The push for Perth to be the home of the NRL’s 18th team was revived in a meeting between Western Australia premier Roger Cook and Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys at Racing NSW’s Druitt Street headquarters on Thursday morning.
The meeting came on the same day as the NRL rejected an offer of a $20 million licence fee from the privately owned consortium behind the Western Bears and instead chose to back a Western Australian government proposal for a Perth-based team worth up to $500 million in funding and infrastructure investment.
WA premier Roger Cook leaves a meeting with Peter V’landys on Thursday morning.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Cook met with V’landys’ after the ARLC chairman asked the WA government to kick in $120 million ($12 million a year over 10 years) to ensure a team was established on the west coast of Australia.
There was significant progress in the first face-to-face meeting of the influential pair as the WA government offered a significant financial uplift in its contribution to the bid.
Under the proposed operating model, the NRL would control the team in its start-up years before handing over the organisation to the club’s members and elected directors.
For its part, the WA government would help fund community, pathways, development and infrastructure projects.
NRL bosses Andrew Abdo and Peter V’landys.Credit: Nick Moir
That funding would be worth $350 million to $500 million and would include a proposal to increase Perth’s rectangular HBF Stadium from a 22,500-seat venue to a 27,000-seat venue and upgrade the stadium’s facilities to ensure the new team could earn up to 70 per cent of its game-day revenue from corporate partnerships.
It’s a redevelopment plan that has long been called for by soccer and rugby union bodies. The funding also includes major infrastructure upgrades.
The cost of opening HBF stadium is estimated to be $150,000 each game, but the government has offered a period of rent-free use for the NRL.
Another significant development is the in-principle agreement to match, dollar-for-dollar, any funding from NRL Western Australia.
HBF Stadium in Perth could be getting an upgrade.Credit: nib Stadium
Other channels of funding from the government would include an injection of $25 million (joint funded by the City of Fremantle and the state government) into a temporary high-performance facility at Ken Allen Field in Fremantle while a long-term centre of excellence, which will double as a community asset, is built in Malaga.
The government’s revised proposal included a revised offer of payment for a $20 million licence fee from the Western Bears consortium that was rejected by the NRL last month.
The NRL believes a direct partnership with the WA government is a better option than allowing private investors to run the Perth club.
The WA government has also pledged to introduce rugby league into the curriculum of up to 24 high schools in the Perth metropolitan area and says it will fund community development officers to ensure that the elite program is linked to the community grassroots programs. A lack of connection between the two was deemed as a shortcoming of failed Super Rugby franchise Western Force.
Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality told this masthead the NRL was willing to draw forward on the annual club grant (approximately $17 million a year per club) to provide the Perth team financial assistance in its start-up months before they entered the competition.
The WA government has indicated it is not opposed to the Bears brand, which has been a prerequisite for the NRL to consider a team from Perth.
Preliminary discussions have been had for the team to play at least a trial game at North Sydney Oval each year. There is also a suggestion that a Perth-based team could play at least one NRL game in Sydney each year, potentially against North Sydney’s former joint venture partner Manly at Allianz Stadium.
While it wasn’t discussed at Thursday’s meeting, a Perth-based team would like the NRL to consider making players available to sign in 2027 as soon as the team is announced as the 18th franchise.
Under current rules, a team in Perth would not be able to sign a player until November 1 next year, as long as they weren’t contracted beyond 2026.
One of the ideas floated is the potential for Perth to enter negotiations with any player coming off contract in 2026 at any time but an expression of interest in a particular player would then make him available for all other clubs to negotiate with to ensure the Bears aren’t given an unfair advantage.
The NRL wants to press forward with discussions in the hope of announcing a new team by the end of the year, providing it with a launchpad to go to broadcasters with as it heads into negotiations for the lucrative TV rights from 2028. It appears a foregone conclusion that a team in Papua New Guinea will be handed the license to be the 19th team.
