ARLC chair Peter V’landys borrowed a line from former Prime Minister Paul Keating when he described the NRL’s 2023 financial report as a “beautiful set of numbers”.
The NRL announced an operating surplus of $58.2 million after generating more than $700m revenue for a record breaking 2023 season in which television viewers, attendances and participation figures were all up.
To underline the significance of the growth, with revenue increasing by $107 million from 2022, NRL earnings were just $350.9m in 2014 – less than the $363.7m distributed to clubs and players in 2023.
The NRL also now has assets totalling $260m, which includes the acquisition of Gambaro Hotel in Brisbane but not the more recent purchase of hotels at Cronulla and on the Sunshine Coast.
After being on the brink of insolvency when the Telstra Premiership was shut down during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, V’landys said the game had never been in a stronger position than now.
“Our revenues have gone up significantly in the last three to four years, and it's in every area of the operation,” V’landys said. “It's not just one area like broadcast, it's through the whole revenue streams.
“The best part of our result has been that we've actually distributed record amounts to clubs.
“When I first came onto the commission, we were looking at two clubs actually going broke, so I'm happy to say now that every club is in the best financial position that they've been in.
“That's because we have given them distributions of $98.2m [above salary cap payments]. That's a 33% increase on the previous year of $74m.
“We've also given the players record distributions of $216.3m, up $30m on the previous year, or 16%.”
Key points of the NRL’s performance in 2023 included:
- Revenue growing 18% from $107.3m to $701.m, driven by new media rights deal and record sponsorship, wagering and game day income;
- NRL broadcast figures outstripping AFL, with 93.2m viewers tuning into Telstra Premiership matches on Nine and Fox Sports compared to 91m for AFL’s free-to-air and pay-tv coverage. Overall, rugby league viewership was 171.8m, making the code Australia’s most watched sport;
- Huge growth of interest in the expanded NRLW, with 7.2m viewers watching NRLW compared to 6.1m AFLW viewers - despite the rival code playing more than twice as many matches (99 to 48). More than 1m viewers tuned into the NRLW grand final, which was watched by a crowd of 40649 fans at Accor Stadium, while NRLW content views were up 31% on pan66.com and video views by 48%;
- Average crowds of 20,300 for the regular season and finals;3.1m NRL accounts, with 450,000 new fans signing up, while the NRL increased its lead as the largest Australian sport on TikTok with 1.22m followers, along with 1.63m followers on Instagram;
- The lowest operating costs of any Australian sport on an expense to revenue ratio of 22.2% - down from 25.5% in 2022, and;
- Grassroots participation increasing by 9% to more than 192,000 registered players, with male playing numbers up 5% and female playing numbers growing by 12%.
“That's very important to us because they're the future participants in our game,” V’landys said.
“Even though there's been some criticism in the media in relation to pathways development and participation, we have given $82.8m last year in those areas - up $9.7m on the previous year.
“More importantly, over the next five years, $420 million will be spent on participation and pathways.”
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo thanked key stakeholders for supporting the game.
“I am proud of the record distributions we have made to our clubs, players and grassroots and participation pathways, which are up 22 per cent on last year,” Abdo said.
“The game’s record high revenues are proof that our business strategy is working. Importantly, there has been strong growth in all revenue streams, not just broadcast revenues. We are fortunate to have extremely loyal partners and passionate, engaged fans, as evidenced by the record attendance and viewership.
“The strong surplus allows for reinvestment back into the game, which means the Commission can plan for an exciting period of growth.
“We are looking forward to an even bigger 2024, taking the game to the United States, continuing the game’s expansion of the footprint in the Pacific, expanding the women’s game further with three State of Origin matches, and growing the number of registered grassroot participants.”