PDA

View Full Version : No News is good news for World Cup



Queenslander
25-07-07, 12:25 PM
No News is good news for World Cup
Roy Masters, Andrew Webster and Brad Walter | July 25, 2007

NEXT year's centenary World Cup, which has a budget of $23 million, is set to be the only major rugby league event in Australia for the past decade with no official involvement from News Ltd.

The move is a strategy by ARL and Rugby League International Federation chairman Colin Love to make the bodies financially strong and independent of News Ltd.

Under the terms of the ARL's partnership with News Ltd to run the NRL competition, all monies from the State of Origin series and other representative fixtures, including Tests, flow into a single pot from which both parties draw $8 million each.

The arrangement means the promote the international game.

News Ltd has no financial role in the World Cup, other than its half interest in Fox Sports, which will televise some games.

It will not share in any of the rights fees Love has negotiated with Channel Nine, nor involvement in the multi-million dollar deals with the NSW and Queensland governments Love secured to stage the games.

The Herald has been told that Love convinced the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, to pay about $4m for Suncorp Stadium to host the World Cup final and one semi-final. Beattie expects the final alone to reel in $17 million for his state.

Despite missing out on the final, the NSW government paid $1.5 million for Sydney Football Stadium to secure one semi-final and the opening game to the tournament, between Australia and New Zealand on October 25, 2008.

Those deals dwarf the NRL's $3m deal with the Iemma government to keep the grand final in Sydney for the next six years, as does the World Cup television deal with Nine on a pro-rata basis - supporting Love's claim that his controversial fee of $150,000 to run a tournament with a $23m budget is justifiable at any level.

However, Love's determination to run the competition himself, rather than pay an events organiser, has caused tensions with the NRL.

NRL chief David Gallop said: "A couple of people on the NRL management team have been waiting to get clarity on what their role will be in the World Cup, mindful it will come at the end of a long NRL season."

ARL is effectively forced to depend on handouts from the NRL. Even the ARL's share of last year's successful Tri-Nations series, staged in Australia and New Zealand, went into the pot.

However, the TV rights and sponsorship for next year's World Cup have been negotiated by Love, with the funds going to the RLIF to promote the international game.

News Ltd has no financial role in the World Cup, other than its half interest in Fox Sports, which will televise some games.

It will not share in any of the rights fees Love has negotiated with Channel Nine, nor involvement in the multi-million dollar deals with the NSW and Queensland governments Love secured to stage the games.

The Herald has been told that Love convinced the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, to pay about $4m for Suncorp Stadium to host the World Cup final and one semi-final. Beattie expects the final alone to reel in $17 million for his state.

Despite missing out on the final, the NSW government paid $1.5 million for Sydney Football Stadium to secure one semi-final and the opening game to the tournament, between Australia and New Zealand on October 25, 2008.

Those deals dwarf the NRL's $3m deal with the Iemma government to keep the grand final in Sydney for the next six years, as does the World Cup television deal with Nine on a pro-rata basis - supporting Love's claim that his controversial fee of $150,000 to run a tournament with a $23m budget is justifiable at any level.

However, Love's determination to run the competition himself, rather than pay an events organiser, has caused tensions with the NRL.

NRL chief David Gallop said: "A couple of people on the NRL management team have been waiting to get clarity on what their role will be in the World Cup, mindful it will come at the end of a long NRL season."

Sydney Morning Hearld

DIEHARD
25-07-07, 06:22 PM
I think it is a good thing that the ARL and RLIF are handling the World Cup.

I think we will all be very impressed with the World Cup announcements.

RLfan
26-07-07, 07:16 PM
Shockingly the article was written by Fairfax papers. I don't think it matters honestly.