Greatest risk of a second Brisbane team will be to the investment in Melbourne. Storm have always relied heavily on Qland cup and second Brisbane team will provide a more appealing opportunity than moving to Melbourne for the many talented Qland players. If anything the NRL needs to be funding/insisting Melbourne based NSw and Sg ball sides and improved jnr pathways in Victoria.
Wouldn't hurt but wouldnt help either Taipan imo. Bombers playing out of a suburb of Brisbane in Qland cup in front of 500 people isn't going to make any difference to their success or failure at NRL leve. End of day there is not enough central funding of the second tier to allow clubs to be sustained by the NRL fully so need significant income from pokie machines, NRL link ups or rich benefactors. For Bombers investors I don't see the ROI.
No they are not a community bid club, they have no pretence that they are. In fact their hasn't been a community bid club enter the top tier of RL since the late 60's. Why? Because the future isn't 14k in suburban clubs, its 25k+ at clubs representing a whole city.
Can I tell you when the Sharks first played at their Cronulla ground in the NSWRL,they thought 4,000 was a decent crowd.
It boils down to any prospective NRL club, thinks it's too hard they pull out , or if they are thinking long term, we'll start from the bottom where outlay there is minimal.And really develop an area.
I keep banging my head on the need for the NRL to sell the Titans and Knights,and get repaid by the Tigers.That could amount to up to $30m back into the NRL coffers.
I keep referring to the $100m pa additional monies to grassroots from 2018.Plus the NRL club grants from 2018 which could be $10m pa.Now if there are decent sums available in order to proceed with expansion,IMO that would have been announced.
Then we have the situation where all Sydney NRL clubs lost money last season.
We keep hearing about grassroots being underfunded.The question is should new teams be admitted now ,to the detriment of grassroots,which is facing fierce competition at that level from other codes.
I still believe expansion will come in, but after the 2 NRL clubs are sold and the code is in a better position re expected income 2019 onwards.The Commission does have few decent business minds on deck.
Yes AFL has expanded but they are p*ssing money up against the wall, their clubs losing $93m +.Don't even bring up S15/117 whatever.
I agree with your last para ,and I believe clubs are aiming for a figure of min 20,00 0+ average.The Sharks have it in their plans to expand their stadium down the line.