20 teams and 20 rounds

[The Great Dane]

Thats the key. If the NSW/QLD cup is totally independent of the NRL clubs it could start to draw small crowds and they could establish their own identity and styles of play which would be great for the game.

Basically nobody is interested in NRL reserve grade.

It won't work for two reasons:

1. Neither the NSW cup or QLD cup gets enough coverage to draw enough interest to make it viable as a product in it's own right.

2. The NSW cup and QLD cup are run by the NSWRL and QRL respectively, and they are both run by parochial idiots who would spend all of their time trying to dominate the other like it's some great game of SOO instead of working together to create the best league they possibly can.

Obviously 1. could change relatively easily, but 2. I'm not so sure about.

On the other hand a new national competition run by the NRL (or in a perfect world run by an independent body answerable only to the ARLC) has potential.

 

[flippikat]

One thing that I've often thought about is the possibility of an "inter-league" round (or rounds) in the NSW & Qld Cups.

It would need both competitions to have the same number of clubs.. but how good would it be for every club to play against a club from the other league, for competition points?

You could even have 2 rounds.. one where the NSW teams pick their opponent from Qld cup, and another where the Qld teams pick their opponent from NSW.

Any thoughts on inter-league rounds for the two second tier competitions??

 

[siv]

One thing that I've often thought about is the possibility of an "inter-league" round (or rounds) in the NSW & Qld Cups.

It would need both competitions to have the same number of clubs.. but how good would it be for every club to play against a club from the other league, for competition points?

You could even have 2 rounds.. one where the NSW teams pick their opponent from Qld cup, and another where the Qld teams pick their opponent from NSW.

Any thoughts on inter-league rounds for the two second tier competitions??

This is where you use the Midweek or Knockout competition

 

[flippikat]

This is where you use the Midweek or Knockout competition

Not sure if it would work for a midweek competition (hard to get second tier players to do midweek games, dont some have jobs/studies too?) - but maybe a knockout of some description.

The reason I suggested inter-league rounds as a feature of the regular season is that it would be a way of more closely integrating the two halves of the 2nd tier, without imposing midweek games, or trying to squeeze a knockout cup into the calender.

 

[MugaB]

Making a 2nd teir national comp would kill it, travel cost for most teams to travel from one end of Australia to png to fiji, nz etc, i know its sounds good, but it won't get funded unless the NRL foot the bill, and pay the top teir clubs less to accommodate it (not happening) especially when and if they expand theyll be footing the bill for the start up franchises in either Perth (other side of aus), Adelaide, NZ or Brisbane 2/3 (depending where that is)

2nd tier clubs need to stay local, yes they could have a few exceptions and outrageously far teams fiji and perth in nswrl comes to mind, but not all of them together.
Which is why i thought my idea of the 4 conferences, would save money as only the teams within that conference would play the same teams twice.
For example is the teams in the western conference would travel to Perth twice, while all other teams in other conferences only once, same goes for the eastern conference teams only travel to Auckland twice. Southern conference teams travel to Melbourne twice, and Northern conference teams travel to PNG twice (if they were added in future)
This would create more local rivalries, they way sydney teams have multipe local rivalries, but focus on inclusion of far away teams of perth, nz, png, having a rival footprint.

 

[tri_colours]

Making a 2nd teir national comp would kill it, travel cost for most teams to travel from one end of Australia to png to fiji, nz etc, i know its sounds good, but it won't get funded unless the NRL foot the bill, and pay the top teir clubs less to accommodate it (not happening) especially when and if they expand theyll be footing the bill for the start up franchises in either Perth (other side of aus), Adelaide, NZ or Brisbane 2/3 (depending where that is)

2nd tier clubs need to stay local, yes they could have a few exceptions and outrageously far teams fiji and perth in nswrl comes to mind, but not all of them together.
Which is why i thought my idea of the 4 conferences, would save money as only the teams within that conference would play the same teams twice.
For example is the teams in the western conference would travel to Perth twice, while all other teams in other conferences only once, same goes for the eastern conference teams only travel to Auckland twice. Southern conference teams travel to Melbourne twice, and Northern conference teams travel to PNG twice (if they were added in future)
This would create more local rivalries, they way sydney teams have multipe local rivalries, but focus on inclusion of far away teams of perth, nz, png, having a rival footprint.

 

[Perth Red]

Making a 2nd teir national comp would kill it, travel cost for most teams to travel from one end of Australia to png to fiji, nz etc, i know its sounds good, but it won't get funded unless the NRL foot the bill, and pay the top teir clubs less to accommodate it (not happening) especially when and if they expand theyll be footing the bill for the start up franchises in either Perth (other side of aus), Adelaide, NZ or Brisbane 2/3 (depending where that is)

2nd tier clubs need to stay local, yes they could have a few exceptions and outrageously far teams fiji and perth in nswrl comes to mind, but not all of them together.
Which is why i thought my idea of the 4 conferences, would save money as only the teams within that conference would play the same teams twice.
For example is the teams in the western conference would travel to Perth twice, while all other teams in other conferences only once, same goes for the eastern conference teams only travel to Auckland twice. Southern conference teams travel to Melbourne twice, and Northern conference teams travel to PNG twice (if they were added in future)
This would create more local rivalries, they way sydney teams have multipe local rivalries, but focus on inclusion of far away teams of perth, nz, png, having a rival footprint.

Funny how broke arse union can afford a national second tier with a Fiji side in it yet mega rich RL can’t?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Making a 2nd teir national comp would kill it, travel cost for most teams to travel from one end of Australia to png to fiji, nz etc, i know its sounds good, but it won't get funded unless the NRL foot the bill, and pay the top teir clubs less to accommodate it (not happening) especially when and if they expand theyll be footing the bill for the start up franchises in either Perth (other side of aus), Adelaide, NZ or Brisbane 2/3 (depending where that is)

2nd tier clubs need to stay local, yes they could have a few exceptions and outrageously far teams fiji and perth in nswrl comes to mind, but not all of them together.
Which is why i thought my idea of the 4 conferences, would save money as only the teams within that conference would play the same teams twice.
For example is the teams in the western conference would travel to Perth twice, while all other teams in other conferences only once, same goes for the eastern conference teams only travel to Auckland twice. Southern conference teams travel to Melbourne twice, and Northern conference teams travel to PNG twice (if they were added in future)
This would create more local rivalries, they way sydney teams have multipe local rivalries, but focus on inclusion of far away teams of perth, nz, png, having a rival footprint.

A national second teir comp could easily be full-time professional. It would be broadcast on Fox League with one game on 9 (as they currently do with the NSW / QLD Cups). This would generate as much revenue as the NBL (for example) and they manage to fly teams around in a comp spanning from Perth to NZ. Yes, the NRL would provide funding to the clubs also as they currently fund the NSWRL / QRL. This will just be a more efficient way of funding the 16 or so best second teir clubs in the country. The Brisbane and Sydney clubs can focus on the traditional suburban grounds and cater to the nostalgia whilst the NRL focuses on playing in the bigger stadia. It would allow all RL fans to be catered for without the NRL needing to have split-personality disorder.

 

[Timmah]

I think it would be foolish to expect Fox to broadcast two entire competitions in full - their resources are already stretched as it is.

 

[The Great Dane]

Yeah I think that expecting Fox to just be willing to broadcast (or more importantly pay the production costs of broadcasting) a second competition is a silly assumption to make.

Also if the NRL were to try to sell the rights to a second tier comp then the goal should be to get as much of that on free to air as possible as you'd want it to be as accessible as possible, anything on pay tv would just be a bonus. I also don't understand the reliance that people have on Nine, if the NRL were to launch a second tier it's broadcasting rights shouldn't just be given to Nine and nor should it be expected that Nine would/should just pick them up either.

The NRL should also look into producing their own content then selling that content on to broadcasters, then keeping what doesn't sell and airing it on their streaming service, but to be honest producing content at the same standard as the broadcasters are capable of is probably a little beyond their capabilities at the moment, but it doesn't really need to be at the same standard anyway and there's no reason why they couldn't grow towards that standard over time.

 

[Perth Red]

I think it would be foolish to expect Fox to broadcast two entire competitions in full - their resources are already stretched as it is.

They’re happy to broadcast super 15 and a league with their sub 50k audiences! Women’s nrl and under 20’s has shown that rl fans will watch in bigger numbers than Aleague or super 15, must be some value in that?

If nrl are serious about wanting their own content digital service then this would be ideal for them. Let abc have a match of the round for sponsor exposure and package the rest on nrl’s new super duper digital offering.

 

[Timmah]

They’re happy to broadcast super 15 and a league with their sub 50k audiences! Women’s nrl and under 20’s has shown that rl fans will watch in bigger numbers than Aleague or super 15, must be some value in that?

If nrl are serious about wanting their own content digital service then this would be ideal for them. Let abc have a match of the round for sponsor exposure and package the rest on nrl’s new super duper digital offering.

If you bothered to read my post you'll see the issue is resources - such a commitment would stretch them thin and they won't just give up A-League of which they're a major partner or S15 just to prop up a lower-tier RL comp. Be realistic.

 

[Last Week]

If you bothered to read my post you'll see the issue is resources - such a commitment would stretch them thin and they won't just give up A-League of which they're a major partner or S15 just to prop up a lower-tier RL comp. Be realistic.

Exactly. And it's not like a second tier competition would draw in more subscribers to Foxtel.

The best best chance of a second tier comp getting air time is on free to air.

 

[The Great Dane]

Exactly. And it's not like a second tier competition would draw in more subscribers to Foxtel.

The best best chance of a second tier comp getting air time is on free to air.

Well to be fair initially it probably wouldn't draw to many no, but given time to grow there's no reason that it couldn't or shouldn't.

Also we seem to be neglecting that any second tier comp would almost certainly involve multiple clubs with a proven history of (relatively) strong supporter bases (though they may be largely dormant) including Norths, Newtown, Redcliffe, etc, if done properly would also aim to appeal to markets within Australia that it's often difficult for advertisers to target directly (such as certain regions in country NSW and QLD), would also appeal to multiple markets in the PI's and across the Tasman, and would have a 'gimmick' (for lack of a better word) to differentiate it's self from the NRL to draw interest from the broader market for RL.

So assuming that all to be true it may be worth it to Fox to take a punt on it, however even if they did decide to take a punt on it I wouldn't be expecting very much money for the broadcasting rights initially and the types of deals that they'd probably offer almost certainly wouldn't be worth the lack of exposure that the comp would suffer on PTV to the NRL...

 

[madunit]

We need a shorter season as it gets boring after the 20th round.
20 games each team is more than enough. To offset the loss in rounds as far as TV revenue goes we should have 10 games per round so this means we need 20 teams. There are enough players.

Edit: I am not suggesting that the teams play each other once. I think we need 2 divisions of 10 teams with some non division games.

Yeah nah.

We were adamant in 1995 that there was plenty of talent to go round.

The first few rounds quickly proved that there wasn't.

18 will stretch the talent pool a bit thin, but should be manageable.

Furthermore, 2 divisions with 10 teams will mean 9 rounds in each division

2 divisions playing 9 rounds equals 18 rounds.

The number of games is not an issue. Nor is the length of the season.

NRL is big and popular, so if anything, the more games played, the more money from TV Rights deals they will attract.

I'd be all for moving the Titans to Logan or Ipswich and playing home games between QEII (after revamp) and CBUS.

Bring in a Perth team and a Darwin team.

 

[Perth Red]

Darwin has a Population of 120k no major corporate base and no stadium. What makes you think it is a good spot for an nrl team?

 

[The Great Dane]

Yeah, unless there's a billionaire backer willing to prop it up and can convince the NRL to let him have a license a Darwin club isn't happening in our life time, it definitely won't happen before places like Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, NZ, Melbourne, etc, have got teams...

 

[CC_Roosters]

Yeah nah.

We were adamant in 1995 that there was plenty of talent to go round.

The first few rounds quickly proved that there wasn't.

18 will stretch the talent pool a bit thin, but should be manageable.

Furthermore, 2 divisions with 10 teams will mean 9 rounds in each division

2 divisions playing 9 rounds equals 18 rounds.

The number of games is not an issue. Nor is the length of the season.

NRL is big and popular, so if anything, the more games played, the more money from TV Rights deals they will attract.

I'd be all for moving the Titans to Logan or Ipswich and playing home games between QEII (after revamp) and CBUS.

Bring in a Perth team and a Darwin team.

In my universe where the competiton is treated like a sport and not a business at the leisure of tv executives I would implement a staged plan to a two division NRL with promotion and relegation between the 2. The current 16 clubs plus 6 new clubs making up 22 teams with 12 in the NRL premiership and 10 in the lower NRL Championship. No salary cap and a base level of funds for teams in each league with then a second distribution of funds based on league position (I.e
Performance) at the end of the season. Home and away in the NRLP for 22 games then a top 5 finals series. Home and away in the NRLC for 18 games then a final 4 games determined by league position the previous season. season.

 

[Timmah]

In my universe where the competiton is treated like a sport and not a business at the leisure of tv executives

That's a universe that doesn't exist lol

 

[beave]

That's a universe that doesn't exist lol

thank god.