Rugby league bosses strike bombshell partnership with one of the world's most powerful individuals - as they look to take the NRL global
Growing the sport has been a primary objective of the league for some time, with footy bosses reportedly meeting with one of the most powerful figures in the sporting world this week.
According to Phil Rothfield of the Courier Mail, Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V'landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo took a flying visit to meet with NFL boss Roger Goodell in the United States.
Amid the success of the NRL's Las Vegas round, the duo spoke with Goodell, who has been the commissioner of the NFL since 2006, on how he can assist to improve and grow the NRL around the world.
Goodell, who hails from New York, reportedly banked a jaw-dropping $97million during the 2023 NFL season. As the commissioner of one of the biggest sporting franchises in the world, Goodell oversees the footballing operations of the NFL, and has agreed to collaborate with the NRL on how the league can improve its season-opening matches in the US.
According to Rothfield, Goodell is keen to help rugby league chiefs gain greater exposure in the US, and in return, the NRL is will head up their end of the bargain by promoting the NFL's first regular season game in Australia.
In February, the NFL announced that the league would be hosting its first-ever match Down Under, with the game set to take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2026. The Los Angeles Rams are one of the teams who has been announced to play in that game. But their opponents are yet to be revealed.
'Expanding to Australia underlines our ambitions to become a global sport and accelerate international growth,' Goodell said.
And V'landys revealed the nature of the talks he has held with Goodell, revealing both leagues are going to collaborate with each other to further their interests.
'We spoke about a lot,' the ARLC boss said, with Rothfield reporting that their meeting with Goodell went on for over an hour.
'We basically made a decision to support each other in what we're trying to achieve in both countries.
'We'll back what they're doing in Australia and they'll back us in Las Vegas from a promotional sense.
'It is a really important relationship that we've been able to establish.'
And according to The Courier Mail, NRL chiefs also discussed how the NFL distributes its broadcast rights with some of the world's largest television entities.
The NRL has enjoyed success in the US and around the world following the launch of it's annual opening-day fixture in Las Vegas
'We had an hour (chatting) with him. He even invited us back for the Super Bowl,' V'landys said.
'He doesn't know rugby league well but is aware of what we're trying to achieve in Vegas each year.'
However, footy supremo V'landys has raised some concerns over the league's next television deal.
Their agreement with Nine will extend until the end of the 2027 season, but there are concerns that bosses could sell broadcasting rights to streaming services like DAZN, Netflix and Amazon - all of whom are keen to claim a slice of the pie.
Mail Sport reported back in March that the league wants to split the rights up in order to create a bidding war between free-to-air TV stations and subscription services.
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