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Financial fragility of the game

Timbo

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,270
clearly can, as they just have done lol

They have just done because of a global pandemic which falls under the act of god clause in the contracts you f**king idiot.

If they went to the players and said ‘we’re reducing the salary cap by 30% and you all have to take a 30% pay cut because, reasons’ two things would happen:

1 - the players would go on strike

Followed by

2 - the players would sue the league

I really want to like you because occasionally you do say some clever stuff on here but please just f**king try to engage common sense before typing.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
They have just done because of a global pandemic which falls under the act of god clause in the contracts you f**king idiot.

If they went to the players and said ‘we’re reducing the salary cap by 30% and you all have to take a 30% pay cut because, reasons’ two things would happen:

1 - the players would go on strike

Followed by

2 - the players would sue the league

I really want to like you because occasionally you do say some clever stuff on here but please just f**king try to engage common sense before typing.

actually that isn’t the reason at all. The reason is because they have built into the EBA that the nrl can renegotiate salaries if revenue drops by 10% or more. Under my reset revenue will drop by around 15% so they are within their rights to renegotiate the salary cap. Best to think before you type mate and make yourself look a dick.
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,216
Its not relegation in the UK sense as it would require a NSW Cup side to knock off an NRL quality squad.

What it will do is provide incentive to strengthen the second tier and could result in some great stories e.g. Catalans or Toronto.

Even if a big club was relegated for a year, it would hard seeing someone like Broncos or Eels lurking down at that level for more than a year given all their resources.

No broadcaster is going to pay top dollar for a comp where the Broncos or even the Eels could drop to a lower division.
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,546
Its not relegation in the UK sense as it would require a NSW Cup side to knock off an NRL quality squad.

What it will do is provide incentive to strengthen the second tier and could result in some great stories e.g. Catalans or Toronto.

Even if a big club was relegated for a year, it would hard seeing someone like Broncos or Eels lurking down at that level for more than a year given all their resources.

Issue is best NSW Cup team today is made up from players 18 to 36 from the 30+6 NRL

ONLY after a return.of NRL RG could you entertain such a match
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
A really stark example of why our game continues to be blighted by lack of progress due to conflicts of interest getting in the way of good long term decisions. AFL is bailing it’s clubs out like nrl, however where as in nrl clubs and players are using it to exert more control and influence on nrl hq, in afl the aflhq are using it to reign the clubs in and have more control over the future of the game and the way clubs spend their money.

The AFL will assume unprecedented control over its clubs as part of the revolutionary new rescue package put forward on Thursday night to the 18 club bosses.
  • The AFL could further cut football department spending beyond the forecast $3 million and turn the soft cap into a hard cap.
  • McLachlan will also instruct the clubs to agree to a new cap on club administration costs in a bid to force all 18 businesses to cut more staff and additional costs.


https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...-season-without-afl-help-20200403-p54gsn.html
 
Last edited:

flippikat

Bench
Messages
4,378
A really stark example of why our game continues to be blighted by lack of progress due to conflicts of interest getting in the way of good long term decisions. AFL is bailing it’s clubs out like nrl, however where as in nrl clubs and players are using it to exert more control and influence on nrl hq, in afl the aflhq are using it to reign the clubs in and have more control over the future of the game and the way clubs spend their money.

A masterstroke.

To accept the bailout, clubs need to accept the conditions determined by head office, in the interests of the sustainability of the game.

Makes the NRL look like amateur hour.
 

Cactus

Juniors
Messages
677
Yet we have a piece written today lauding PVL as a great leader who is exactly what the game needs.But when I read it it came across to me as just another PR excercise and that Vlandy is fine tuning his media influence.

I hope I am wrong but so far, while I do see the ARLC doing all it can to get the game back on track, back on TV, back receiving money, its doing sweat bugga all towards making the hard decisions now to set the game up to prosper long term.
 

T-Boon

Coach
Messages
15,161
I would say the issue is that the NRL clubs are afraid of expansion and the game getting bigger and better because they are insecure about their own survival. Clubs that are obviously suburban and very limited in terms of how they can grow are actually repulsed at the idea of growth and they would be worried about how small they would look if other clubs joined the competition and got appropriate crowds and sponsorship. Thus they stand in the way of good governance.
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
If you believe the rumours Ch 10 now owned by ViacomCBS has been talking to the NRL about bidding on the next tv deal. They want a top line sport to improve there ratings in Sydney and Brisbane and are not interested in AFL.

The ARLC should definitely be looking at their rights to cancel the deal now and move to 10...

Not saying they should, but C9 are acting like they have all the powers in this situation, which they definitely dont.
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
Promotion and Relegation will never work in Australia. It works in places which are heavily populated and have enough support in small towns.

No broadcaster is going to pay top dollar for a comp where the Broncos or even the Eels could drop to a lower division.

I dont believe that P&R is just a “yes/no” question. Why do we need to copy someone else’s system? Why not create a hybrid that brings together the best parts of the current system AND a system of P&R?

I was saying in another thread that an Invitational system would give us a nice turnover of lower clubs for those great stories while maintaining the important clubs.

This is the system that would have prevented the SL war in 95; long term licenses for the important clubs (Knights, Broncos, etc) and those one-year license for the only the small clubs we were willing to drop. (Imagine if Murdoch had started SL and the only available teams were the ones the ARL wanted to cut)

P&R doesn't need to be random...
 

Jamberoo

Juniors
Messages
1,266
A masterstroke.

To accept the bailout, clubs need to accept the conditions determined by head office, in the interests of the sustainability of the game.

Makes the NRL look like amateur hour.
The current situation is RLs chance to get itself set up and run property. If not, the AFL will simply go further and further ahead. We will look back in 10 years and this will be the moment that AFL became the undisputed king of winter sports, or the moment that RL got its sh*t together and entered the modern world of how a sport should be run.
 

Chook Norris

First Grade
Messages
8,317
A really stark example of why our game continues to be blighted by lack of progress due to conflicts of interest getting in the way of good long term decisions. AFL is bailing it’s clubs out like nrl, however where as in nrl clubs and players are using it to exert more control and influence on nrl hq, in afl the aflhq are using it to reign the clubs in and have more control over the future of the game and the way clubs spend their money.

The AFL will assume unprecedented control over its clubs as part of the revolutionary new rescue package put forward on Thursday night to the 18 club bosses.
  • The AFL could further cut football department spending beyond the forecast $3 million and turn the soft cap into a hard cap.
  • McLachlan will also instruct the clubs to agree to a new cap on club administration costs in a bid to force all 18 businesses to cut more staff and additional costs.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...-season-without-afl-help-20200403-p54gsn.html

The main difference is the AFL has enough money to act like a bank and now has extra leverage. The NRL have f**k all money and have very little leverage. Priority number one after all of this? The NRL needs to use this crisis to their advantage and stock up on money
 

Chook Norris

First Grade
Messages
8,317
One of the few people in Australia who can genuinely talk about what good governance looks like across the financial sector, government and both the AFL and NRL. Essentially we are still stuck in early 1990


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...fl-is-so-much-better-off-20200404-p54h3k.html

Ex-AFL and NRL powerbroker: why the AFL is so much better off

Graeme Samuel, the only man to have served on the commissions of both the AFL and rugby league, has drawn a stark contrast between the "highly professional'' AFL's management that has helped the league to weather the current crisis compared with a "weakened'' and less professional NRL.

Samuel, the former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission who was a long-serving influential AFL commissioner and then served as an Australian Rugby League commissioner from 2013 until 2017, said the AFL had the financial structure and management to "protect itself'' in this crisis, but that the NRL had not yet reached the stage that the AFL did in 1992 of having "a professional governance structure'' and thus was in a weaker position.

Graeme Samuel has served on both the AFL and rugby league commissions.
Graeme Samuel has served on both the AFL and rugby league commission.

Samuel, who quit the rugby league commission in 2017 in frustration at what he viewed as NRL's less evolved culture, pointed out that the AFL, by buying Marvel Stadium and establishing a genuinely independent commission to govern the code, was in a position to borrow and navigate the current financial crisis.

But the NRL, he said, had depleted the code's "sustainability fund'' when clubs were in financial difficulty late in 2016, leaving rugby league's premier competition "in a weakened position to be able to deal with the current crisis''.

Samuel said the AFL's "impeccable'' administration and governance were coming to the fore now, but that the NRL was "clearly not in the same position'' as its rival code.


Samuel, who resigned from the ARL commission (which governs NRL) after disagreements with the direction under chairman John Grant – particularly over the ability of clubs to influence decisions – said unlike the AFL's governing body, which was independent of clubs, the ARL commission was "largely controlled by clubs''.

Samuel and another commissioner, Jeremy Smith, resigned from the ARL board, objecting to the commission allowing the clubs to raid the sustainability fund.

He said the AFL made its commission independent of clubs in 1992 via a report by David Crawford.

"The NRL is yet to get to that stage, although it set up its commission,'' Samuel told the Sunday Age and Sun-Herald.

"The commission is still one that has some of the relics of what the AFL had pre-1992, which is a commission which is largely controlled by the clubs and so you know it's still got to get to the stage of being a professional governance structure.''


Samuel said the AFL had been "the strongest financial based sporting competition'' in Australia since the '90s. "That is demonstrated now by its ability to protect itself in the context of the current crisis.''

He said the NRL experienced two financial crises, the first being Super League. The second was "at the end of 2016 and early 2017, because the clubs were in difficulty, the NRL committed its capital base, its sustainability fund, in a way that has left it in a weakened position to be able to deal with the current crisis.

"What the AFL has demonstrated is that it is a highly professional organisation, with impeccable administration and impeccable governance arrangements and that I think is showing through now.''

Samuel said the AFL's crucial financial decision was to sell Waverley Park and purchase what is now Marvel Stadium at the Docklands – decisions he was heavily involved in. He said the AFL [when the VFL] established a commission in the mid-1980s, had net assets of only $3 million and "half the clubs were bankrupt''.

"The AFL's financial coup was the setting up, you know, the structure that it set up to what was then Colonial Stadium and the subsequent sale of Waverley Park – that, you've got to remember in '84 or '85 when the commission was established ... That [$3 million] was the total net value of the league ... and half the clubs were bankrupt.


"It's now in a position, where it's got in a stadium, that is worth, on any analysis, between three quarters and a billion dollars. And that's an extraordinary position to be in and that reflects the professional governance and professional administration of the league.''

Samuel said he did not know what the NRL had to do to survive. ''I just don't know. I don't know enough about the NRL and its financial affairs and the like to tell you what it's got to do. But you know it's clearly not in the same position as the AFL.''

Samuel, who called for a series of mergers between Melbourne clubs in 1995 and was a proponent of mergers in the '80s and '90s before recanting, said the AFL's ability to support weaker clubs, via a centralised administration, was a strength of the competition.

"That's part of the strength of the AFL, is that it's able to, you know, in normal circumstances, is able to sustain weaker clubs, those that don't have the strength of the Collingwoods and the Richmonds, the West Coast Eagles, and the Hawthorns.

"That's the great strength of the AFL and that's the role of the central body, is to maintain a successful, highly competitive competition.''

Samuel said the AFL's bank deal – it has a line of credit for $600 million, using Marvel Stadium as security – was "fantastic'' but he hoped the AFL did not need to use all that amount.

"I only hope they don't have to use it all because whatever debt you raise you've got to repay it all.''
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
The main difference is the AFL has enough money to act like a bank and now has extra leverage. The NRL have f**k all money and have very little leverage. Priority number one after all of this? The NRL needs to use this crisis to their advantage and stock up on money

it really isn’t , the main difference is that since 1992 the AFL has had a totally independent commission making decisions for what’s best for the game, not just what’s best for the powerful clubs. Nrl had its chance in 2012 and totally blew it by bending to the will of the two state leagues and clubs and giving them a seat in the commission. The reason the afl has the assets and ability to borrow is because they have an independent commission that over the last 20 years has made good decisions.

it’s blown it twice, 2012 when commision was formed and 2016 when clubs were broke and nrl had the opportunity to take control in return for the funding increase. It’s failed twice, will it get it right third time?
 

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,965
it really isn’t , the main difference is that since 1992 the AFL has had a totally independent commission making decisions for what’s best for the game, not just what’s best for the powerful clubs. Nrl had its chance in 2012 and totally blew it by bending to the will of the two state leagues and clubs and giving them a seat in the commission. The reason the afl has the assets and ability to borrow is because they have an independent commission that over the last 20 years has made good decisions.

it’s blown it twice, 2012 when commision was formed and 2016 when clubs were broke and nrl had the opportunity to take control in return for the funding increase. It’s failed twice, will it get it right third time?

I doubt it. The drums are beating more clubs say on the commission.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
I doubt it. The drums are beating more clubs say on the commission.

that shows just how bad the commission is and Vlandys for all the fornicating by the media over him. Afl, “we’llbail you out but you will do a,b&c” .
Nrl clubs be like “yes bail us out but we want more say on how you run the game”. Players “yes give us pay and we want more say on how the game is run”. Wtf?
The more things change the more they stay the same.
 

Johnny88

Juniors
Messages
1,195
From Phil Rothfield in the Telegraph:

The rumour will not go away about Channel 10’s genuine interest in covering the NRL later this year. Channel 9’s own journalists are reporting their network is “unenthused” about broadcasting the competition into October, November and possibly early December. Nine already has commitments to cover cricket’s World Cup T20 and various tennis internationals. This would open the door for Channel 10, who have already discussed the opportunity at their highest level of management.


Doubt anything would change this year but 10 would be a breath of fresh air.
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,216
From Phil Rothfield in the Telegraph:

The rumour will not go away about Channel 10’s genuine interest in covering the NRL later this year. Channel 9’s own journalists are reporting their network is “unenthused” about broadcasting the competition into October, November and possibly early December. Nine already has commitments to cover cricket’s World Cup T20 and various tennis internationals. This would open the door for Channel 10, who have already discussed the opportunity at their highest level of management.


Doubt anything would change this year but 10 would be a breath of fresh air.

This would be so great. Especially seeing 10 smash the cricket in the ratings if it happens.
 
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