Initial 1.8 billion with potential to be over 2 billion.
the Superleague deal.

Are you sure that's the exchange rate for Aussie dollars, or USD?

The thing is, RL in Austrialia is a much bigger deal than it is in the UK.

It's a mainstream sport over there the way that football is over here. That's why they're such a gap between the deals. It would be better to compare this deal to the one struck for Premier League rights rather than to what SL gets.

Money is the root of the issue and even before this new deal there was more of it in the Aussie game than the British one. More coming in, more to be made

Quote: Charlie Sheen "Are you sure that's the exchange rate for Aussie dollars, or USD?'" www.xe.com/currencyconverter/con ... AUD&To=GBP Have a look.

Quote: Charlie Sheen "Are you sure that's the exchange rate for Aussie dollars, or USD?'" www.xe.com/currencyconverter/con ... AUD&To=GBP Have a look.

Why are people so surprised that the NRL gets a lot more tv money than SL?

Given the salary cap disparity between NRL and SL, it was smart for the RFL to allow the marquee player exemption. However by 2018 the only really good Antipodeans playing in Super League will be the few marquee players.

How many 'really good' Antipodeans play here now though? It's not like we have all the big names clamouring to get over, it's normally top players in their twilight of their careers after one last big pay day that they can't find in the NRL, the bad boy brigade who are banished, or journeymen that have gone on to prove better players in SL than the NRL and have got better money over here. Don't see too much change TBH.

As of 2015 season, I would specify off the top of my head some really good Antipodeans in SL as:

Todd Carney
John Zebolon Ta'ia
Albert Kelly
Terence Campese
Kenneth Sio
Adam Cuthbertson
Paul Aiton
Joel Monaghan
Luke Walsh

Of those I would argue that only Todd Carney and Joel Monaghan fit into the "bad boy" category, and only Terence Campese came over in his "career twilight." The others came to Super League mid career as top players from NRL teams (esp. Sio from Parramatta and Walsh from Penrith). Kelly was an NRL star for Gold Coast when not injured, a tendency replicated at Hull KR.

This will undoubtably see more top players going to the NRL. Still it's better than them going to union.

Super League is lucky (and rugby league in general unlucky) that the NRL did not expand the number of clubs by two or three. It would have seen a massive exodus of current Antipodean import stars from Super League back to the NRL by 2018. As it is, should Elliot Whitehead, Joseph Burgess and Benjamin Garcia be successful in the NRL-- and I think that they will -- expect some NRL clubs to start scouting the ranks of Super League for more English and French talent to import. (I certainly hope that some NRL scout finds Lucas Albert before he is much older, so that he can be properly coached into becoming a world class five eighth for France)

If the NRL salary cap was to double from $7M to $14M (the last tv deal was worth $1billion this one is $2billion) how would that compare with the salary caps of rival codes, Aussie rules, super15 rugby, French and English rugby union?

The NRL and ARL are very similar, NRL up 69% to initial 1.8 billion dollars, ARL up 67% to initial 2.5 billion dollars. I seem to remember the ARL about 5 years ago had a massive marketing and advertising campaign which increased attendances and deals massively, our RFL at Red Hall are not on the same page with marketing so I suppose you reap what you sew.