.

“Rugby league was the first sport to come back, and it was because of the learnings I had with equine influenza. I knew what we had to do and I think the proof was in the pudding.”

V’landys admits the success of The Everest with two successive sell outs, and this year’s house full sign hung out two weeks before race day, is “extraordinary” and has “exceeded my expectations”.

It has brought a younger audience to the industry with the Racing NSW boss hoping it will cause a “lava flow” that sees the next generation attending other meetings on a regular basis.

As for rugby league: “The greatest challenge is to continue the growth we’ve had. It’s been

unbelievable but we need to maintain that. We need to get bigger.

“The greatest danger for us is complacency,” he says.

“That people just sit back and think it’s all going to happen. It’s not. We need to make it better, make it bigger, and do whatever we have to do. The minute you get a bit of complacency is the minute you’ll start going backwards.”