The order of which these prospective franchises enter isn’t set in stone. There is a very good chance Perth Bears will be team 18 and not PNG - who might well be team 19.
What is fact is PNG need a giant financial leg up to be ready and Perth don’t - and Perth don’t because of the association with Bears and their set up (which I have explained at nauseam - to which keeps getting side stepped on here…).
There can be a thousand articles released between now and 2027 and it wont change the fact that the NRL will not be assisting Perth or any other prospective new franchise like they proposing to assist with PNG. So these prospective new franchises really need to look at the Dolphins model as the only assured thing the ARLC and stakeholders will look at seriously. Start ups with no resources and no assets and no actual business model that covers 10-15-20+ years are not going to be taken seriously.
Here’s another hot tip - contrary to what’s been written the comp might stop at 19 or go to 21 teams. Even number of clubs is not set in stone either. In the age where a faster game is leading to more soft muscle injuries and HIA’s - the powerbrokers, governing body and most clubs are not opposed to keeping the bye as a reason for squad and player rest. Of course this can be achieved with an even number of clubs too (2 clubs have a bye each week as opposed to 1).
Just flagging this up again.
20th spot is far from guaranteed - in the short term. There is a world where we in the short term stop at Team #19 and don’t look at Team #20 until back end of 2030’s.
There is much uncertainty surrounding locations, bids, commercial viability and how the broadcasting rights factor into the games model after the next negotiations.
Internal production (done by the NRL) to then on sell the final production to streaming services (as opposed to selling rights and broadcasting partners doing their own production of the game) is a topic which will get heavier after next round of negotiations.
This is the way to maximise revenue and profits. The game still loses a big chunk of its true value by having others produce the package. However self production also costs a lot of money, big risk huge reward. This will go hand in hand with future expansion after this next round of broadcasting negotiations.
Anyways that’s off topic but the order of new franchise entrances 18 & 19 seems to be somewhat set for now.