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24 team NRL competition by 2040

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,661
Nrl season beats afl by around 15 million viewers. This excludes nz. So 15 nrl clubs outrate 18 afl clubs

throw in origins and other rep games for another 15 Million viewers

when crowds and ratings are combined nrl is number one

If you were to add crowd sizes and TV viewership for the entire season, the NRL would total 140.78 million people, while the AFL would reach 133.28 million people.

It gets better for rugby league, as those figures don’t include State of Origin, which attracted an additional 9.39 million viewers, while 2.61 million watched the international representative matches, boosting rugby league’s combined TV viewership and live attendance to 153.05 million. That’s 23 million more TV viewers or an extra 20 million people in the crowd that rugby league had over Aussie rules with only one extra game overall.
 

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,602
Nope, Wollongong and Gosford couldn't support an NRL team, no chance those cities could. I cant see another regional NRL club being added, if anywhere Sunshine Coast would be the obvious place but it would probably still be a struggle to be viable there.

Perth
Wellington/Christchurch
Adelaide
Brisbane 3 (wouldn't be my choice but its a safe bet It'll happen at some time)
PNG (last in line if the systems can be put in place)

That'd be a solid 22 team comp addition

Beyond that you would really struggle to justify any other areas. Possibly in next lifetime Melbourne 2 and Perth 2 if the game takes over as #1 sport in the country and we went to conferences.

North Queensland & Newcastle seem to be going pretty well. NSW definitely doesn’t need more teams but I’d hardly say Wollongong & Central Coast were/are complete failures either. Central Coast never really stood much of a chance with the Northern Eagles & Wollongong still has an NRL team. Dragons train there and will play more home games there than in Sydney this year and I believe that is the plan going forward. Ideally the 7-5 Gong-Kogarah split becomes 9-3 Gong-SFS with games against Souths, Roosters & Sharks played at Allianz.

I see no why reason why another regional club couldn’t work. Sunshine Coast and CQ are about the only ones I could see being considered though and only once the obvious expansion teams are out of the way.

Auckland 2 would be more likely than Perth 2 in my opinion but who knows. NZ3 + one other from a long list of possible but not probables if it ever went to 24.
 

Perth Red

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69,549
North Queensland & Newcastle seem to be going pretty well. NSW definitely doesn’t need more teams but I’d hardly say Wollongong & Central Coast were/are complete failures either. Central Coast never really stood much of a chance with the Northern Eagles & Wollongong still has an NRL team. Dragons train there and will play more home games there than in Sydney this year and I believe that is the plan going forward. Ideally the 7-5 Gong-Kogarah split becomes 9-3 Gong-SFS with games against Souths, Roosters & Sharks played at Allianz.

I see no why reason why another regional club couldn’t work. Sunshine Coast and CQ are about the only ones I could see being considered though and only once the obvious expansion teams are out of the way.

Auckland 2 would be more likely than Perth 2 in my opinion but who knows. NZ3 + one other from a long list of possible but not probables if it ever went to 24.
Newcastle went bust, twice and had to be bailed out by a large LC. In fact you could say the NQ Cowboys are the only regional club that have managed to successfully build a football club revenue stream that makes them sustainable without major other external funding (and they still rely on a LC to a lessor degree)

Reality is most cases there isnt he fanbase, and especially the corporate base or stadium with sufficient corporate facilities to be sustainable. Then you add in the lack if tv value from non metro advertising view and not hard to see why its unlikely well see another NRL regional club for quite some time
 

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
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4,602
Newcastle went bust, twice and had to be bailed out by a large LC. In fact you could say the NQ Cowboys are the only regional club that have managed to successfully build a football club revenue stream that makes them sustainable without major other external funding (and they still rely on a LC to a lessor degree)

Reality is most cases there isnt he fanbase, and especially the corporate base or stadium with sufficient corporate facilities to be sustainable. Then you add in the lack if tv value from non metro advertising view and not hard to see why its unlikely well see another NRL regional club for quite some time

Surviving off League’s Club money is more of an NRL wide thing than just regional clubs. Newcastle seem to be going reasonably well in the off-field department again as far as I know but I won’t pretend to be an expert in their financials. I see your points but I don’t think that blacklists all regional clubs going forward.

I doubt we’ll see a new regional club unless we get to 22-24 teams but in saying that we already have the major ones we’d want and need in Newcastle, Gold Coast, North Queensland, Canberra & Wollongong.

Central Coast would probably be in in an ideal world but having 10 other NSW teams is their major roadblock. Sunshine Coast is probably seen as covered by the Dolphins and may see more games once their stadium is upgraded to 20k. CQ is still next to no chance, Rockhampton is half the size of Townsville and they tried to attach Mackay to their bid which is already pretty heavy Cowboys territory and considered more ‘North Queensland’ by locals.
 

LimeRick

Juniors
Messages
77
If you were to add crowd sizes and TV viewership for the entire season, the NRL would total 140.78 million people, while the AFL would reach 133.28 million people.

It gets better for rugby league, as those figures don’t include State of Origin, which attracted an additional 9.39 million viewers, while 2.61 million watched the international representative matches, boosting rugby league’s combined TV viewership and live attendance to 153.05 million. That’s 23 million more TV viewers or an extra 20 million people in the crowd that rugby league had over Aussie rules with only one extra game overall.

A TV viewer and an attendee aren't really like for like though.

An attendee is a part of a captive audience. They've usually paid $50-plus to be there, probably another similar amount on food and drink. You're more likely to buy merch if you're attending games. An attendee is likely to be more invested in the team.

If the NRL could choose between 20k more viewers on TV, or 20k more people at the ground, they're obviously choosing the higher crowd. I don't know what the ratio of value between TV viewers and attendees would be, but grouping them into one lump number is disingenuous.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,661
A TV viewer and an attendee aren't really like for like though.

An attendee is a part of a captive audience. They've usually paid $50-plus to be there, probably another similar amount on food and drink. You're more likely to buy merch if you're attending games. An attendee is likely to be more invested in the team.

If the NRL could choose between 20k more viewers on TV, or 20k more people at the ground, they're obviously choosing the higher crowd. I don't know what the ratio of value between TV viewers and attendees would be, but grouping them into one lump number is disingenuous.
Afl kids tickets are free for many games

It’s ok you can believe what you want to free country and all.

fact is nrl destroys afl on tv and that’s with 3 extra teams counted. If I were an afl I would be embarrassed
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,549
A TV viewer and an attendee aren't really like for like though.

An attendee is a part of a captive audience. They've usually paid $50-plus to be there, probably another similar amount on food and drink. You're more likely to buy merch if you're attending games. An attendee is likely to be more invested in the team.

If the NRL could choose between 20k more viewers on TV, or 20k more people at the ground, they're obviously choosing the higher crowd. I don't know what the ratio of value between TV viewers and attendees would be, but grouping them into one lump number is disingenuous.
If more tv viewers = more tv revenue then it would be a very valuable measure. But it doesn’t so it isn’t, at least yet.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,549
You posted a link to it last week

lmao
You said at many games. They have occasional offers (in this years case 4 rounds out of the season at some grounds) which is good marketing in the coldest month of the year. Cheapest seats at dockers on Sunday for kids is $22 going up to $70 in best seats.

eels are still the only nrl club that offers free membership to kids, others need to catch up!
 
Last edited:

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,661
You said at many games. They have occasional offers (in this years case 4 rounds out of the season at some grounds) which is good marketing in the coldest month of the year. Cheapest seats at dockers on Sunday for kids is $22 going up to $70 in best seats.

eels are still the only nrl club that offers free membership to kids, others need to catch up!
4 dollar kids entry at the mcg

mcg games 20k members get in for free

best metric is number of foxtel and kayo subscribers. Same cost for each whose more willing to pay
 

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