NZ2 and NZ3 are needed to improve the game's popularity. I saw an article on the Bombers' website, it's a few years old, saying only 30,000 people tuned in across New Zealand to watch that weekend's games.
Colin Smith also had more sobering news for the NRL in the form of New Zealand broadcasting rights. The NRL is yet to sell those and he warned they could be in for more disappointment.
“They’re counting on this huge number from New Zealand — $150 million. The TV numbers in New Zealand are pretty dreadful.
The games last weekend in New Zealand were about 30,000 (viewers). The All Blacks … were 580,000.”
http://www.brisbanebombers.com.au/nrl-must-add-another-brisbane-team/
Adding teams, and in doing so building rivalries and creating new fan bases across the country, will increase the amount of New Zealanders watching the game each week and add value to the NZ broadcast rights. More kids will play the game too.
Put NZ2 in Auckland. The 6pm "pub game" makes money for Foxtel but costs Aussie clubs in the way of reduced attendances. Two Auckland teams could take turns hosting it from 8pm NZ time each Friday. Having a game on at this time each Friday will provide familiarity for Aucklanders. Friday night in Auckland will become RL night. Crowds will probably be poor at first, but it's short term pain for long term gain. Aussie clubs don't have to worry about drawing shit crowds from playing games at 6pm, which means NRL doesn't have to give them dispensation anymore. Win-win.
NZ3 could be the South Pacific Cyclones. Play them at 2pm on a Sunday so their games can be televised into Samoa and Tonga at a watchable hour in those countries. Take 4 or 6 games to PNG's National Football Stadium in Port Moresby. It will help develop the international game in NZ, PNG, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. That's true expansion that will benefit the game at all levels.
If this article from Roy Masters is true then it looks like Perth will never get a team.
The Perth Origin match is a guaranteed financial success but any plans to base an NRL team in the Western Australian capital would involve a significant contribution from the state’s richest man, mining magnate Andrew ‘‘Twiggy’’ Forrest, to supplement any commitment from the WA government.
"Unless Twiggy finds another $200m, a second Brisbane team is ahead of Perth," was the observation of one ARL commissioner.
Forrest is a rugby union man and owns the now-defunct former Super Rugby team, the Western Force, as well as underwriting a proposed Global Rapid Rugby competition involving teams from Japan, Fiji, Hong Kong and Samoa.
Significantly, Papua New Guinea is not part of his football plans but the country is a mecca for miners, leading Colin Smith, director of Global Media and Sports, to say, "There is actually a good argument for Twiggy to fund a NRL team, not in Perth but Port Moresby. Rugby league is the only sport of substance in PNG and would have massive appeal. The PNG Hunters won the 2017 Queensland Cup."
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/no...brisbane-ripe-for-growth-20190623-p520gy.html
Port Moresby has merit. When the Hunters entered the Queensland Cup they had quite a few supporters fly into Brisbane from PNG to watch them play. I remember talking to them at a Wynnum Manly vs PNG game at Kougari Oval. Not everyone in PNG is poor and it is RL mad. Whether they can sustain a permanent team is debatable, but I wouldn't rule it out. There are a lot of foreign mining magnates making a lot of money from PNG's natural resources, so they might see value in putting their company's name on a local team.
17th Brisbane 2.
18th Auckland 2
19th Brisbane 3
20th NZ3/PNG
Media analyst Colin Smith pretty much agrees with me. Here's what he said.
"
Both Channel Nine and Fox have indicated they want a second Brisbane team, but clubs will oppose expansion if it means lower annual grants.
Colin Smith adds: "I anticipate the NRL will get less broadcast income in the next deal unless they can develop some competitive tension or
offer a more attractive product such as a second Brisbane team. Queenslanders watch the Broncos No.1, followed by the Cowboys, the Storm and the Titans.
"The NRL future strategy must be predicated on growing and strengthening its footprint. He says this should entail the consideration of:
- Retention of all existing clubs but, with clubs guaranteed annual grants of 130 per cent of the salary cap, "bailouts" must become only a last resort;
- No relocations of existing teams;
- Any new team must have the essence of tribal roots either by region or historic grouping;
- Any regional expansion must not have any other professional sport clubs in their potential area
- Immediate expansion to include another Brisbane team;
- Longer term expansion of the NRL to 20 teams with two divisions of 10 teams;
- Likely expansion, subject to a detailed review, must ensure growth in broadcast and club viability. The priority, in order, would be another team in NZ, a third team in Brisbane, another team in Melbourne and potentially a team in PNG;
- An expansion of the international game, capitalising on the passion NRL players have to represent their country of heritage, such as Tonga, Fiji or Samoa."
The only notable person pushing for Adelaide and Perth is John Ribot. I think it's fair to say he's a moron who almost killed the game with his vision back in the 1990s. Crowds dropped everywhere in 1996 during the Super League War, especially in Brisbane. We can safely discount anything that dill has to say.
"Ribot has been at the forefront of all of the game’s major forays into new markets - as the inaugural chief executive of the Brisbane Broncos, a founding father of the Melbourne Storm and the orchestrator of the Super League competition.
The former Kangaroos international went against popular sentiment by advising against another team in Brisbane, calling for two Sydney clubs to relocate into Adelaide and Perth.
“It will sound like Sydney bashing, but I think over time teams will be going from Sydney and going to other areas,” Ribot said."
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ex...se-of-sydney-clubs-ribot-20190319-p515kt.html
As stupid as Ribot is, he realises new teams for Perth and Adelaide won't work. After all these years, he's still looking out for the best interests of the Broncos, just like he did back in 1995. He doesn't want Brisbane 2 or 3 because it would force the Broncos to convince people to support them, as opposed to having people go to their games because they're the only team in town. After everything the Broncos have done to rugby league in this city, a lot of people will never give them the time of day and many will swap allegiances. Broncos are aware of it.
