do you understand the context that the so called debt is being made in? News ltd were fighting a war and spending stupid money on SL clubs. It wasnt debt, it was overspending in a ridiculous manner in a time of player salary inflation unprecedented by the owners. I doubt there was any club that wasnt spending a lot more than they were earning in 1997. Just read some of the stories about players salaries and signing bonuses from that era!
Wendall sailor who was a 2nd year player on $22,500 a year in 1995: “Sure enough, overnight ... it just went bang. My manager rang me and said, ‘Mate, just to let you know, I’ve got a [$100,000 signing bonus] cheque for you and you’re on $300,000 for the first year, $300,000 for the second year, $350,000 the third year’.”
Its not hard to see how News ltd racked up $10mill overspend on the Reds.
Im sure it wasnt as lucrative, it was probably a decent standard sponsorship, what news ltd did was come in and offer millions of $'s to sign clubs up.
Without the third teams travel costs and a war being fought the reds would have been fine in all probability. They were actually flush with money by all accounts in 92-95 and were bringing over dozens of young east coast players into the WARL and giving every WARL club a substantial funding grant to improve the local comp, going on tours to south Africa and had a super slick marketing team.
Id love someone to write a book on the Reds. Ive spoken to two board members and some players from that time and it makes for fascinating RL history.
All water under the bridge now though. 2024 very different time, city and NRL.
