NRL on track to smash $45 million surplus, opens up books

The NRL is on track to achieve a projected $45 million surplus in the first year of its record $1.8 billion five-year broadcast cycle as League Central opened up the books to club chairs and chief executives on Friday.

Under a pledge made by Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter Beattie, the NRL gave the first of a series of planned presentations to the game's key stakeholders, using it to insist that it was financially in good health.

It reported a half-year surplus of $27.8m, well on the way to achieving a a budgeted $45m boon for its financial year, which ends on October 31.

Any extra money made above the $45m projection will be placed into a ledger to be split equally between the clubs, players, grassroots and NRL at the end of the current broadcast cycle, which is due to expire in 2022.

A $6m increase in corporate support for the code compared to the first half of last financial year underpinned the game's positive result, which can in part be attributed to a season almost devoid of player behaviour scandals.

Revenue from the NRL's new digital venture and the Telstra rights deal also helped the strong half-yearly result, with an increase of 269 per cent from the corresponding time last year.

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