Even after Super League Champions Wigan Warriors defeated the best of the NRL in the shape of NRL Premiers Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge, the NRL are still interested in buying the Super League as has been reported widely.
The reports and rumours are continuing with RFL officials headed over to America this week for the NRL kick-off in Las Vegas where it is believed there will be a meeting with NRL officials about the future of Super League and where it is viewed within the wider rugby league world.
Could this be the meeting that gets the wheels turning on an NRL purchase of Super League? Or will this just be a routine meeting.
Fans will wish they could be a fly on the wall for the meeting as reports fly around about the potential for the NRL to buy the competition.
Record profits driving Super League purchase
Even French media are now reporting on this with Treize Mondial claiming that the decision to pursue this purchase comes because of a record year in terms of revenue and profits, the NRL continues to explore ways to expand its supremacy. The Super League seems to be a way forward.
The NRL has recently expanded with a 17th team, the Dolphins, and the 18th is expected to make an appearance very soon. The two opening games of this 2024 season will take place in Las Vegas on an American territory to be conquered. It is therefore logical that the NRL would be interested in the Super League in its expansion ambitions.
For several years now, the Super League has been searching for an identity. If the Catalan Dragons are now well established, Toulouse Olympique made a return trip too quickly and the Toronto project was a failure. In addition, the up/down systems have changed several times and at the end of this season again this will change with the system implemented by IMG. So the NRL is probably thinking that they could put a bit of a framework on this. But of course, they probably see it as in their interest above all else. To sell their brand and encourage player movement, with the best of course ending up in the NRL. Good or bad?
