For all you conspiracy theorists, here's a good one...
Imagine if you will an NRL team thats had a chequered history and has never in it's 50 years won a premiership. In fact, only a couple of seasons earlier they were decimated by a government trying to give the people something else to look at so they wouldn't look at something else.
Think about what you could use as a catchcry in your advertising and promos all season - Maybe use "History Happens". Make sure they play the best team that season in the GF so everyone knows that they did it against the best.
Imagine the support and $$$ that would roll in during the final series and GF with the community getting right behind said team, packing out all the venues. It'll be the best "good news" story in years.
See, it's easy.