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But no one is talking about taking Origin away from Sydney. You'd still get one match every year and as it stands Sydney is not selling that match out even in years when NSW only hosts one game - so it's hardly like anyone is being denied access to the game. If you want to go, there's a seat waiting for you. Of course if the one game was selling out every year and there were another 50,000 people banging on the door, it'd be a different matter. But until then, let's give some of those who don't ever get easy access to the game a chance every two or four years.
But that's not the problem we're trying to solve. Nobody is saying those who travel will stop travelling. But for every one of those people who are in a position to travel, how many are there who aren't able to travel but still dream of the chance to attend one of these big games? That's the problem I'm trying to address - how to reward loyal fans of the game who aren't fortunate enough to live in the capital but who are in still reasonably large regional centres and somehow manage to support the game in extraordinary numbers year after year.
Well if the ARL would show some balls with their 50% control of the NRL Board and hold out for better TV deals then perhaps they wouldn't be so desperate for money. Then they could get back to doing whatever is good for the game and its fans across the entire length of breadth of Australia instead of just what is most profitable.
But can you have a great viewing ground like Lang Park that holds 80,000+ or are great viewing and large capacity incompatible aims? There'd be little argument that there could be better viewing for many seats but are the worst 30,000 or 40,000 seats at places like the new Wembley or some of the large American Football stadiums really that much better than those at ANZ? (genuine question - I don't know the answer)
No, what happened during the SL war has very little to do with how the ARL uses the power it has in the post settlement landscape. The ARL owns 50% of the NRL and thus has an effective veto over any major NRL decision - such as accepting TV deals. Yet the ARL failed to use that power to prevent News Ltd selling the TV rights to itself for arguable less than what they were worth. If the ARL are struggling for money then really the buck has to stop at the top of their own organisation - Colin Love and Geoff Carr. They have the power to curb the excesses of News Ltd and they are failing to use it. In turn that is leading other decisions to be made purely on the profit motive instead of based on what helps build the game and spread the gospel across Australia - ie. the charter of the ARL.
