NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg has rejected suggestions he and ARL Commission (ARLC) chairman Peter V’landys don’t see eye-to-eye on expansion, but admitted Brisbane is in the “box seat” to get a second team and a final decision will be made before the end of the year.
Speaking at
The Courier-Mail’s NRL season launch on Monday, Greenberg couldn’t guarantee that a second Brisbane team would be the 17th side come 2023, and that analysis of different markets would determine the NRL management team’s recommendation to the commission.
While that message appeared at odds with V’landys who said in December that “we need two games every week in Brisbane”, Greenberg said things looked good for the city based off the NRL’s research to date.
“I’m not watering (the message) down. I’m just suggesting to you that there’s a lot work to do before you simply just sign on a the dotted line and say there’s a new team in a new market,” Greenberg said.
“I think Peter’s comments were very clear and I agree with them that there’s great appetite here for a new team here in Brisbane. That’s what he said.
“The challenge on the management team is to provide a recommendation to the commission that stacks up commercially and stacks up for the long term.
“This isn’t about next year or the year after, this is a generational shift. If there’s a new team that comes into a new market, it’s got to here way beyond my lifetime and yours. This is for the next generation of fans.”
Greenberg confirmed there had been “a number of people come forward” from various consortia with the intention to formally submit bids and that those conversations will be held “at the right time”.
While the NRL CEO wasn’t worried he might miss the boat in this broadcast cycle when it came to making a decision on expansion, he did admit that any recommendation needed to be presented to the ARLC before the end of the year.
But as it stands, Brisbane remains the frontrunner.
“It’s absolutely a rugby league town and we’ve seen in particularly the last five years the strength of the game here both in participation rates but also ratings and crowds – it’s been phenomenal,” Greenberg said.
“I say they’re in the box seat because that’s genuine through the numbers and the analysis.
“One of the things we’ll have to consider is if there’s an 18th team, have we got enough players. Have we got the depth and talent to have 18 teams?
“Can we structure a competition with 17 teams? These are all questions we need to answer. That’s why it’s not just a simple question with a simply answer. Every time you consider what a future footprint of the game looks like, there are a lot of questions you need to resolve. That’s the work that’s currently underway.
“There’s no doubt it has to happen this year to give a team a proper runway to land into 2023.
“We have to make sure the recommendations are on the commission’s table toward the back end of this year, if not the middle of this year.”
Greenberg said there were plenty of fans in Brisbane who didn’t support the Broncos that a second team in the city could appeal to.
“We’ve done an enormous amount of research and some of that I can’t disclose,” he said.
“What I can tell you is there are literally 500,000 fans here in Brisbane who don’t support the Broncos but love rugby league. Whether they’re a rusted on fan of another team or they’re looking for a team, I’m not sure about the answer to that question.
“What we do know is fans here in Brisbane love the game and so we want to make sure we give them as much opportunity to watch as much footy as possible.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...m/news-story/6f05652c3d481dd6812d3415eae2c7c8
