A radical overhaul of rugby league is being considered by the National Rugby league with four-quarter football over 100 minutes under consideration, according to an Australian newspaper report.
The Daily Telegraph says the NRL's rules and competition committee has floated the idea and initial discussions have been positive but any changes, if they are agreed, would be several years away.
The proposal reportedly would see four quarters of 25 minutes with five-minute breaks for each quarter and 10 minutes at half-time.
NRL Trophy Photo: Photosport
The interchange bench would increase from four players to eight, increasing the match-day squad to 21, to avoid adding more workload on the players.
The report says the changes would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in extra revenue from the TV networks through quarter-time advertising breaks and an extra 20 minutes of game time.
The committee also raised the prospect of expanding the Premiership to an 18-team competition with one from Brisbane and another from Australia or New Zealand.
Matches would run for over two hours instead of 90 minutes as it is now.
Potentially, the NRL television deal could be almost doubled to $2 billion from what the code is offering the TV networks.