fans tune in for many reasons. Form, star players, playing style etc are much bigger drivers for neutrals.
Im not sure there'll be many tuning in for Bears over Pirates in all honesty. There is little to suggest that will be the case.
all be it old data you can see 6 of the 7 lowest rated clubs were from sydney so why would Bears be any better?
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Which a new club takes time to build up
The 200k fans, I think has some truth to it.
It likely is people who clicked like on Facebook or some other metric. Who would be the sort of passing viewers TV would be hoping to get.
As opposed to playing say Canberra on a Friday night.
Very few over there would watch due to the 4pm or 6pm start.
Very little interest in QLD, You hope a chunk of those Bears fans tune in then it makes that viable for TV.
The next TV deals will start going backwards if there are too many games fans have no interest in.
If Brisbane Easts could use the Tigers logo, They'd be better outside of that Bears seem the better fit