Expansion 10 years away: Gallop

[LeagueLegend]

Courier Mail
09/03/2007
Page: 62
Main Game
Region: Brisbane Circulation: 224690
Type: Capital City Daily
Size: 789.76 sq.cms

Courier Mail
09/03/2007
Page: 116
Sport
Region: Brisbane Circulation: 224690
Type: Capital City Daily
Size: 136.83 sq.cms

Both articles written by Paul Malone of the Courier Mail

(Unfortunately these articles are not online...yet)

In today's Courier Mail, David Gallop has expressed his view that expansion of the league is some 10 years away before the league can sustain another increase. He mentions that Gosford isn't the answer for a new team, Perth and Adelaide aren't ready yet and that any expansion right now will take money away from the grass roots.

 

[Ziggy the God]

Gallop: the visionary. :lol:

 

[kooriguy]

wheres that reds guy.. probably pricing hitmen

 

[Tyler Durden]

and by that time, the AFL will have continued their drive into NSW and QLD.
they will probably relocate a team to the gold coast and possibly a second sydney tea,

 

[Dragonwest]

Very disappointing. The reds may cost money in the short term but the long term advantages of having a truly national comp surely outways it. Surely the increase in sponsorship dollars and national exposure cant leave perth in the cold for the next 10 years.

 

[taxidriver]

and the news owned Broncs chuckle away having the whole of Brisbane to themselves.

 

[LeagueLegend]

they will probably relocate a team to the gold coast and possibly a second sydney tea,

Expansion won't solve that. Sydney is already overcrowded and the Gold Coast now has representation.

 

[girvie]

Bad news for the Bears.

LeagueLegend would it be possible for you to type up the article?

 

[Dr Crane]

Bad news all around. Not just for any area in particular.

 

[LeagueLegend]

Girvie, this is one of them. The other is a Q&A about several other game related things.



Gallop predicts no new clubs for decade
Paul Malone

THE Gold Coast looks like being the last new club admitted to the NRL for at least 10 years, NRL chief executive David Gallop has warned in the countdown to the launch of the Titans.

Gallop said he would be wary of an increase in teams from 16 to 18 within the next decade and is doubtful if Perth or Adelaide can be developed enough as league cities to reenter a national competition.

"I wouldn't say no to 10 years, but anything inside 10 years I'd be wary of," Gallop said in today's first of the year's MainGame in today's Courier-Mail.

"You have to put teams in where there is a chance for the grassroots to take hold. Even Melbourne is a lesson in that.

"The Central Coast (of NSW) has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, there's already too much competition in Sydney and that counts against Gosford.

"Adding teams could mean less money for grassroots rugby league. I'd like to keep putting the salary cap up so we can continue to attract the best athletes and keep putting the club grant up."

The NRL clubs have put in a $4 million salary cap this year, up from $3.6 million last year, and the league is planning to increase the salary cap and club grants out of the new television and sponsorship deals signed over the past 18 months.

Gallop said the NRL would leave $8 million on the table for any existing team wanting to move to what the NRL considered a desirable new base.

"We'd look at other areas as well (other than Gosford)," he said. "Whether Adelaide or Perth are ready ... it would take a while to get them there.

"The Gold Coast Titans give us a foothold in a very important population base which has
been targeted by our competitors.

"The cash the AFL has to spend is very impressive, but grassroots infrastructure is built up on a generational support of volunteers. We need to maintain the incentives for people to get involved and support their local game and for Gold Coast kids to want to play for the Titans."

 

[Perth Tiger]

I would take what Gallop has said with a grain of salt. Didn't he say there were no plans for expansion before they announced the Titans into the comp.

Plus i believe that the NRL is helping out the WA Reds in some form, i doubt they would be doing that out of the goodness of their hearts

 

[girvie]

Thanks

 

[langpark]

I think he wants to hold out long enough until it's no longer his problem (ie: he's retired).

Perth and a second NZ team should be the aim for the next 6 or so years, and we can start building towards it now, by trying to increase playing numbers, set up academies etc.

 

[Mr Saab]

and the news owned Broncs chuckle away having the whole of Brisbane to themselves.

Chuckle chuckle chuckle.
The game is better off with 12-14 teams...not 17-20.

 

[Quidgybo]

I'd suggest that regardless of the ambitions of the Reds or any other aspiring team, that there will be no further expansion during the life of the current television contract. The bigs deals have been signed and the pie divided. The economics of the competition are now unlikely to greatly change over the next six years at least. Any expansion after that will be entirely dependent on the outcome of the next television negotiations for the contract beginning in season 2013. If that contract improves the games income enough to finance one or two more sides then we see may expansion teams announced in mid 2011 (ie. only four and half years from now) but the earliest we will see them on the field is 2013 (six years). But if the contract increase only covers increased payments to players and to existing clubs then Gallop will be dead right, it'll be at least 10 years before the next expansion.

Leigh.

 

[BrisVegas]

I wouldn't take it as set in stone. He said it was likely that expansion was at least 10 years away, and is simply wary of expanding before then.

Lets not forget that the NRL was adamant there would not be an increase to 16 clubs back in mid 2004. Yet by January 2005 the Gold Coast's inclusion was said to be a done deal in the media, a 180 degree turn around in 6 months.

The WA Reds simply need to present a sustainable business model and a persuasive case that a WA team is too good a deal for the NRL to pass up. With the WA Reds entering the Jim Beam Cup in 2008 a few solid years of growth could indicate to the partnership committee that an NRL berth should be undertaken sooner rather than later.

The most significant portion of the article IMO, is in relation to the Central Coast. Gallop seems adament that any Gosford based club will be a relocation, not a new club.

Here is the relevant section of the interview [Source: Courier Mail, Friday March 9, 2007]:

Paul Malone: The competition is back at 16 teams. Can you afford to go to 18 teams in the next 10 years?

Gallop: I wouldn't say no to 10 years, but anything inside 10 years I'd be wary of. We have our clubs back on sound financial footing and been able to increase the salary cap and put a larger increase back into junior development. Adding teams could mean less money for grassroots rugby league. Along with development spending we would like to keep putting the salary cap up so we can continue to attract the best athletes and keep putting the club grant up. We've gone to $4 million in the salary cap, up from $3.6 million last year.

Paul Malone: Would you see the next expansion club going to Gosford, or a state without a team or even a second Brisbane club?

Gallop: You have to put teams in where there is a chance for the grassroots to take hold. Even Melbourne is a lesson in that. The Central Coast has a lot going for it. Unfortunately there's already too much competition in Sydney and that counts against Gosford. There's $8 million from the NRL if anyone is interested in relocation. We'd look at other areas as well (other than Gosford). Whether Adelaide or Perth will be ready soon is hard to say. I think it will take some time.

 

[LeagueLegend]

As Gallop said their is money for someone who want to relocate, at this point in time I can't see that happening. The Central Coast really should be a relocate rather a new team.

 

[BrisVegas]

I'd suggest that regardless of the ambitions of the Reds or any other aspiring team, that there will be no further expansion during the life of the current television contract. The bigs deals have been signed and the pie divided. The economics of the competition are now unlikely to greatly change over the next six years at least. Any expansion after that will be entirely dependent on the outcome of the next television negotiations for the contract beginning in season 2013. If that contract improves the games income enough to finance one or two more sides then we see may expansion teams announced in mid 2011 (ie. only four and half years from now) but the earliest we will see them on the field is 2013 (six years). But if the contract increase only covers increased payments to players and to existing clubs then Gallop will be dead right, it'll be at least 10 years before the next expansion.

Leigh.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Does the NRL wait for an increase in the sale of the next media rights to fund expansion of the competition, or does the inclusion of two new teams in to two new markets drive the increased sales price in the first place? ;-)

 

[brooksy19]

Very dissapointing re: Central Coast..

Guess we'll have to put up with this A League sh*t a bit longer...and by that time, this place will be a soccer stronghold.

I just pray AFL dont put a team here.

 

[LeagueLegend]

I just pray AFL dont put a team here.

Out of curiousity, where would they build a stadium on the CC to have it played? I would have thought the AFL would have Newcastle in sights.