Divided rugby league fell 25 years ago – but united has it conquered? by Steve Mascord.

[Wb1234]

The sport needs growth, otherwise its going backwards. This is a very competitive market and there is still 25% of the country that doesn't have access to the game at a professional level - other than events.

The game is international and needs nurturing in whatever countries its played in.

Spot on

nrl has a duty as the premier rugby league comp to showcase the game bc we can’t rely upon England to do anything

if it hadn’t been for super league the nrl would already own the pacific including New Zealand

league has spent the past 20 years trying to claw back where it was in 95

 

[siv]

Imo most of the fans are Balmain. But money wise it’s all wests and I think they own 90 percent now of the jv

Isnt the old Balmain LC now going to have the name Wests-Ashfield in it

 

[Wb1234]

Isnt the old Balmain LC now going to have the name Wests-Ashfield in it

Dunno but probably

they got the da to build the high rise too finally after zero results from Benny Elias

 

[flippikat]

league has spent the past 20 years trying to claw back where it was in 95

Yep, and with thoroughly mixed results too.

Admittedly some of the slow progress has been a result of systematic constraints (especially the News Ltd part ownership of the NRL), but some of it down to NRL management just not being bold enough to make up for lost ground - especially since the formation of the independent commission.

 

[Wb1234]

Yep, and with thoroughly mixed results too.

Admittedly some of the slow progress has been a result of systematic constraints (especially the News Ltd part ownership of the NRL), but some of it down to NRL management just not being bold enough to make up for lost ground - especially since the formation of the independent commission.

I’ll give news ltd credit for making the storm such a strong club

don’t know why they did it but they did invest the dividends they took from the game there

no way the arl wouodve done that and the storm could’ve been a basket case otherwise

 

[BunniesMan]

The sport needs growth, otherwise its going backwards. This is a very competitive market and there is still 25% of the country that doesn't have access to the game at a professional level - other than events.

The game is international and needs nurturing in whatever countries its played in.

How is the game worse off now than during the 90s when it had more teams in more places? Why does it need growth? What's the purpose of the extra money? If you were allowed to time travel and saw that in 2122 the game was roughly as big as it is now, why would that be so terrible?

 

[siv]

Dunno but probably

they got the da to build the high rise too finally after zero results from Benny Elias

From the press release by the developer

The commercial area will include a new Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, which amalgamated with the former Balmain Tigers Leagues Club.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

How is the game worse off now than during the 90s when it had more teams in more places? Why does it need growth? What's the purpose of the extra money? If you were allowed to time travel and saw that in 2122 the game was roughly as big as it is now, why would that be so terrible?

Are you for real?

The game in 1995 was run off $10m per annum from broadcast rights, split evenly between the 20 clubs. That means the annual grant for each club was just $500k. The salary cap was over $1m, so clubs needed to be financially viable to survive just to pay their players. Many of them weren't.

On top of this, the NSWRL stipulated that the Cowboys had to cover travel and accommodation for themselves and all the Sydney teams they played against, estimated to be about $800k per season. One of the criteria for the Cowboys' admission was to take out a loan to convert The Willows into a stadium while many Sydney clubs were allowed to play out of shitholes. It bankrupted the club before they ran onto the field.

This is why clubs jumped over to Super League. It wasn't because they were "greedy" or "disloyal", which is the bullshit narrative spun by knuckle dragging morons who don't know anything about the era.

Now we've got Sydney clubs demanding the ARLC cover the salary cap and provide each club an extra $5m to run football operations. The Sydney clubs haven't grown much and many of them are just toddlers who need to be breastfed to survive.

 

[BunniesMan]

Are you for real?

The game in 1995 was run off $10m per annum from broadcast rights, split evenly between the 20 clubs. That means the annual grant for each club was just $500k. The salary cap was over $1m, so clubs needed to be financially viable to survive just to pay their players. Many of them weren't.

On top of this, the NSWRL stipulated that the Cowboys had to cover travel and accommodation for themselves and all the Sydney teams they played against, estimated to be about $800k per season. One of the criteria for the Cowboys' admission was to take out a loan to convert The Willows into a stadium while many Sydney clubs were allowed to play out of shitholes. It bankrupted the club before they ran onto the field.

This is why clubs jumped over to Super League. It wasn't because they were "greedy" or "disloyal", which is the bullshit narrative spun by knuckle dragging morons who don't know anything about the era.

Now we've got Sydney clubs demanding the ARLC cover the salary cap and provide each club an extra $5m to run football operations. The Sydney clubs haven't grown much and many of them are just toddlers who need to be breastfed to survive.

Lol your argument makes my point. The game has grown financially into a massive behemoth compared to the 90s. With fewer teams. With fewer dots on the map. Being the number 1 sport in half the country gets you a multi billion dollar deal. That is more than enough to make every regular senior player rich. The clubs are bankruptcy proof. Why do we need perpetual growth beyond that? The game was in a risky place back then and now it is healthy and sustainable.

Growth for the sake of growth doesn't achieve anything. If the game looks the same 100 years from now that is not a failure. We don't need permanent expansion. The game is more than big enough and successful enough for all its fans and any future fans to have a product they enjoy watching.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Lol your argument makes my point. The game has grown financially into a massive behemoth compared to the 90s. With fewer teams. With fewer dots on the map. Being the number 1 sport in half the country gets you a multi billion dollar deal. That is more than enough to make every regular senior player rich. The clubs are bankruptcy proof. Why do we need perpetual growth beyond that? The game was in a risky place back then and now it is healthy and sustainable.

Growth for the sake of growth doesn't achieve anything. If the game looks the same 100 years from now that is not a failure. We don't need permanent expansion. The game is more than big enough and successful enough for all its fans and any future fans to have a product they enjoy watching.

You think the game gets more money now because it has less teams than in 1995?

That's just dumb.

FTV networks didn't throw much money at sport in the early 90s because there was no pay TV companies around to bid for the rights. Deals for all major sports ranged from $10m to $15m per annum during this period.

Pay TV wasn't given the green light in Australia until 1992. Without it, the FTA stations were able to secure the rights for a poultry sum as there was no competition driving up the price. Arthurson and Quayle signed away the 1993-2000 broadcast rights to Kerry Packer for just $10m per annum after Ch10 went bust. This was a crucial error on their behalf as the deal covered FTA and any future pay TV operation.

By cutting out Murdoch altogether they created the Super League war because he needed content to compete against Kerry Packer's Optus Vision.

Pay TV has brought untold wealth into our game and other sports. The NBL gets more money now with a 10 team competiton than the 20 team ARL did in 1995.

The growth has got nothing to do with the amount of clubs that have been cut. That doesn't mean we wouldn't get more for having a better national spread, which is evident by the AFL getting better deals for having teams in all five metro markets despite not rating as well as our game.

 

[Wb1234]

Lol your argument makes my point. The game has grown financially into a massive behemoth compared to the 90s. With fewer teams. With fewer dots on the map. Being the number 1 sport in half the country gets you a multi billion dollar deal. That is more than enough to make every regular senior player rich. The clubs are bankruptcy proof. Why do we need perpetual growth beyond that? The game was in a risky place back then and now it is healthy and sustainable.

Growth for the sake of growth doesn't achieve anything. If the game looks the same 100 years from now that is not a failure. We don't need permanent expansion. The game is more than big enough and successful enough for all its fans and any future fans to have a product they enjoy watching.

Because hopefully the nrl aren’t insular and want rugby league to be a bigger sport globally

financially the nrl will gain

not that it will happen but the premier league gets billions from overseas tv viewers then there jersey sales etc

 

[siv]

Arthurson and Quayle signed away the 1993-2000 broadcast rights to Kerry Packer for just $10m per annum after Ch10 went bust. This was a crucial error on their behalf as the deal covered FTA and any future pay TV operation.

By cutting out Murdoch altogether they created the Super League war

Get you facts correct

Packer got the Pay TV rights correct

But that was when PMT(Packer/Murdoch/Telstra) planned to setup Foxtel together

It was the ACCC who stepped in later and forced Packer out of Foxtel

 

[LeagueXIII]

Arko said at the end after packer stabbed him in the back and showed super league games that he should’ve just let Murdoch and packer fight over it and whoever won gone with them

packer got optus and the arl to use their money to protect his tv rights

Exactly, the game should have let these rich pricks fight it out and our game wins, they needed us.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Get you facts correct

Packer got the Pay TV rights correct

But that was when PMT(Packer/Murdoch/Telstra) planned to setup Foxtel together

It was the ACCC who stepped in later and forced Packer out of Foxtel

He still got them for a bargain.

 

[mongoose]

How is the game worse off now than during the 90s when it had more teams in more places? Why does it need growth? What's the purpose of the extra money? If you were allowed to time travel and saw that in 2122 the game was roughly as big as it is now, why would that be so terrible?

Growth can be different things, doesn't necessarily mean more teams.

 

[Perth Red]

Lol your argument makes my point. The game has grown financially into a massive behemoth compared to the 90s. With fewer teams. With fewer dots on the map. Being the number 1 sport in half the country gets you a multi billion dollar deal. That is more than enough to make every regular senior player rich. The clubs are bankruptcy proof. Why do we need perpetual growth beyond that? The game was in a risky place back then and now it is healthy and sustainable.

Growth for the sake of growth doesn't achieve anything. If the game looks the same 100 years from now that is not a failure. We don't need permanent expansion. The game is more than big enough and successful enough for all its fans and any future fans to have a product they enjoy watching.

If you’re not moving forward you’re going backwards. Our competitors arent sitting around resting on their laurels. fox would like nothing more than to only have one major football code in australia To fund.

 

[siv]

He still got them for a bargain.

I agree duration looked too long in hindsight

1992 there was no pay-tv and still unproven medium in Australia

I think it took till 1997 before non FTA games started to be shown on PayTV, which of course was driven by the SL War

And even then it took over 5 years for many to come on board

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

I agree duration looked too long in hindsight

1992 there was no pay-tv and still unproven medium in Australia

I think it took till 1997 before non FTA games started to be shown on PayTV, which of course was driven by the SL War

And even then it took over 5 years for many to come on board

Optus Vision screened non-FTA games in 1996 on the Sports Australia Channel.

 

[MugaB]

Optus Vision screened non-FTA games in 1996 on the Sports Australia Channel.

Thanks rain man..

BRL, POKIE DEN, Logan, Singapore, potato!!!

 

[Perth Red]

Growth can be different things, doesn't necessarily mean more teams.

You sound like Greenberg lol