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18th club, whose next?

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,221
Interesting isn’t it. Maybe they are overseas clubs similar to say Manchester City acquiring Melbourne City (formerly Melbourne Heart)
Interesting theory, but the next 2 clubs (Canberra & Auckland) look to have leading bids from Canberra Utd & Auckland City FC - not overseas clubs.

Anyway, if an overseas club really wanted "in" on an A-league spot, they just need to wait for an existing club to hit the skids.. then buy it at a fraction of what the expansion fee was & rebrand it to something that aligns with the owner club.

Actually I suspect something like that may happen with Western Utd and/or MacArthur, and a Melbourne or Sydney club would be a far more appealing acquisition for foreign interests than Canberra, Auckland or Tasmania.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,042
Interesting theory, but the next 2 clubs (Canberra & Auckland) look to have leading bids from Canberra Utd & Auckland City FC - not overseas clubs.

Anyway, if an overseas club really wanted "in" on an A-league spot, they just need to wait for an existing club to hit rhe skids.. then buy it at a fraction of what the licence fee was & rebrand it to something that aligns with the owner club.

Actually I suspect something like that may happen with Western Utd and/or MacArthur, and a Melbourne or Sydney club would be a far more appealing acquisition for foreign interests than Canberra, Auckland or Tasmania.
NRLs 18th team is this topic yes... wtf are we harping on about macarthur bulls?
 
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Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,548
Presuming brisbane3 isn’t in contention then ironically perth looks the safest option.

WC Pirates backed by cumins and wa govt
Adelaide Bears backed by NS mob
Pacifika in Wellington backed by aus govt

that would be a relatively safe twenty team expansion and give the nrl its 5 metro reach 2 nz club reach that sets it up nicely. 15 years time you could look to bring in brisbane3 and png if the environment was right
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,221
Presuming brisbane3 isn’t in contention then ironically perth looks the safest option.

WC Pirates backed by cumins and wa govt
Adelaide Bears backed by NS mob
Pacifika in Wellington backed by aus govt

that would be a relatively safe twenty team expansion
Well, that would leave Christchurch, Queensland 5, Melbourne 2, Perth 2, and PNG at a pinch as options for teams 21 & 22 if need be... but that'd be waaaay off...
 

Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,750
Presuming brisbane3 isn’t in contention then ironically perth looks the safest option.

WC Pirates backed by cumins and wa govt
Adelaide Bears backed by NS mob
Pacifika in Wellington backed by aus govt

that would be a relatively safe twenty team expansion and give the nrl its 5 metro reach 2 nz club reach that sets it up nicely. 15 years time you could look to bring in brisbane3 and png if the environment was right

I like your optimism. Sorry I’m feeling a little pessimistic atm. I just think it will take some strong and independent leadership which I am not so sure they have.

For example, let’s say hypothetically Fox tell them we’ll pay you more if you put the next team in Brisbane, are they going to say no?

Anyway, crazy thoughts but if the Bears have to come back and the Pasifika have to come in (have is not the right word for either but anyway) you may as well merge the two.

Firstly, as part of this idea for Pasifika there is already the admission that they won’t be playing all their home games at one venue. The Bears want to play some games at NS so fine that solves both these issues.

Secondly, they can’t or won’t base them in the Islands. Fine base them in North Sydney so second issue solved.

Thirdly, you are not going to alienate the target audience anymore with this plan then if you would if you put them in Cairns. If they are already inclined to follow it, then playing their games at NSO instead of Cairns isn’t going to stop them from following it

At least here if you take the two crazy ideas and merge them, you are not hurting any chances any other bid team or location from succeeding
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,297
Giving Cronulla so much money means they produce more players from their large nursery

nrl clubs are where the best work of the game is done

but since you don’t have an nrl club you won’t get this

Which they will use improving their pathways on the NSW North Coast
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,297
Why would they want their biggest cash cow to grow any cojones? You keep them thinking small and you keep them under control.

Not sure there is no love for it, Just not high on the priorities.

Abdo himself said the aim is to be the biggest sport in the Pacific, If you can bring in a side that links with the pacific and be no worse off then that is where they will and should go
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,297
In terms of public and media perception - probably easily. That’s probably the advantage of having nobody take notice of you.

In terms of the actual finances and support etc I would say that they are going to struggle. That is unless they have already got benefactors who are going to underwrite the whole thing.

Look at the Saudi owners of the big clubs, The cost of running an A League team is a drop in the ocean.

Local interest won't grow though
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,957
Who on earth is paying $25mill for a pro sports club as small as Aleague ones? Maybe we have our expansion strategy wrong lol
People whom care more about the access the club gives, not about making a profit.

I can almost guarantee that whomever bids for the Canberra and Auckland A-league sides will be in it either for direct access to Australian and/or NZ talent stocks and the development opportunities that provides, or as a status symbol.

All I can hope for is that it's the prior and not the latter in Canberra's case.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,650
Thing about soccer you can develop players then sell them to Asia Europe or England

and if australia make the World Cup the a league shares around 30 million or more depending on where the Socceroos finish

with the rich owners in soccer I can see them surviving and union being the one that dies out
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,957
Interesting theory, but the next 2 clubs (Canberra & Auckland) look to have leading bids from Canberra Utd & Auckland City FC - not overseas clubs.

Anyway, if an overseas club really wanted "in" on an A-league spot, they just need to wait for an existing club to hit the skids.. then buy it at a fraction of what the expansion fee was & rebrand it to something that aligns with the owner club.

Actually I suspect something like that may happen with Western Utd and/or MacArthur, and a Melbourne or Sydney club would be a far more appealing acquisition for foreign interests than Canberra, Auckland or Tasmania.
Canberra United is owned by Capital Football, and they simply don't have the money to own and operate an A-league side by themselves. Nor do they have $25mil lying around to spend on it.

Capital Football will be involved in the new A-league side at least to some degree, but if they end up becoming owners it'll be as a minor shareholder in a larger consortium.

It's also one of the reasons why there's a high likelihood that the men's team will have a different brand from the women's team, probably Cosmos considering that they've applied for that trademark. They'll have no choice unless they come to an agreement to share the brand or totally takeover the women's side. Both which are possible at this point, but the latter of which would be kind of shitty in my opinion unless the women's side are willing participants.

There's also reliable talk that the APL doesn't want another 'United' in the league, with Adelaide United, Newcastle United Jets, and Western United already in the league, and are pushing for a new name, or at least a suffix name similar to Newcastle Jets so the club isn't referred too as Canberra United. BTW, yes that would mean that Western United was allowed to steal our and name and colours if true lol.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,548
I like your optimism. Sorry I’m feeling a little pessimistic atm. I just think it will take some strong and independent leadership which I am not so sure they have.

For example, let’s say hypothetically Fox tell them we’ll pay you more if you put the next team in Brisbane, are they going to say no?

Anyway, crazy thoughts but if the Bears have to come back and the Pasifika have to come in (have is not the right word for either but anyway) you may as well merge the two.

Firstly, as part of this idea for Pasifika there is already the admission that they won’t be playing all their home games at one venue. The Bears want to play some games at NS so fine that solves both these issues.

Secondly, they can’t or won’t base them in the Islands. Fine base them in North Sydney so second issue solved.

Thirdly, you are not going to alienate the target audience anymore with this plan then if you would if you put them in Cairns. If they are already inclined to follow it, then playing their games at NSO instead of Cairns isn’t going to stop them from following it

At least here if you take the two crazy ideas and merge them, you are not hurting any chances any other bid team or location from succeeding
Yeh I dont disagree that twenty club comp is a very big stretch for rugba league. I’m just hoping the financial security of clubs and the nrl along with the realisation they need to do something radical to catch afl is enough.

not a bad idea of pacifika in ns but my thinking is that when the govt funding finishes, it it exists at all, at least we still end up with a nz2 in Wellington which should have the best chance of long term viability.
also I’m not sure adelaide has the backers or corporates and they certainly have virtually no development pathways. bears offer them that thus reducing the risk.
we know how risk averse nrl is so I’m thinking those three options are probably the safest way of going about radical expansion.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,042
it is if that gives room to actually expand the games footprint, eventually we will get to a point where if we want to continue growing its either that or conferences

but how about you keep discussions within their threads, this ones about the 18th team in the more immediate future
Incorrect there is no limit to how many licenses the ARLC can give out, they dont cost a cent, so rationalization is useless to them, besides the best possible bids will come out if the woodwork now that there's a plan to get to 19-20 clubs, after that they may want to go futher, 21-22 by 2040, pools or conferences can facilitate this, and no mess from cutting back teams that have been in the competition for over 70 years... thats not to say some clubs might go under or relocate by then, by their own, but there is absolutely no appetite from the governing body to reduce existing brands
 
Messages
14,822
Why do Fox not seem keen on a Perth team?
New TV time slot, new metro market, large potential fanbase etc.
Doesn’t make sense.
News Ltd don't have much of a stake in the Perth print media.

We dont know they don’t tbf.

Besides we are in a great position given what happened with afl tv deal to go where we want to go strategically to grow the game and f**k what fox Wants.
The rights value will be driven by how much competition there is not where club 18 is. It could be in singapore and it won’t matter! The price will be determined by whose bidding and how badly they want it against their competitor.
get three bidders fighting each other and we will hit $500mill plus regardless of location of club 18.

If there's one silver lining from the botched TV deal it's forced our administration to look at expanding to 20 teams. I'll give V'landys and Abdo credit for bringing expansion to the forefront. V'landys has done some really good things. He's made a few f**k ups along the way, but he's the best leader we've ever had.

I hope Perth is the 18th team so we can become more national.

I hope the Easts Tigers get in to shore up Brisbane.

I don't know if Adelaide or New Zealand will have a financially viable bid. We know PNG doesn't. If it's stability the ARLC wants then that leaves Pirates, Easts Tigers and Ipswich Jets as the only realistic options for a 20 team competition. Bears would be in the mix if they stopped f**king around with their dumb "non-negotiables" about colours, logo and playing at NSO.
 
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flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,221
News Ltd don't have much of a stake in the Perth print media.



If there's one silver lining from the botched TV deal it's forced our administration to look at expanding to 20 teams. I'll give V'landys and Abdo credit for bringing expansion to the forefront. V'landys has done some really good things. He's made a few f**k ups along the way, but he's the best leader we've ever had.

I hope Perth is the 18th team so we can become more national.

I hope the Easts Tigers get in to shore up Brisbane.

I don't know if Adelaide or New Zealand will have a financially viable bid. We know PNG doesn't. If it's stability the ARLC wants then that leaves Pirates, Easts Tigers and Ipswich Jets as the only realistic options for a 20 team competition. Bears would be in the mix if they stopped f**king around with their dumb "non-negotiables" about colours, logo and playing at NSO.
I think you make a good point in there - Pirates, Easts Tigers (Firehawks) & Jets would be the conservative choices to take us to 20.

However if there's an appetite to get a club in each metro, Adelaide may knock out either the Ipswich or Brisbane Easts bids.

That's not just from a desire to get a team in every big Australian city, but realizing that one more team in SEQ may fit... but two more teams in that region - in quick succession - may be too fast & split the supporter/sponsor base there too much.
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,221
A thought has just occurred to me.. IF it turns out that the NRL just has the appetite for one more SEQ team when expanding to 20, what's the chances that the losing bid (whether it be Jets or Brisbane Easts or some new entity) make a play to buy the Broncos or Titans?
 

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