Something interesting about the undersold NRL TV rights deal.

[dallymessenger]

funny how Chandos goes missing

hi, big night out, got home at 6.

 

[dallymessenger]

That is not correct. Both the NRL Board and the Partnership Executive Committee are composed of six members. Each of the owners, News Ltd and the ARL, appoint three members to each board. Each decision requires a majority. A tied vote on any proposal results in the proposal failing to pass. Effectively no decison can be taken without the agreement and compliance of both News Ltd and the ARL. That includes signing off on under valued television rights agreements.

"The decision-making structure underpinning the NRL competition includes a partnership executive committee (PEC) as well as the NRL Ltd board of directors. Both the PEC and the NRL board have six members (three nominees each from ARFL Ltd and News Ltd)."

http://books.google.com/books?id=DhWcsvGbAocC&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&dq=nrl+partnership+board&source=web&ots=r-GecMhkR1&sig=uciFsUpP-5x5OfTePvm-9EySSjc&hl=en

"A Partnership Executive Committee administers the agreement between the Australian Rugby League and News Limited as well as making major financial decisions.[28] Three representatives from each party make up this committee. A National Rugby League Board, which is commissioned by the Partnership Committee and is comprised of six delegates - three from each party - is responsible for administering the competition. Both bodies nominate a Chairman to lead each board for a term of 12 months on an alternating basis"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rugby_League

"it is the NRL Partnership Board ... which makes decisions on the number of clubs and media contracts."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/01/19/1106110816440.html


"News Ltd takes a more pragmatic view: blame its equity partners. After all, it is true nothing can be approved by the Partnership Board unless both sides agree..."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/how-news-ltd-sunk-its-claws-in-league/2007/03/09/1173166982379.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

"The NRL Partnership Agreement provided that the partners (ARL and NRLI) agreed to conduct the ‘Business’ (that is, the business of owning and operating the NRL Competition) (cl 3.1). Each partner held an equal interest in the NRL Partnership (cll 6.2, 6.3). Each partner was to appoint three members of the NRL PEC, the decisions of which were binding on the partners (cl 5.1). The Chairman of the NRL PEC was to be nominated by each partner in alternate years, but was not to have a casting vote (cl 5.5).
3072 The NRL PEC was to:

‘have sole power and authority to give all approvals and to make all decisions and determinations by the Partners under this Agreement’ (cl 5.7).
​

The NRL PEC could delegate its powers (cl 5.7). However, certain powers were ‘exclusive and non-delegable’ (cl 5.8). These included decisions with respect to:

‘the entry into, amendment or termination of any contracts in relation to Key Revenue Rights’ (cl 5.8(d)).
​

The expression ‘Key Revenue Rights’ was defined to mean ‘all media, sponsorship and merchandising rights ... in relation to the NRL Competition’ (cl 1.1)."

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2007/1062.html?query=NATIONAL%20RUGBY%20LEAGUE%20LIMITED#_Ref172620907

​

So firstly, check your facts before spouting off about who has what power within the game. And secondly, ask yourself why isn't the ARL under the leadership of Colin Love using its blocking vote on the NRL Executive to prevent the competition accepting undervalued media rights deals that are not in the game's best interests?

Leigh.

hey di*khead, if youd been reading my posts you would see that i made that very point about the ARL agreeing with the TV deals.

and ive read before that news have the casting vote, ill check around and get back to you if you are correct.

 

[dallymessenger]

That's a lot of people traveling from the gong to achieve that figure and with Sydney Rail's form?

nope just fans from sydney. saints have a powerful brandname and lots of fans from parents who grew up when they won 11 straight

 

[mark123]

Babyface - you speak about passion.

Passion cannot exist if all your clubs are broke.

I purely believe its a balancing act that is being played out. Maybe the edict is "lets recoup all the money we can and if clubs fall to the wayside, so be it. There are too many in any case, and it will only make everyone else stronger - which because everyone is relitively weak, this is only a good thing."

Or is it " Do this, and clubs will fold, this is exactly what we want. Its our purpose now."


Or is it: "Gee, we did want to undervalue the tv contracts in order to make back money faster, but damn you know, maybe we undervalued it too much. I mean, we didn't take into account all the inflationary pressures, etc that are bound to strike a sport, or the pokie tax.....sh!t man, can we alter the contracts now? Oh right, yeah, um, they were signed off. Lets make a new one! Here use this napkin!!! Who's got a pen?!!"


You see, I think it might just be a bit of all those 3. Its a complex situation, but those who pull the strings, you know, I think they still feel in control, and the outcome to be had of all of it will be the best one. We know that there are too many clubs in sydney. Unless things change. And even then, I'm sorry, I can't believe there is enough to go around.


Looking at Passion and business and the balance. Ok.

Man, you need to take a GOOD HARD LONG...Baby-blue-eyes LOOK at the

NFL

Bundesliga of Germany

English Premier League




and to a lesser extent, and out of a "general feel" of the situation; the NBA and Major League Baseball

 

[Billythekid]

Mark123 - Whilst i agree there are to many teams in Sydney your comparisons are a little unfair. Sydney contains more than 1/5 of the Australian population. So whilst we have a few to many at the moment there will always be room to have quite a few Sydney clubs. Ideally i think about 5 would be ideal, getting down to that number is a different story.

 

[russ13]

Where are you getting these stats from?

Brisbane averaged 31K in 2006 and 34K in 2007.

http://stats.rleague.com/rl/crowds/summary.html

Also not counted in those stats is a Broncos V Titans (Titans' Home game) crowd of 48,500.

This would bring their average to over 36,000.

Also don't forget just about every Broncos game is screened on FTA in South-East Queensland.

 

[Quidgybo]

hey di*khead, if youd been reading my posts you would see that i made that very point about the ARL agreeing with the TV deals.

And that's exactly the point I wanted you to reiterate because in one sentence you've made any argument about casting votes totally irrelevant - no casting vote was required. We expect News Ltd to try and screw the game for everything they can. But we have the right to expect and demand better from the ARL. Their job is protect, promote, develop and generally do the best possible for the game of RL in Australia. Quite plainly, under the leadership of Colin Love, the ARL isn't doing that when it agrees to an undervalued TV deal.

and ive read before that news have the casting vote, ill check around and get back to you if you are correct.

No doubt on the back of a Fruit Loops box or in a Phil Gould opinion piece. You can quote whatever you like. That last section I quoted was taken from the judgment of the Federal Court of Australia in the Seven Network vs News Ltd case (ie. C7). So unless you've got a quote proving that the NRL Partnership Agreement, which was presented as evidence in that case, was fabricated you're out of luck. The NRL is a 50/50 partnership with no casting vote. The ARL had the power to block any undervalued television deal and didn't. As the organisation chartered with fostering and protecting RL in Australia, the ARL's leaders must be held accountable for that decision.

But none the less I await with interest your getting back to me with your sources to the contrary.

Leigh

 

[Brutus]

Also don't forget just about every Broncos game is screened on FTA in South-East Queensland.

That is no longer the case

 

[El Diablo]

i really hope you put my 50/50 quote in your sig, Chandos

 

[Slackboy72]

Not having a dig at broncs fans but that crowd figure of 24,664 is pretty poor for a one team town and especially when you consider their overall success. Imagine if they have a dud year! Anyway looking at that attendance average, do you think Slackboy, if that's the sought of crowd figure we could expect/hope for an almagamated club, is it really worth putting the fans through the heartache of rationalization?
Not having a dig at you either BTW.

Those figures are home AND away. If you look at them compared to home figures you should be able to see how well teams 'travel'. The Broncos average around 35,000 at home but playing away, mostly interstate, really drags down their average.