Inaugural ARL Commission Chairman John Grant says securing the game's immediate financial future is the top priority for the code's new governing body, revealing negotiations for the next broadcast rights deal are already underway.
Grant and the other seven commissioners - Catherine Harris, Ian Elliot, Peter Gregg, Wayne Pearce, Gary Pemberton, Jeremy Sutcliffe and Dr Chris Sarra - were sworn in on Friday.
The new Commission will replace the ARL and NRL boards, with News Limited no longer a stake holder in the game.
"The process formally began on February 1 and as you could well imagine we've been fairly well briefed as commissioners elect on the various aspects of the broadcast rights and the key points around negotiation, and now it becomes a negotiation," Grant told a packed media conference at the code's new Moore Park headquarters on Friday.
"And we've got expectations around that negotiation as everyone else does and it's big stakes ... we're playing for a reconstruction of the finances of the game in a very significant way."
The AFL secured a record $1.25billion five-year broadcast deal last April.
Quizzed on what figure rugby league can expect to secure, a cautious Grant replied: "I think the reasonable expectation of everyone is that we'll get a substantial improvement in the value of the rights."
David Gallop, who will continue to handle the day-to-day running of the code as CEO of the ARL Commission, confirmed the negotiations are likely to continue for 'some months'.
He concedes last week's controversial court ruling allowing Optus to broadcast delayed video of matches on its mobile phone network could not have come at a worse time for rugby league.
But the veteran administrator is confident the federal government will step in and amend the current copyright laws in order to prevent the unauthorised broadcasting of matches.
"It is a matter of great concern to us ... and this development is clearly an example of technology overtaking the law, given where rugby league is placed in terms of the negotiations that we're in, it couldn't have come as a worse time to have this uncertainty," Gallop said.
"But the good news is we got a good reception from the government, there were more talks held yesterday, and we're hopeful that everyone recognises it's something that needs to be fixed and fixed quickly."
"Appeal papers will be lodged today but our view is that while the appeal is important it's also important that the copyright act gets amended."
"That amendment is a relatively simple one and one that will preserve the position of those who are copyright holders such as the sports, because that's an asset on our balance sheet."
Gallop was bullish when asked what price the code can command for its new rights deal but would not commit to a specific figure.
"We know this game is producing outstanding results across the media platforms and there's been growth in that over the last few years because of the strategies that the game's put in place," Gallop said.
"We have eight fantastic games every weekend in this competition and that is compelling content."
"We know that our competitors (the AFL) achieved a price, we know that live sport is something that the broadcasters know works for them, so that puts us in a good position but it doesn't mean we can put precision on the number."
"It's a bit like selling real estate, you can get the house ready but come auction day there's no set number that you can predict."