Wellington unlikely to get new NRL club, says New Zealand Warriors chief Jim Doyle
Watching the New Zealand Warriors will be as close as Wellington fans get to NRL action for another decade.
That is the view of former NRL chief operating officer, turned Warriors managing director, Jim Doyle.
The Warriors will host St George Illawarra at Westpac Stadium on August 9, which will make it three trips to Wellington in as many years for the Auckland-based club.
Doyle said the Warriors had an obligation to take at least one home match around the country and average crowds of 26,000 at Westpac Stadium for their 2013 match with Canterbury-Bankstown, and this year's win over the Wests Tigers, meant it was logical to continue that arrangement.
It had nothing to do with winning over fans here, amid talk that Wellington could be the base for a new club by 2017 should the NRL opt to expand the 16-team competition.
"There is an appetite [for expansion] in the long term.
"In the short to medium term I think [the NRL] will be looking to consolidate their financial position and that'll largely be based on broadcast [revenue]," Doyle said.
"The only way they would expand is if they get significantly more broadcast dollars, so they can pay for the additional cost of expansion.
"They're locked in now [to a broadcast deal] till 2017 and I'd be surprised if they wanted to expand for the next broadcast deal.
"That one will lock them into another four or five-year contract, so that'll be through to 2021 or 2022.
"To me, it would only be then that they would possibly be looking to expand, which would be in the next broadcast deal which would be 2022 through to 2026."
Doyle was second-in-command at the NRL until a month ago so, despite the new gig, he can talk with some authority about the notion of New Zealand getting a second club.
A four-strong consortium, fronted by Sydney lawyer Robert Picone with support from the Wellington Rugby League, had talked about being able to start a team from scratch when the NRL's present broadcast deal expires.
But Doyle indicated that Wellington's best bet might be an existing Sydney club that was told to find a home elsewhere, rather than expansion.
"You'd have to add two teams to the competition and, realistically, 18 teams? Will that dilute the quality or is it maybe better to relocate a team or two and then expand?
"There's all that sort of thinking to be done," said Doyle.
In the meantime, he said the Warriors were delighted to continue their relationship with Wellington.
He and Westpac Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon spent several weeks putting a deal together for next year's Dragons game and Doyle suggested the Warriors would continue turning up in Wellington for as long as the fans did.
