Super League will be ‘owned’ by the NRL according to one leading journalist Down Under with an extraordinary timeline given.
Rugby League in the UK continues to struggle financially and that is evident from the very top with the current saga involving Salford Red Devils who were unable to pay their players on time.
Meanwhile, the NRL has just recorded its strongest-ever financial year with revenue of $745.1 million and a combined profit of over $250 million across the past four years.
The financial void between the two competitions is immense and that comes down to matters such as production as well with commentator Greg ‘Brandy’ Alexander speaking with shock about the fact Sky Sports presenter Brian Carney revealed Super League games are not produced from a studio.
He revealed that on his and Andrew Voss’ SEN Radio show, ‘Breakfast with Vossy and Brandy‘, where they had leading journalist Michael Carayannis reveal that Super League could be bought by the NRL as soon as the end of 2025.
Super League to be ‘owned’ by the NRL with prediction made
Having spoken about Carney’s revelation that Sky Sports don’t operate out of a studio for Super League games, Brandy stated: “The Super League let’s say is in the toilet, isn’t it? It’s in a really bad state.”
To that, Carayannis responded: “It is, we’ve spoken before that you could have bought the London Broncos if you wanted to for a dollar but you’d have to inherit their debt and the ongoing costs, which is the ongoing issue.
“Salford players hadn’t been paid for a while. The competition is in a hole and what that has led to is the fact that the NRL (could buy Super League).”
Carayannis expanded on that and confirmed that some major figures are now driving it before his prediction that Super League will be ‘owned’ by the NRL by the end of the 2025 season.
He explained: “It’s been mooted for the last couple of years but now it’s serious. There was a couple of crucial meetings in Las Vegas and there will be some more in the next few weeks where a couple of the NRL club bosses are on a committee now driving this.
“I think probably by the end of this season, the NRL will own Super League.”
Whilst in Las Vegas, Brian Carney spoke with Matty Johns who backed NRL string-puller Peter V’landys to transform Super League’s fortunes and Andrew Voss agreed.
He said: “As a lover of British Rugby League, it is untapped potential but in a very very hard market. You need a map and you just see this little band across the north of England where rugby league’s strength is and then you’ve got a little bit in the South of France.
“How you get bigger than that I believe is beyond those in England to do, for all their good intentions. I think they need a V’landys-style thinker. I’m going to back it.
“It ain’t going to happen overnight but it will happen. NRL will make the Super League better.”
