Nobody wants to speak about it, “but the uneasy silence” between the National Rugby League and its 16 clubs continues, according to Paul Kent of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. The NRL hoped figures revealed during the week, “where the next broadcast deal reaches a possible” A$1.7B ($1.25B), would “quell complaints from club land over a lack of funding and would bring everybody back together for a rousing edition of Kumbaya.” Sadly, “not around this campfire.” The NRL “severely underestimates” the clubs’ complaints and as the TV deal gets closer, “somebody is going to have to show a little ego strength and pick up the phone to start making a deal.” After initially seeking $A2B ($1.47B) for the TV deal the NRL now believes it will get closer to A$1.7B. The NRL took a pre-emptive strike and has “anticipated raising the salary cap” to A$11M ($8M) and the club grant to A$12M ($8.8), “a figure they believe would make everyone involved happy.” The “mathematics men in clubland” worked out that a A$1.7B deal would bring in about an extra A$125M ($92M)-A$126M ($92.7M) a year and “against that the new club grant was nowhere near enough.” The new TV deal is “regarded as a lifesaver by some clubs, and just in time.” Until they saw the figures “and where the money will go.” It will not “give the clubs the relief they need.” According to “the maths,” the game will “burst through its next stage of growth and all the clubs will see out of this” is an extra A$500,000 ($367,850) a year. The clubs believe they should be getting A$2.5M ($1.84M) above the salary cap in their grant, when the new TV deal arrives, to successfully grow (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 8/6).
