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..but league should be merging & cutting teams right?!

Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,463
Yeah, but i don't care, im not the type to look over the fence and ponder at another businesses broadcast rights... the league should have been kaput the way it was inflated and run, before the arlc took over before/during covid... yet we all seem fit to be judge and jury, come out 1st off the block and break records to be the more relevant sporting code. The NRL will top that in a few years, then AFL will again pull our pants down, its almost like theyve setup a Kabal gill and peter sitting in a russian bathhouse smoking cigars, laughing at union and aleague plotting at maneuvering broadcasters with content... they seem to chummy those two

Fine, that might be your view (and you’re right about the A-League and Union) but don’t use a ridiculous argument like Fox/Nine’s coverage is unbelievable; or that no other network could ever possibly aim up; or that you should never try to get the best deal possible.
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
12,213
Fine, that might be your view (and you’re right about the A-League and Union) but don’t use a ridiculous argument like Fox/Nine’s coverage is unbelievable; or that no other network could ever possibly aim up; or that you should never try to get the best deal possible.
Never said it was unbelievable, just said they feed off it.... chanel seven wouldn't have us on in front of the AFL, and ten was back in the 80s.. they have been very Melbourne dominated in their aus shows lately, not sure they'd be any different...
At least nine actually lead with us... not that their commentary is any good... which is why i prefer fox overall... but thats to do with the actual gameday coverage... not screentime
 
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Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,463
Never said it was unbelievable, just said they feed off it.... chanel seven wouldn't have us on in front of the AFL, and ten was back in the 80s.. they have been very Melbourne dominated in their aus shows lately, not sure they'd be any different...
At least nine actually lead with us... not that their commentary is any good... which is why i prefer fox overall... but thats to do with the actual gameday coverage... not screentime

Mate sports broadcasting and commentating in Australia as a whole is very ordinary. We are a pale shadow to the British and the Americans for comparison.

Nine’s league coverage has what Brad Fittler who sounds like he is blind drunk half the time, Andrew Johns ditto, Beesting Head who is the biggest whinger of all time and Paul Gallen who is the probably the most annoying person of all time. Fox have James Hooper and Paul Kent for god’s sake, Micheal Ennis and Dan Ginnane who think shouting is commentating and not anything particularly brilliant.

Flick on the cricket and you have got James Bradshaw (actually he is more annoying than Paul Gallen). The only one who is actually any decent there is Ricky Ponting.

A-League/soccer - Simon Hill maybe but he’s English (English are just better commentators)

Union/fumbleball - wouldn’t know but don’t care.

Tennis is ok.

Seriously it wouldn’t matter where you go on FTA in particular because no station would provide exceptional coverage. Just go to whoever is going to give us the most money.
 
Messages
12,891
Although the subject is very interesting, these threads are such a punish to read. Until clubs can thrive without being propped up by media money the game cannot grow.
It would be good if the annual grant only covered the salary cap, with an extra $5m per annum over 5 years going to any Sydney club that relocates interstate. It's the only way we'll get weaker Sydney clubs to bite the bullet so the stronger ones can become juggernauts over the next generation. It will also free up money that can be spent on grassroots.
 

Steel Saints

Juniors
Messages
850
I don't think cutting or merging teams is the answer right now or in the future, otherwise you'll be gifting that vacent spot to the AFL. Maximizing revenue from broadcaster deals is the way to go. Revenue could go towards grassroots, buy an asset and look towards expansion. But you need someone better than PVL.

Now if we rewind back close to 25 years ago, things could've been done differently. Instead of Balmain Tigers and Wests Magpies merging to become Wests Tigers, it should've been:

Parramatta + Balmain= Parramatta Tigers @Commbank (colours: blue, black, gold)
Canterbury + Wests Magpies= Western Bulldogs @ New Liverpool stadium ( colours: blue, black, white)

And you would've had one less Sydney team. The vacent spot could've gone to either Perth Reds or Central Coast Bears
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
12,213
I don't think cutting or merging teams is the answer right now or in the future, otherwise you'll be gifting that vacent spot to the AFL. Maximizing revenue from broadcaster deals is the way to go. Revenue could go towards grassroots, buy an asset and look towards expansion. But you need someone better than PVL.

Now if we rewind back close to 25 years ago, things could've been done differently. Instead of Balmain Tigers and Wests Magpies merging to become Wests Tigers, it should've been:

Parramatta + Balmain= Parramatta Tigers @Commbank (colours: blue, black, gold)
Canterbury + Wests Magpies= Western Bulldogs @ New Liverpool stadium ( colours: blue, black, white)

And you would've had one less Sydney team. The vacent spot could've gone to either Perth Reds or Central Coast Bears
That actually would have split the inner west to west up a lot better in terms of traditional borderlines, plus both teams would have been "heritage" 1908 clubs
The northern sydney to Parra CBD to tigers
The southern half to Campbelltown to Dogs.
A lot better than having tigers and dogs criss cross around each other thru Concord to Bankstown to Liverpool, its a but of a mess

The colors for tigers would have been definitive the Gold could stay deep like Aztec the blue could become navy/black for tigers... a bit like the crushers main colors

The dogs could keep the berries combo blue black and white
 

Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,463
That actually would have split the inner west to west up a lot better in terms of traditional borderlines, plus both teams would have been "heritage" 1908 clubs
The northern sydney to Parra CBD to tigers
The southern half to Campbelltown to Dogs.
A lot better than having tigers and dogs criss cross around each other thru Concord to Bankstown to Liverpool, its a but of a mess

The colors for tigers would have been definitive the Gold could stay deep like Aztec the blue could become navy/black for tigers... a bit like the crushers main colors

The dogs could keep the berries combo blue black and white

I have never understood the idea of mergers in Rugby League. I can’t think of any other sport that has done mergers so I am trying to work out the link. Other than perhaps News Limited using something that is fairly ubiquitous in the business world and trying to apply it to a sporting competition.

Anyway, knowing that it was never going to happen because of News Limited but in a perfect world relocations would have been the ideal way of reducing Sydney teams. Sure, some supporters would have left but surely having those teams’ logo and colours still running around somewhere would have been more preferable than having those teams completely dead or their identity gone as part of a merger.
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,563
This in a nutshell is why Superleague got so much traction outside NSW.

The majority of the NSW rugby league community, to this day...
Just
Doesn't
Get
It.
A lot of people in NSW would careless if you went off a based a comp in Brisbane with all of the non NSW teams, rather trying to do the same with a dot on the map in Sydney
 

Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,463
A lot of people in NSW would careless if you went off a based a comp in Brisbane with all of the non NSW teams, rather trying to do the same with a dot on the map in Sydney

A lot of people would though. If you did that, you would have more and more kids playing fumbleball
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,563
There's separation between Goldie & Brisbane, just like Sydney & Wollongong etc.
Tweed & Goldie tho the same. Just like Canberra & Quenbeyan. Just like jersey city etc & NYC. Talk ur way out of those examples which incorporate different states & territories
No there isnt

The urban sprawl is sloly merging with no geographic boundary

While Sydney has major geographic boundaries
 

flippikat

Bench
Messages
4,477
A lot of people in NSW would careless if you went off a based a comp in Brisbane with all of the non NSW teams, rather trying to do the same with a dot on the map in Sydney
Thing is, it shouldn't need to come to that.

HOWEVER the Sydney-centric attitude & some serious structural issues with the setup of expansion teams in 1995 DROVE a lot of the RL community (including some in NSW) into the arms of anyone who could offer a more progressive vision.

THAT is what a lot of the NSW establishment fail to see.
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,563
Thing is, it shouldn't need to come to that.

HOWEVER the Sydney-centric attitude & some serious structural issues with the setup of expansion teams in 1995 DROVE a lot of the RL community (including some in NSW) into the arms of anyone who could offer a more progressive vision.

THAT is what a lot of the NSW establishment fail to see.
Teams jumped for the cash grab before it disappeared
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,563
Great, tell them to expand Brisbane metro area to include gold coast
They will

You will hear the term Greater Brisbane more and more

And once they fix the rail corridor to Ipswich Toowoomba, you see faster growth over there too
 

Colk

First Grade
Messages
6,463
Teams jumped for the cash grab before it disappeared

They did it (Reds, Cowboys, Broncos, Crushers) because they were treated like doormats. Paying the accomodation for Sydney clubs because Sydney teams couldn’t afford it is just one example of this. Treat them better and they would have stayed. They were there to be bought off essentially
 
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