An Alternate History

[Matua]

There's no way league would have survived as a main sport in NZ without a team until 2005.

Super Rugby on Sky kicked off in 1996, without a NZ team in the ARL the crossover fans would have disappeared.

 

[T-Boon]

The main thing would have been to bring in 3 brisbane teams from the start (not gold coast).
I think if you bring 3 Brisbane teams in Lang Park gets rebuilt sooner and Brisbane would be a mini equivalent of Melbourne AFL or a bigger equivalent of Perth AFL and those 3 big Brisbane teams would make being a small suburban Sydney club unsustainable.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The main thing would have been to bring in 3 brisbane teams from the start (not gold coast).
I think if you bring 3 Brisbane teams in Lang Park gets rebuilt sooner and Brisbane would be a mini equivalent of Melbourne AFL or a bigger equivalent of Perth AFL and those 3 big Brisbane teams would make being a small suburban Sydney club unsustainable.

That's probably why it never happened. The NSWRL only cares about the interests of Sydney.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

I lose faith in fans when they think regional teams would make the league bigger & more profitable.
Sydney clubs are more stable than regional ones & their rivalry & fanbases are the reason NRL still exists.

Just ask the NBL and the A-League how regional expansion went for them.

The Illawarra Hawks are a financial ticking time bomb, the NBL lost Canberra, Newcastle (twice), Geelong, Townsville among others and went close to losing the Hawks twice.

Same with the A-League with Gold Coast & North Queensland going the way of the dinosaurs and Central Coast and Newcastle are both financial ticking time bombs in their own right.

Anyone who seriously believes regional expansion will boost the NRL's coffers needs to see a pyschiatrist urgently to get them out of cuckoo land.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Well this is mostly shít, if you're starting to keep certain teams like roosters but not others like souths or merge sharks and steelers, then say you know nothing about sydneys geography, then why bother beliving in a hypothetical "Alternate History"
Plus why bring up Newtown jets as interstate expansion really started around after they left the 1st grade comp.

For me, if I'm the NSWRL, or more actually ARL at the time where the expansion into certain areas became the issue, it needed to focus on where the game is played, and where it could grow, initially Canberra wasn't good on field until around 1987, where an influx if Qld talent joined their roster, then they became a powerhouse over the next decade, same happened a year or two later with the broncos too, and later on had superleague not mucked things up maybe even the warriors would have had some more success, one thing is clear even though, both the competitions agreed in making expansion into Melbourne, i just wished it wasn't at the expense of the reds.
As far as mergers, Souths/Sharks and Easts/Tigers, Wests/Bulldogs should have all been looked at, before the mergers that went on. Even letting bears in CC, and St.George/Illawarra come to pass (which happened) were great ideas as it spread the reach of both those clubs to regional areas, somewhat to liken what penrith has does regarding the central west tablelands. All in all
Sydney would be=
Eastern Suburbs Tigers,(Sydney City Tigers)
Southern Sydney Sharks,
Western Suburbs Bulldogs,
Parramatta Eels,
Manly Sea Eagles,
Illawarra Dragons,
Penrith Panthers,
Northern Sydney Bears.

Newcastle Knights,
Canberra Raiders,
Brisbane Broncos,
North Qld Cowboys,
Auckland Warriors,
Perth Western Reds,
Adelaide Rams,
Melbourne Storm,
Gold Coast Titans,
Sunshine State Dolphins,
P.N.G Pride,
South Pacific Cyclones.

The big problem with all of that was the Sharks and Souths had looked at merging in 1999 when Souths were on the verge of being put out of the comp for 2 years.

Thing was our board was in favour of the merger but George Piggins knocked it on the head.

Probably just as well in hindsight as we weren't as financially rooted back in the late 90's as we were previously or since then and with Souths' major financial problems at the time we may well have seen a Northern Eagles situation where Souths ceased to exist and Cronulla came back as a single entity.

 

[Pippen94]

The main thing would have been to bring in 3 brisbane teams from the start (not gold coast).
I think if you bring 3 Brisbane teams in Lang Park gets rebuilt sooner and Brisbane would be a mini equivalent of Melbourne AFL or a bigger equivalent of Perth AFL and those 3 big Brisbane teams would make being a small suburban Sydney club unsustainable.

This will probably happen with 19th of 20th team being Jets

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Just ask the NBL and the A-League how regional expansion went for them.

The Illawarra Hawks are a financial ticking time bomb, the NBL lost Canberra, Newcastle (twice), Geelong, Townsville among others and went close to losing the Hawks twice.

Same with the A-League with Gold Coast & North Queensland going the way of the dinosaurs and Central Coast and Newcastle are both financial ticking time bombs in their own right.

Anyone who seriously believes regional expansion will boost the NRL's coffers needs to see a pyschiatrist urgently to get them out of cuckoo land.

Take away the annual grant and plenty of NRL clubs would be in deep shit.

 

[flippikat]

Ironically, the two teams that realised Sydney was over saturated and attempted to move and re-brand — Newtown/Campbelltown Jets and North Sydney / Central Coast Bears - got f**ked over.

Yep, and I think that's pretty much soured the concept of relocation.

If Newtown, then Norths were given guaranteed licenses & decent "relocation grants" that allowed them to bed-in to their new homes, then it would provide good examples for any other Sydney club feeling the pain from competing in an oversaturated market.

 

[Perth Red]

Take away the annual grant and plenty of NRL clubs would be in deep shit.

The nrl grant makes up about 30-45% of revenue for every club barring broncos. They’d all be up sht creek without it!

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The nrl grant makes up about 30-45% of revenue for every club barring broncos. They’d all be up sht creek without it!

That's right. Without Leagues Clubs and the annual grant there's no way Sydney could field nine teams.