I suspect most rugby league followers don’t regard The Financial Review
as their preferred newspaper, but fans should make a one-off exception
and get a copy of last Friday’s issue of the national business daily.

No
issue has attracted such a strong and overwhelming response in the 18
months I have been writing this column as the Super League issue, and The Fin’s
three-page article sets out, in graphic detail, not only just how much
the Super League “war” cost News Corp, but points to the on-going costs
that may attract the attention of the News hierarchy when Lachlan
Murdoch departs the executive offices.

And the article
confirms that the cost of the Super League, which was an appalling
indulgence, is far worse than has ever been reported or alluded to.

I always believed the “war” cost News around $200-300 million, and the cost to PBL/Optus somewhat less. If the AFR
report is accurate – and News CEO John Hartigan didn’t deny the number
in a letter to the paper today – Super League cost News $560 million,
with the meter still ticking.

One has to ask, how could a “war” that really only lasted three seasons cost over half a billion dollars?

The full story is on the site here.