Blunt question from NRL clubs in meeting with Andrew Abdo over funding crisis

A desperately-needed resolution could not be secured as the clubs met with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.

Andrew Abdo and Peter V'landys. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty

Where is our money?

That was the blunt question from clubs to NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo during a high-powered 60-minute Zoom meeting over rugby league’s funding crisis on Tuesday afternoon.

The summit between the previously warring parties was described as “cordial and progressive” but a desperately-needed resolution could not be secured.

All 17 clubs continue to lobby Abdo over the prolonged and yet-to-be-finalised CBA with CEOs seeking an additional $5m for each club on top of annual player payments.

The Daily Telegraph has been told the NRL offer to each club is short by between $250,000 and $500,000 annually.

That equates to the NRL needing to find another $4m to $8m in funding in the hope of striking a deal with the clubs and ending this ugly dispute.

At the Zoom meeting, Abdo did not commit to the funding but agreed to hold further internal discussions at the NRL before returning to the negotiating table.

There are still no promises, nor guarantees from the NRL despite an insatiable desire for the publicly damaging issue to be resolved.

Both sides remain cautious.

Andrew Abdo agreed to hold further internal discussions at the NRL before returning to the negotiating table. Picture: Getty Images

Abdo will now compile a revised proposal although there isn’t a deadline.

“The meeting with the club working group was positive, transparent and productive,” Abdo said.

“There is a clear plan to hopefully finalise arrangements soon.”

Both sides are hoping the hostility during negotiations can subside.

It is anticipated Abdo will front ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys about how and if the funding can be found.

That money is the crux of the club’s anger.

The clubs were represented at the meeting by club CEOs Don Furner (Canberra), Justin Rodski (Melbourne) and Blake Solly (South Sydney) in the crisis talks with Abdo, and will now return to the clubs with a summary of Tuesday’s meeting.

Abdo was joined on Zoom by chief financial officer John Osborne and other NRL employees.

It comes as V’landys blasted suggestions League Central is hiding the code’s finances over the CBA bunfight.

Some of rugby league’s most influential officials, led by Solly and Penrith’s Brian Fletcher, have raised the prospect of a potential Super League-style breakaway competition amid fears the NRL is running a “dictatorship”.

V’landys denied allegations the NRL is keeping the game’s finances top secret, saying the RLPA is aware of a proposal that will deliver record grants totalling almost $300 million to the 17 clubs.

“It’s rubbish, it’s all falsehoods,” V’landys said of suggestions the NRL is hiding rugby league’s finances.

Peter V’landys (main) has taken aim at the claims made by (insets L-R) South Sydney boss Blake Solly, and Penrith CEO Brian Fletcher.

“The figures are always released to the clubs.

“They have had them for months.

“Most of the stuff the clubs and the RLPA is saying is false because Andrew Abdo (NRL CEO) has given them the figures.

“We have no interest in hiding anything.”

Solly claims the clubs have only received scant financial details from the NRL.

“We have seen some basic figures, but we have asked for further information on aspects of the figures that the NRL have shown us,” he said.

“Peter and Andrew have said the game is in great financial health, which is good news, but then on the other hand they are saying they can’t afford to meet the requests of the clubs and players.

“All we are asking them to show us is if the players and clubs requests can’t be met, then why not?

“As the shareholders of the NRL, we just want to see where the money is spent, I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request.”

Fletcher added: “I see a profit-and-loss sheet for the Panthers group and it shows every expense.

“The figures the NRL have provided don’t show all the expenses.

“We are happy to share in the game’s revenue and profits, we can all share it equally, we just don’t want to be dictated to.”

CEO of the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) Clint Newton. Picture: AAP Image/James Gourley

Under the NRL’s latest offer, the salary cap will rise to at least $11 million for next season, while clubs will receive grants $5 million above the cap _ equating to an extra $85 million next season for the 17 franchises.

In total, the NRL will divert at least $272 million to clubs next season _ the highest level of funding in the code’s history.

V’landys scoffed at suggestions the clubs are aggrieved at the NRL’s alleged refusal to disclose revenue from marquee events such as Magic Round, State of Origin and the grand final.

“The clubs and players will be better off than ever under our proposal,” he said.

“You don’t look at the game’s finances in one element, you look at the game’s revenue as a whole and that’s what we have provided to the clubs and the RLPA.

“They want to suggest to the fan that we are hiding the figures. I can assure the fans right now that we are not.”

RLPA boss Clint Newton fears the CBA negotiations could drag on as all NRL clubs launched their pre-seasons this week.

“There have been meetings, but we’ve spent more time educating the NRL staff on the current CBA and our claims than genuinely bargaining,” he said.

“We have always believed in remaining optimistic with Andrew (Abdo) playing a leading role in negotiations, but our hope of reaching agreement in the near future is fading.

“The NRL might not like it, but we have a responsibility to be transparent with the fans’ players and heroes, talk about our claims, negotiate and get a deal done that respects the players’ contribution to generating the revenues we all benefit from and growing and promoting the game.

“A CBA is a crucial foundation for the game to build on.

“We’ve been more transparent than ever before with promoting our claims because we can proudly stand behind them.

“Is it not our job to continually advocate for improvements for our past, current and future players? Or should we rely on the NRL and Commission to do that too, but wouldn’t that be a conflict of interest?

“It’s disrespectful to the players to dismiss how important this is to them and the game.”

NRL WAR: V’LANDYS ATTACKS REBEL CLUBS

- Phil Rothfield

League bosses Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo have cancelled their trip to England for the World Cup final as the club funding row reaches breaking point amid extraordinary threats of disgruntled clubs setting up a breakaway competition.

News Corp can reveal a handful of clubs have privately raised the drastic option of forming a rebel league, such is their anger and bitter frustration over the financial stalemate that has put the game at a standstill.

While it sounds extreme and unfeasible, this action has been confirmed as a last resort play by Brian Fletcher, the boss of NRL champions the Penrith Panthers.

News Corp can reveal the licences of all 16 clubs established clubs expire at the end of next season, a situation that makes their threat more realistic, although highly unlikely.

However the urgency to find a solution has resulted in V’landys and Abdo cancelling a planned trip to England for the World Cup.

They made the decision before the latest club threats in the spirit of the negotiation process.

V’landys has apologised to the World Cup organisers.

Andrew Abdo and Peter V’landys abandon their World Cup plans as the CBA crisis worsens.

Fletcher told News Corp: “We’re not going to be dictated to.”

Another senior club official, who declined to be named, said: “If the NRL want to bully players and clubs, we will find a different group of people to govern the game.”

There is no question now that the relationship between a number of clubs, the RLPA and the head body is absolutely at rock bottom.

However V’landys is backing his chief executive Andrew Abdo to the hilt.

“I respect the fact that everyone is trying to maximise the returns to themselves,” he said.

“However what I find most disappointing is that they are attacking Andrew Abdo with falsehoods.

“No one has worked harder for the game to get it to the healthy position it’s now in.

“You’ve got to play the ball, not the player.

Penrith Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher says clubs believe the NRL is robbing them. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett

“I’m confident we will get a resolution which not everyone is going to like but at the end of the day that’s why you have an independent commission.”

The latest breakaway-competition threat is all the more remarkable in that Panthers boss Fletcher is a close 20-year friend of V’landys.

It was Fletcher who first approached V’landys and convinced the Racing NSW chief to join the independent commission back in 2018.

Yet his Penrith club is one of many that are fed up.

The game is in an unprecedented mess at the beginning of the rugby league financial year with:

• No salary cap for 2023

• No club funding agreement

• No collective bargaining deal

• No playing schedule for next year

• And no relationship with the NSWRL, with whom they are involved in legal action.

After months of painfully slow negotiations, it is fair to say both sides are at fault for the delays.

Not all clubs are as angry as others. In fact the NRL believes they have the majority of clubs onside with some minor tweaks on funding of the women’s game.

That many would be happy to take what’s on offer now because, since V’landys’ arrival, they have gone from financial basket cases to profitable organisations.

However the likes of Fletcher and Souths boss Blake Solly insists most clubs are behind them.

Fletcher complains about the lack of detail around NRL’s finances.

“Peter has got to realise we need some answers and we need some transparency,” Fletcher said.

“We’ve asked for a balance sheet from Magic Round.

Andrew Abdo has come under fire from disgruntled clubs over the NRL’s handling of finances. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

“We put on the show but we never see anything. It’s actually deplorable. Show us the figures.

“It’s hard to support them when you think they are robbing you.

“The clubs are the shareholders.

“How much did they make out of the grand final? And why rob the people that put the game on.”

Pressed again on a breakaway competition, Fletcher said: “The clubs aren’t going to be 100 per cent dictated to. Abdo is using the word commission.

“I don’t think all of them even know what’s going on here.

“All the clubs want is $5 million on top of the cap which we need.

“It’s peanuts when they’re skiting about making $50 million over two pages in the paper.”

Fletcher has offered to sit down with V’landys.

“Maybe they are trying to starve us out and the financially weaker clubs will give in,” he said.

“The stronger clubs won’t be, I can guarantee that.

“Clint (Newton) is no pushover either. He’s got a strong board behind him and the players aren’t going to cop it.

“Maybe I’ll go and talk to Peter to see where we can go with a bit of common sense.”

Originally published as Blunt question from NRL clubs in meeting with Andrew Abdo over funding crisis