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Adelaide Bears - Is Adelaide the right fit for Norths?

The Daddy3

Juniors
Messages
89
It's been discussed on a few threads so may as well start a thread of its own on the subject.

As a general note, I'm not in favour of Norths being readmitted into the NRL under any guise either on their own or by teaming up with another bid team or expansion club.

However if I was leading Norths I would look at Adelaide as the best and most realistic opportunity of getting back into the comp. If anything they are suited to each other and has what the other is lacking.

As a comparison, let's look at Norths attempts of joining up with a Perth bid team. The Perth bid is going to receive backing from the Western Australia government, there will also be plenty of sponsorship opportunities in Perth as it has quite a significant economy that includes several major mining companies.
Perth has a population of over 2 million and the whole state nearly 3 million a large and growing number of potential fans. This foundation indicates that they do not need and wouldn't be dependent on any resources from Norths.

My general view is that the huge potential of a Perth based teams overshadows anything Norths have to offer and I include the Norths brand and history in that.
If anything Perth locals will be deterred from supporting a club that has its roots elsewhere.

Adelaide on the other hand has no local bid team, it does have a declining population and is not necessarily crying out for a local team but is still one of Australia's major centres and would get a decent level of local support, add to that I do think the NRL needs an Adelaide team to have a comp which feels truly national.
The sponsorship that Norths would bring to the table would complement input from local sponsorship to make it commercially viable.

For an Adelaide bid to work to their benefit they will need to have control of the licence that a Perth bid team will not agree to give them and also control of the club and every aspect of the bid. I can actually see this working and the Norths brand would give an Adelaide club a buzz that it wouldn't be able to generate on its own purely from a nostalgic standpoint. Casual fans would take interest in a Norths return as they were about Souths re-entering the comp or the admission of The Dolphins.

The key point though for it to be of benefit to the game is that the majority of games should still take place in Adelaide with maybe 3-4 games in Sydney.

My concern in such a partnership is that Norths would want to give the club a new generic name like The Bears so that it still appeals to a Norths fanbase and obviously there would be a general concern of Norths packing up and moving back to Sydney full time.
There would need to be contractual assurances in place to prevent this.

In short I wouldn't be against this alliance if it was called Adelaide Bears and I see it as Norths and Adelaide's best hope of returning to the NRL, they need each other.
 
Last edited:

Pneuma

First Grade
Messages
5,475
It's been discussed on a few threads so may as well start a thread of its own on the subject.

As a general note, I'm not in favour of Norths being readmitted into the NRL under any guise either on their own or by teaming up with another bid team or expansion club.

However if I was leading Norths I would look at Adelaide as the best and most realistic opportunity of getting back into the comp. If anything they are suited to each other and has what the other is lacking.

As a comparison, let's look at Norths attempts of joining up with a Perth bid team. The Perth bid is going to receive backing from the Western Australia government, there will also be plenty of sponsorship opportunities in Perth as it has quite a significant economy that includes several major mining companies.
Perth has a population of over 2 million and the whole state nearly 3 million a large and growing number of potential fans. This foundation indicates that they do not need and wouldn't be dependent on any resources from Norths.

My general view is that the huge potential of a Perth based teams overshadows anything Norths have to offer and I include the Norths brand and history in that.
If anything Perth locals will be deterred from supporting a club that has its roots elsewhere.

Adelaide on the other hand has no local bid team, it does have a declining population and is not necessarily crying out for a local team but is still one of Australia's major centres and would get a decent level of local support, add to that I do think the NRL needs an Adelaide team to have a comp which feels truly national.
The sponsorship that Norths would bring to the table would complement input from local sponsorship to make it commercially viable.

For an Adelaide bid to work to their benefit they will need to have control of the licence that a Perth bid team will not agree to give them and also control of the club and every aspect of the bid. I can actually see this working and the Norths brand would an Adelaide club a buzz that it wouldn't be able to generate on its own purely from a nostalgic standpoint. Casual fans would take interest in a Norths return as they were about Souths re-entering the comp or the admission of The Dolphins.

The key point though for it to be of benefit to the game is that the majority of games should still take place in Adelaide with maybe 3-4 games in Sydney.

My concern in such a partnership is that Norths would want to give the club a new generic name like The Bears so that it still appeals to a Norths fanbase and obviously there would be a general concern of Norths packing up and moving back to Sydney full time.
There would need to be contractual assurances in place to prevent this.

In short I wouldn't be against this alliance if it was called Adelaide Bears and I see it as Norths and Adelaide's best hope of returning to the NRL, they need each other.
To be brief, I wish the bears would go away
 
Messages
4,463
I’ve seen a lot of people post or have their opinions on Bears readmission over the years. Bugger, I was heavily involved in early days of CC - if you believe in something you keep fighting for it. But it has to be viable for all parties from both a business and future development sense.

What I never understood is the bogan mentality of the who cares about them - plenty people care, and plenty of people with deep pockets at that. Everyone should have the right to want their club to perform well and in this instance for Bears fans doing well is simply winning their battle and re-entering the comp and in doing so, providing whatever/wherever location that may be in - sound branding, player development and pathways, financial security and ability to generate growth for the game overall.

There really isn’t much more to say than that.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,789
I’ve seen a lot of people post or have their opinions on Bears readmission over the years. Bugger, I was heavily involved in early days of CC - if you believe in something you keep fighting for it. But it has to be viable for all parties from both a business and future development sense.

What I never understood is the bogan mentality of the who cares about them - plenty people care, and plenty of people with deep pockets at that. Everyone should have the right to want their club to perform well and in this instance for Bears fans doing well is simply winning their battle and re-entering the comp and in doing so, providing whatever/wherever location that may be in - sound branding, player development and pathways, financial security and ability to generate growth for the game overall.

There really isn’t much more to say than that.
As opposed to the bogan mentality of not caring about what is in the interest of anybody else, having no care about the happenings outside of the boarders of your city, and being deluded enough to think you're in a position to demand to effectively be the 10th team from Sydney when other major cities don't even have one...

If the Bears brand was truly as valuable as some people believe the club would have more than 2k members and be drawing strong crowds regularly. . . The club's demands aren't worth the chump change that the NSLC could offer to places like Perth and Adelaide, places like that don't need to give away ownership and home games to tap into talent pools in the heartlands, and should be given the freedom to create their own identity, not be forced to wear the rotting carcase of a dead club from Sydney as a skinsuit to be given something amounting to a fair go in the sport.

It'll be an unforgiveable travesty if PVL chooses to make a handful of nostalgia soaked geriatrics in Sydney happy by allowing the Bears to take advantage of a city like Perth or Adelaide's position within the sport to backdoor themselves back into the NRL at the expense of a genuine attempt to grow the sport in one of those cities.
 
Messages
4,463
As opposed to the bogan mentality of not caring about what is in the interest of anybody else, having no care about the happenings outside of the boarders of your city, and being deluded enough to think you're in a position to demand to effectively be the 10th team from Sydney when other major cities don't even have one...

If the Bears brand was truly as valuable as some people believe the club would have more than 2k members and be drawing strong crowds regularly. . . The club's demands aren't worth the chump change that the NSLC could offer to places like Perth and Adelaide, places like that don't need to give away ownership and home games to tap into talent pools in the heartlands, and should be given the freedom to create their own identity, not be forced to wear the rotting carcase of a dead club from Sydney as a skinsuit to be given something amounting to a fair go in the sport.

It'll be an unforgiveable travesty if PVL chooses to make a handful of nostalgia soaked geriatrics in Sydney happy by allowing the Bears to take advantage of a city like Perth or Adelaide's position within the sport to backdoor themselves back into the NRL at the expense of a genuine attempt to grow the sport in one of those cities.
That’s a lot of dribble for a Sunday morning.

But hey good for you mate. 👍
 

Bukowski

Juniors
Messages
1,710
As opposed to the bogan mentality of not caring about what is in the interest of anybody else, having no care about the happenings outside of the boarders of your city, and being deluded enough to think you're in a position to demand to effectively be the 10th team from Sydney when other major cities don't even have one...

If the Bears brand was truly as valuable as some people believe the club would have more than 2k members and be drawing strong crowds regularly. . . The club's demands aren't worth the chump change that the NSLC could offer to places like Perth and Adelaide, places like that don't need to give away ownership and home games to tap into talent pools in the heartlands, and should be given the freedom to create their own identity, not be forced to wear the rotting carcase of a dead club from Sydney as a skinsuit to be given something amounting to a fair go in the sport.

It'll be an unforgiveable travesty if PVL chooses to make a handful of nostalgia soaked geriatrics in Sydney happy by allowing the Bears to take advantage of a city like Perth or Adelaide's position within the sport to backdoor themselves back into the NRL at the expense of a genuine attempt to grow the sport in one of those cities.
Great post
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
12,155
I agree with you on that. I suppose I was writing the post in terms of what I would do if I was in their position and what their best bet is.
I like the branding, the history, the fact its one of the inagural clubs, its just a shame that they've hoared themselves to every bid they could to get back into the comp at 1st grade level, another club doing the same media tactics is east tigers, so now we have two hoars at the expansion gates waiting to come in..
I wish them well, hopefully they smarten up and look to venture to the areas of Adelaide or Christchurch or wherever the NRL thinks they can blossom and add to the comp rather than cannibalise existing areas
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
12,155
Please enlighten me.
FFS here we go, another long winded boring bullshìt dribble from the great dip shit, here to enlighten us on how to think like an elitist wanker and proclaiming to be a fan of the old bears, whilst dumping shit on them everytime they try to promote themselves
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,789
FFS here we go, another long winded boring bullshìt dribble from the great dip shit, here to enlighten us on how to think like an elitist wanker and proclaiming to be a fan of the old bears, whilst dumping shit on them everytime they try to promote themselves
Ambulance chasing and trying to tack yourself onto every bid in existence isn't promoting yourself, it's the weak desperation of a non-entity that's unsuccessfully trying to remain relevant.

Selling tickets and memberships, getting people in the community involved, filling the niche for genuine suburban footy like Newtown has been doing for years now, advertising, etc, etc, is promoting yourself.

They might have more that 2k members and an average attendance that's not too dissimilar from some of the smaller NRL sides if they'd been doing that for the last 20 years instead whinging about getting the arse, chasing ambulances, and wasting time and money on a f**king NRL bid that was doomed to fail from the beginning.
 
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