NRL's $90m major sponsor on hold
A BATTLE over technology that doesn't even exist has left the NRL without $90 million in sponsorship revenue six weeks before the premiership kickoff.
The NRL is now racing the clock to avoid starting the season without a major sponsor for the first time since 2000, with Telstra negotiations bogged down in fine print.
Channel 9 and the telco both believe they have the right to send matches direct to mobile devices using Digital Video Broadcast Handheld - a system that doesn't actually exist yet.
NRL chief executive David Gallop said last night it wouldn't be a disaster if the competition started on March 16 without a naming rights sponsor.
But he added: "We'd certainly like to get it sorted out in the near future.
"We are very close to finalising a very long and complicated document. It involves our naming rights sponsorship and our internet and mobile rights.
"This deal will involve Telstra having our worldwide internet rights."
The $90 million at stake in a six-year deal trickles down to affect club grants, the salary cap and money distributed across the country at grass roots level.
Nine believes its already-signed TV contract allows it to use DVBH but Telstra insists any internet rights deal should include such a provision.
It is understood Telstra is also unwilling to allow overseas NRL rights holders Setanta and Sky NZ to broadcast games on the internet, which both want to do.
Optimistic insiders hope for a deal by mid-February but a Telstra spokesman was cautious when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.
"Negotiations are ongoing," spokesman Craig Middleton said.
"It's new territory and there are things that still have to be worked out."
Asked if he was confident of a deal eventually being signed, Middleton said: "Our negotiations are ongoing, in good faith."
Asked if the deal would be worth less should DVBH be given to Nine, Middleton answered: "I'm not going to get into the nature of that sort of discussion."
Gallop, meanwhile, rejected internet reports yesterday that a poorly worded contract threatened to cost the sport $100 million in revenue from Telstra.
FOXSPORTS