An audit of the NRL’s controversial digital investment has confirmed the prediction of the ARLC’s inaugural chairman, John Grant, that the asset could be worth one billion dollars and, therefore, it would be foolish to sell it prematurely.

Incoming chair Peter V’landys is a renowned cost-cutter and fears he would roll back the NRL’s digital department, or even sell it to a commercial partner, gained traction at his first press conference when he said, “We’re not going into the space of our media partners".

However, in a seemingly contradictory comment, V’landys also indicated the ARLC would consider in-house production of NRL games, therefore putting it competition with media partners, News Corporation, Nine and Telstra.

The audit, which was commissioned to validate a $10m entry in the NRL balance sheet, established that its digital business could double in value in the next two years to just under one billion dollars, based on revenue from a number of sources – direct advertising, sponsorship, sales and broadcast.