Rugby Australia’s revolutionary new broadcast deal includes lucrative offer for Wallaby wins in key matches
Rugby Australia and the Wallabies have received a much-needed financial boost which could end up being even more lucrative if the men’s national team can win trophy matches.
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A REVOLUTIONARY new broadcast deal will reward Rugby Australia in millions of dollars of bonuses if the Wallabies win key games.
Rugby’s new five-year worth up to $240 million deal with existing partners Nine and Stan Sport will be officially unveiled on Wednesday morning.
Code Sports understands the deal has a base of $215 million, or $43 million per year, a significant upgrade from their current deal of around $33 million a year.
But as part of the deal, RA will be given bonuses of millions per year if the Wallabies can claim victory in trophy matches including the Bledisloe Cup and World Cup, as well as Australian teams winning in Super Rugby, that can yield them a further $25 million over the five-year cycle.
The uplift in value comes at a crucial time for the game, which has struggled financially for several years and was forced to take out an $80 million debt facility last year to stay afloat and invest in a strategic reset.
RA has spent $60 million of that $80 million.
They expect to be able to repay the loan from the profits of the British & Irish Lions series starting in July, by the end of this year, but the option remains for them to retain the debt if they choose to invest in other areas.
This broadcast deal takes in all Wallabies and Wallaroos Test matches, other SANZAAR games including The Rugby Championship, Super Rugby and club rugby.
The rights to the 2027 home World Cup, and the Sevens series, will be negotiated separately between Nine and World Rugby. However, it’s understood that deal is also close, and could be announced as soon as next week.
Few would have expected RA to get an upgrade on their broadcast deal following the disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign when the Wallabies were bundled out in the pool stages for the first time.
That came on the back of 22 consecutive years of Bledisloe failure, no World Cup victory since 1999, and no Australian Super team winning a combined tournament since 2014.
But Nine clearly expects rugby to bounce back as 40,000 British tourists descend on Australia for the Lions tour, which then builds into a men’s home World Cup in 2027, a women’s home World Cup in 2029, and the Brisbane Olympics in 2032 that could see Sevens as the first medal event.
The new broadcast deal goes through to the end of 2030, and will also take in the new World Rugby Nations Championship set to kick off in 2026.
The northern hemisphere’s Six Nations teams, and The Rugby Championship teams with the expected additions of Fiji and Japan, will battle in a biennial competition where crossover games will be played and a north and south table will establish grand finalists.
In essence, it will be a mini World Cup every two years outside of World Cup and Lions years, that will give more meaning to mid-year and end-of-year Tests.
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Originally published as Rugby Australia’s revolutionary new broadcast deal includes lucrative offer for Wallaby wins in key matches
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