By Brad Walter
IT HAS taken nearly four years of hard-fought negotiation, but rugby league is today finally back in charge of its own destiny for the first time since April 1, 1995.
After a series of meetings, the partnership between the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd will be formally dissolved and the newly created independent commission installed as custodians of the game at 11.30am.
A long journey but finally it has come to fruition ... rugby league's Independent Commission.
News Ltd will finally be gone, almost 17 years after the media company raided ARL clubs and players to establish the breakaway Super League competition - although the Murdoch empire will maintain some influence.
The real prize in the three-year battle that followed, and the silent war that has existed since the peace deal that led to the formation of the NRL in 1998, was the pay-TV rights, and News Ltd still retains first and last right of refusal until 2027.
New home … Rugby League Central at Moore Park last month.Credit: Janie Barrett
However, from now on there should be no doubt that News Ltd pays full value as the media company will no longer have representatives sitting on both sides of the negotiating table.
The next broadcast deal is the main issue facing the incoming commissioners, who were chosen after a long selection process involving an outside consultancy firm and a panel comprising News Ltd's Peter Macourt, ARL chairman John Chalk, QRL director Terry Mackenroth and South Sydney chairman Nick Pappas.
Gold Coast chief executive Michael Searle, who was the driving force behind the push for an independent commission and approached News Ltd about exiting the game before the 2018 deadline agreed as part of the Super League peace deal, said the change was needed.
''For our game to be finally able to unlock the settlement of what was the Super League war and get on with administering the game in the best interests of rugby league should be a day of celebration,'' Searle said. ''One thing that was particularly satisfying is that both News Ltd and the ARL showed a willingness to allow this change to happen. If you look at the challenges we had around the structure of our game, we have still managed to produce incredible outcomes in terms of TV ratings so you can only imagine what this new model is going to do for the game in terms of revenue and grassroots rugby league.''
With the ARL Commission - as the new body will be known - responsible for running every facet of the game, everyone from the kids playing under-7s to Test stars are set to benefit.
THE NRL
The formation of the independent commission will empower NRL chief executive David Gallop, who has been appointed to the role for four years. No longer will Gallop have to answer to two owners with vastly different interests, and try to keep the clubs onside. He will also have more resources to work with, as News Ltd and the ARL were entitled to take a share of the game's revenue each year. ''Any structure that saw half the profits go to a media company in good times was a flawed structure but now that we can retain those profits in the game we can start accumulating a war chest and we can start accumulating assets through those retained earnings,'' Searle said.
THE CLUBS
Without News Ltd's involvement, the clubs can feel confident that Gallop and the commissioners will be able to negotiate the best television deal possible. Figures of between $1 billion and $1.4 billion have been mentioned and the negotiating team will speak to every network. As a result, the clubs can look forward to an increase in their annual grants from the NRL of up to $7.2 million per season - a figure that could outstrip the salary cap. The boost in funding should ensure the survival of battling clubs such as Cronulla.
THE PLAYERS
The business acumen the eight commissioners bring is expected to generate increased revenue across the game - and the players will be the big winners. After years of being paid less than their counterparts in AFL and rugby union, NRL stars should enjoy bigger pay packets due to a sharp increase in the salary cap. Clubs have already been told to plan for a $5m salary cap next season and it may even rise to as much as $6.6m per season - an increase of more than 33 per cent from this year's $4.3m ceiling for payments to the top 25 players at each club.
THE GRASSROOTS
As the code's single controlling body, the commission will be responsible for fostering, developing and funding the game from junior level to international football. Some of those responsibilities will be delegated to state bodies and ARL Development but the commission will liase with the Rugby League International Federation and governing bodies in other countries to grow and promote the game around the world. ''Under this structure we have independent people deciding the future of the game, for the whole game - from the under eights, who play on the Gold Coast, to international rugby league,'' Searle said. ''Even going back to the game's origins in 1908, we have never had one body that basically looked after the game from the cradle to the grave.''
Searle first discussed the idea of an independent body taking over the running of the game at a meeting at the SCG in May 2008 with then fellow club chief executives Bruno Cullen (Broncos), Denis Fitzgerald (Eels), Shane Richardson (Rabbitohs), Brian Waldron (Storm), Steve Burraston (Knights) and Tony Zappia (Sharks).
A historic meeting of the chairmen, chief executives, coaches and captains of all 16 NRL clubs on January 18, 2010 unanimously voted for the independent commission to be in charge by the start of that season but it has taken nearly two years longer to come to fruition.
Inaugural chairman John Grant and the other seven commissioners were finally appointed last July and will hold their first board meeting at 10.30am. An official launch will begin at 11.30am, coinciding with the opening of the game's new headquarters, Rugby League Central, at Moore Park.