Brisbane Bombers Bid

[The Great Dane]

I totally disagree, that is the only thing that really matters...

Everything else (board members, people behind the scenes, business structure) is entirely playable and entirely changeable between bids.

The one constant that the NRL will have to live with is the brand; THAT is want fans see and that is what they connect with.

If DSmith and the ARLC wanted to (which they probably will considering the hand they have had in reshaping so many current clubs) they can form and change the bids in any way they want. If the bid doesnt like it, the ARLC can move onto the next group.

The only lasting thing that distinguishes one bid from another (besides location) is the brand...

I agree that the brand of new teams will be very important to the NRL because as you say the brand is the thing that the fans interact with and the main thing that they connect and buy into, it's the brand that associates the club with the NRL and the vehicle by which the NRL grows their business, the sport as a whole and slightly ironically their own brand.

However your suggestion that brands cannot be changed or manipulated once they are put in place is absolute BS!

Firstly there's such a thing as a re-brand, plenty of businesses do it including sports teams. As you know both the NRL and Panthers have recently undergone minor re-brand.

Secondly brands naturally change and adapt with time, but we will not get into that right now.

Finally the NRL and ARLC could manipulate the bid teams brands if they wanted to simply by doing what you said above.
The NSWRL manipulated the f##K out of the Raiders bid brand (mostly for the better IMO), the first proposed name for the bid was the Queanbeyan-Canberra Blues, they said Queanbeyan couldn't be in the name, sky blue couldn't be the main colour because that was Cronulla's main colour and that the team couldn't share the name Blues with the NSWs Blues. Then we changed the name to the Canberra Raiders with a the ACTs blue and gold as the team colours, they said no because we couldn't share our main colours with Parramatta and then finally they agreed with the lime green Canberra Raiders brand that we all know and love.

Just quietly I think a few teams that joined the NRL since then would be a lot better off if the people in charge had taken as much time to make their brands unique and interesting as they did with the Raiders, the Titans wouldn't be called the Titans and have a logo of a gladiator/hoplite/whatever the hell that's supposed to be, that's for dammed sure.

So the current names of bids aren't that important in the grand scheme of things and most certainly can be changed.

The arlc are going to be far more worried about fincial sustainability, tv revenue and future growth potential than what the bids have decided to call themselves.

I think you'll find that all those things can be and are effected by the brand.

The brand is just as important as all those things that you name above.

 

[pHyR3]

I agree with most of what you said great dane.

I don't mind the titans brand, id prefer less (or no) further brands copied off the NFL, NBA or AFL. Australia (or kiwi) names is better, with some history. Thats why i like the orcas, the browns (snakes), Bears, the pirates is reasonably unique too. Brothers has that history. Rabbitohs are a good historic brand as well.

Something like the Brisbane Bombers comes across more artificial and forced.

 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

Such nonsense, you could pick holes in any of the bids that have announced logos so far
Bombers - afl and terrorists
Pirates - Somali and Indonesian criminals
Bears - alienates gosford rl fans who already follow an NRL team
Brothers - religious and alienates existing BRL fans
etcetcetc

The arlc are going to be far more worried about fincial sustainability, tv revenue and future growth potential than what the bids have decided to call themselves.

What about Orcas?

 

[Perth Red]

There is no bid called orcas. If your talking previous bc you could argue "southern orcas" is too non geographical and less likely to create affinity than a club named after wellington. Like I said every brand has its pros and cons.

 

[oikee]

I dont know if the bombers will get the support of Brisbane public.
If you want to grow a instant fanbase, then Brisbane Brothers is the way to go, from day dot.
They are brining back the Valley Diehards and Wests Panthers to the local Brisbane first grade comp.

People in Brisbane are very loyal to brands. I think even relocating the Sharks to Brisbane would do well.

 

[Mr. Sharky]

I dont know if the bombers will get the support of Brisbane public.
If you want to grow a instant fanbase, then Brisbane Brothers is the way to go, from day dot.
They are brining back the Valley Diehards and Wests Panthers to the local Brisbane first grade comp.

People in Brisbane are very loyal to brands. I think even relocating the Sharks to Brisbane would do well.

Won't happen, now that our multi million dollar development is under construction we will be fine in the future.

Plus we are the only club in the game that owns it's own ground.

 

[juro]

fuarkkkk, brisbane browns. That's a great name

kinda riffing off the cleveland browns, but extremely distinct because (i think) thats based of a person while this will be a distinctly australia snake. Just like the southern orcas in NZ or rabbitohs. Well souths isnt an australian mascot but you get the gist.

Yeah, but Mr. Brown is a little too close to Mr. Shit.

 

[Perth Red]

I'm struggling to think of one prof sporting club anywhere in the world that has failed due to its brand/logo. Some things are easier sells than others but I very much doubt the choice of name of a sports club makes an iota of difference to the long term success of a club, especially compared to business ability, finanical investment and backing, fanbase, stadium facilities etc etc

When you consider some god awful "brands" we have in Australia it proves my point
Eels, Roosters, Force, Glory, GWS, Suns, etc etc

 

[Bronco Rob]

I'm struggling to think of one prof sporting club anywhere in the world that has failed due to its brand/logo. Some things are easier sells than others but I very much doubt the choice of name of a sports club makes an iota of difference to the long term success of a club, especially compared to business ability, finanical investment and backing, fanbase, stadium facilities etc etc

When you consider some god awful "brands" we have in Australia it proves my point
Eels, Roosters, Force, Glory, GWS, Suns, etc etc

Melbourne Rising??? This one is on its way to failing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Rising

 

[Johnnie Red]

This is what i think of when i hear Brisbane Browns...this filthy eye sore called the Brisbane River. Kind of looks like a snake though

 

[Canard]

I don't think Non-Queenslanders and some Gen Y kids realise how disliked the Brothers name is in Queensland Rugby League.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I don't think Non-Queenslanders and some Gen Y kids realise how disliked the Brothers name is in Queensland Rugby League.

Why is this a bad thing?? Should we be dropping Souths/Roosters/Manly then?? i hear people arent fond of that lot either. Or how about the QLD Maroons?? the entire state of NSW hates them...

Football teams need to be divisive for the "Us vs them" rivalry. The alternative is a plastic team design not to step on anyones toes...

 

[Perth Red]

Depends if it limits the fanbase to the point where they are not sustainable or draw poor crowds ala Manly

 

[Canard]

Why is this a bad thing?? Should we be dropping Souths/Roosters/Manly then?? i hear people arent fond of that lot either. Or how about the QLD Maroons?? the entire state of NSW hates them...

Football teams need to be divisive for the "Us vs them" rivalry. The alternative is a plastic team design not to step on anyones toes...

You couldn't get a worse attempt at comparison. Those teams are supported by their local fanbase.

A team that is trying to sell itself to QLD "Hey you guys have hated us for 100 years, please support us now"

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

An NRL side based on a confraternal organisation will never happen. Never.

 

[CQ Italia]

I don't think Non-Queenslanders and some Gen Y kids realise how disliked the Brothers name is in Queensland Rugby League.

this. I'm gen-y and you can't be more right.

all the regional areas keep being mentioned for the Brothers bid, but Rocky for instance struggle to get 50 of their own supporters to their (home) senior local league games.
Leagues club members are different to football club members... they do have strong junior participation numbers however

I'd much rather see a future 'independent' nrl club based on Brisbane's southside.. and Broncos left for a majority of the north side

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

You couldn't get a worse attempt at comparison. Those teams are supported by their local fanbase.

You serious?!?!?

The people that hate South/Manly/Roosters are the people that live in the next suburb over. They dont hold a monopoy over their geographic region, infact they thrive on the conflict they inspire within their own territories.

None of these teams would ever claim to represent ALL of nsw. They only need to represent a portion, and the rest are entirced to attend games to cheer against them.

A team that is trying to sell itself to QLD "Hey you guys have hated us for 100 years, please support us now"

In exactly the same way as these sydney clubs draw support, the Brothers wont have the support of every person within the state (nor should they even try for this). They dont need 4 million fans, just enough to fill up their stadium every second week.

To the rest of the country, they only need to elicit enough of an emotional responce to make people tune in even if its to support their opposition (you cant deny that the opposition your team is playing has an effect on your interest in the game; as in, if you had to pick one game to watch, youd rather watch the cowboys play a rival like the Broncos than some random team like the sharks or panthers)

Even if the Brothers inspire some Queenslanders to more actively support another NRL team, that is still a benefit to all parties involved.

 

[Canard]

You serious?!?!?

The people that hate South/Manly/Roosters are the people that live in the next suburb over. They dont hold a monopoy over their geographic region, infact they thrive on the conflict they inspire within their own territories.

None of these teams would ever claim to represent ALL of nsw. They only need to represent a portion, and the rest are entirced to attend games to cheer against them.



In exactly the same way as these sydney clubs draw support, the Brothers wont have the support of every person within the state (nor should they even try for this). They dont need 4 million fans, just enough to fill up their stadium every second week.

To the rest of the country, they only need to elicit enough of an emotional responce to make people tune in even if its to support their opposition (you cant deny that the opposition your team is playing has an effect on your interest in the game; as in, if you had to pick one game to watch, youd rather watch the cowboys play a rival like the Broncos than some random team like the sharks or panthers)

Even if the Brothers inspire some Queenslanders to more actively support another NRL team, that is still a benefit to all parties involved.

The people that dislike Brothers is every League supporter in Queensland who isn't a Brothers fan or player, which is about 90% of the population.

Why not create a club that can appeal to all of Brisbane and Queensland and its varied League fans, rather than a minority percentage of it??

You seem to value "passion" as the major reason to create a club and call anything but an existing brand "plastic". Every club has to start somewhere, why not create a new identity that appeals to as many fans as possible, rather than alienating the majority.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

The people that dislike Brothers is every League supporter in Queensland who isn't a Brothers fan or player, which is about 90% of the population.

Why not create a club that can appeal to all of Brisbane and Queensland and its varied League fans, rather than a minority percentage of it??

You seem to value "passion" as the major reason to create a club and call anything but an existing brand "plastic". Every club has to start somewhere, why not create a new identity that appeals to as many fans as possible, rather than alienating the majority.

A sense of nationalism is required to make people care about these teams and creating this parochialism requires exclusion of the "Other"; its about saying "this is us, this is not you" (in this case, the "other" is everyone that doesnt love the brand).

If a team tries to make everyone happy, they will get a golf clap for trying hard. If, on the other hand, a team goes out of its way to exclude anyone that doesnt conform whatever it is the brand represents (ie: "queenslanders can eat shit and die"- NSW fans), their supporters care more about a win and the opposition actually enjoys watching them lose.

There is nothing wrong with creating a totally new and clean brand as you suggest they should, but if they want to generate interest comparable to the established teams, they will need to find some way to make the opposition hate them and their supporters genuinely care. Taking this path, they will end up in the same place you would have been with the established brand (it just took an extra 20 years to get there)....

 

[joshreading]

If Brothers is not the viable alternative? What makes a team backed by Ipswich Jets the alternative?

I think the NRL should force their hands and push for some form of united bud out of them all. Across the three SQ bids is some impressive credentials and ideas