1 day out from the meeting, here are my actual hopes/predictions of the outcome.
- 18th team to be announced to coincide with new tv rights deal, best case would be to come in 2027 with a little uplift to the end of this rights cycle.
- Perth to be the preferred location for a team, call for bids or a continuation of talks between all interested parties to come up with the best structure for the team (if it is to be the bears then 12 home games in Perth, non negotiable-dictated by nrl)
- Bring the WA government into the fold publically, announce their contribution
Minimum I believe required to secure the sustainability of a team would be, new west stand with corporate facilities and a capacity north of 25k, help with building a CoE and state level rugby league development facilites and lastly a multi year financial package to grow grassroots playing numbers and develop local talent to elite/nrl level.
- Less concrete announcement regarding the 19th and 20th teams but best case scenario would be for png to be put on the backburner and for the nrl to encourage bids from NZ and Bris3 to build their case for inclusion.
Timeline would be for the tv deal after the next one, preferably a staggered entry of '32/'33 to limit the years with a bye every week, ease the strain of fielding more players each year and also go for a little uplift at the end of a tv deal.