The NRL would exhaust its cash reserves within three months if the competition was suspended, it emerged on Sunday, as Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys warned of the “catastrophic” danger the coronavirus spread posed to the code.

While the season will continue this week behind closed doors, V’landys admitted he could not expect broadcasters Nine and Foxtel to pay their monthly instalments from the $1.8 billion television deal that props up the game if matches had to be called off.

The NRL on Sunday moved to support clubs by opening up its distress fund and providing each of the 16 teams $425,000 immediately. The clubs stand to lose a combined $5 million per round in lost match-day revenue, including from ticket sales, merchandise and memberships, and league officials also estimate it would cost the game $20m in forfeited earnings for each match of the State of Origin series if it was played without crowds.

However, those losses are dwarfed by the financial freefall the code would be propelled into should the competition be forced into a shutdown by a positive COVID-19 test to a player or other person connected to a team, or by another factor related to the pandemic.