News Wrap | Monday, May 11 | Rugby Australias financials, NRL bumper broadcast deal imminent, Victoria exempts professional sport

In Mondays wrap, the details in Rugby Australias financials are revealed, the NRL is due to sign a bumper tv deal over 7 years and Victoria announces an exemption to allow professional sports teams to train together.

General

• Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has declared his state is ready for footy to be back, announcing special exemptions for the return of professional sport.

Broadcasting

• The cash-strapped NRL is just days away from securing a stunning new TV broadcast deal worth up to $2.3 billion, the richest in Australia’s sporting history.

AFL and Australian Football

• After almost two months without footy, the AFL is set to finalise its return-to-play plan early this week
• St Kilda has a better chance than most AFL clubs to overcome the devastation COVID-19 will leave behind, according to CEO Matt Finnis.
• South Australia has dropped player payments in its state football league this season, and now the TSL is considering whether it will follow suit.
• The chase for the all-mighty dollar is the motivation for Hawthorn and North Melbourne’s push to play home games in Tasmania, not for the good of the state, says one of the drivers behind the Roos’ deal.

ARU and Rugby Union

• Rugby Australia’s disastrous financial position can finally be revealed with the organisation blowing $500 million over the past four years.
• Rugby faces financial collapse as Optus and Fox Sports turn their back on the struggling code, leaving the game with few if any options for broadcasting beyond 2020.

Cricket

• The prospect of Australia fulfilling its white ball tour of England in July looks increasingly remote, after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the country is far from ready to completely ease its lockdown.

NRL and Rugby League

• ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is confident the major hurdles to the NRL’s competition restart will be cleared within the next week including a broadcast deal, draw and final rule changes
• ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has vowed to cut $50 million a year in costs. Here’s how it will be done
• the ABC is set to investigate the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted by rugby league.
• The Queensland government needs to hold its ground against the flip-flopping NRL in the battle over players refusing to be vaccinated
• ARLC chair Peter V’landys could walk away from rugby league if he inks a record TV deal with broadcasters and re-starts the competition on May 28, satisfied he has achieved a boyhood ambition.

International

• Lewis Hamilton says a return to Formula One post-coronavirus without fans will be ‘worse than a test day’
• The Premier League faces a week of chaos after hopes of government direction on Project Restart were dashed by the prime minister.
• Six EPL clubs battling relegation don’t want to play games at neutral venues
• A group of American investors is promising to revolutionise rugby by recruiting the world’s biggest names to a new league in the United States.