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Expansion Team Names

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,957
Does that mean you'll stop all of this BS talk about expanding into Adelaide and Perth, as it is financially unviable and nothing more than a fanciful pipe dream?

PVL ruled it out for a start.

An ARL Commissioner said it will cost $200 million to get a Perth team into the NRL. Twiggy Forrest is the only bloke with that sort of money and he ain't interested.
Perth and Adelaide are both viable, and the only way you could think otherwise is if you have a serious case of cognitive dissonance, something Mr V'landys (among others) seems to have spades.
NZ ain't a very valuable TV market either. Neither is Perth or Adelaide. Ch9 and Foxtel don't want a team in Perth or Adelaide.
Currently the NZ market is significantly more value to an entertainment industry than the PNG market in almost every way. That's not a knock on PNG, it's just reality.
A PNG team would have no trouble attracting 15,000 paying fans to each home game. Not everyone in the country is poor. When the PNG Hunters entered the Queensland Cup many Papuans flew into Queensland to watch them play. I spoke to a few of them at Kougari Oval. The game was full of Papuans in the crowd and there was standing room only.
Sure, but those 15k crowds aren't that impressive when on average the people are paying under AU$5 for their ticket. . .

Considering the average turnover of NRL clubs, plus the extra expenses that a PNG club would undoubtedly incur, you're average Papuan simply doesn't have the disposable income to support an NRL club.
 
Messages
14,822
Perth and Adelaide isn't unviable though, you still have no basis for such a claim.
I have given you plenty of evidence. You just don't want to acknowledge it.

The most important evidence is the example set by the only other team from fumbleball land in the NRL. Melbourne Storm. I've shown you how much it cost to prop them up until they could survive on their own. It took 20 years and $101,500,000 in bailouts from News Ltd and the ARLC between 1998 and 2018.

Cameron Smith said the only reason it worked is because the team was successful on the field and that any team in Adelaide and Perth would require the same.

Melbourne's success on the field cannot be replicated with Adelaide and Perth. There's not going to be a situation where three clubs, like the Crushers, Mariners and Reds, perish at the same time to provide a new club with a star roster. The odds of 4 future immortals coming along in one generation just as the club is formed, like what happened when Storm picked up Slater, Smith, Cronk and Inglis, in an under served area that is the 2nd largest RL city in the world and going unnoticed by everyone else is almost zero.

News Ltd are no longer in a position to fund a club like the Storm. Neither is the ARLC. No one else will undertake that task. An ARLC commissioner said it would cost $200,000,000 to run a Perth based team. I'd imagine that figure is based on what it cost the Storm plus inflation, as the cost of living is much greater now compared to 1998. The game doesn't have that money.

There aren't any businessmen from Adelaide, or anywhere else in the country, interested in funding an Adelaide based team. Name one if you disagree.

Peter Cumins and Tony Sage want a team in Perth, but they lack the capital that's required to fund it. The ARLC said $200 million. Give me proof that a Perth-based consortium has that capital and you will have a case. Until then you're living in a fantasy world.

PNG is a third world country that would be a massive drain on the rest of the NRL. There is no income in that country to go towards a professional sports team playing in an Australian competition.
The country has made lots of money over the last decade through mining. Plenty of Aussie companies over there making money from the mining sector.

PNG Hunters are a professional sports team and they play in Australia. They are doing so in a competiton that the West Coast Pirates cannot afford to enter.
Unless there is a class of rich people who all love League but I somehow doubt that. I would like to see a plan of how they think it would work though.
I don't think it would be wise to go there any time in the next 15 years, and I do NOT think Colin Smith was saying they would do so in that time frame. He was saying it's a potential option for the future when the country is more industrialised.
 
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Messages
14,822
Perth and Adelaide are both viable, and the only way you could think otherwise is if you have a serious case of cognitive dissonance, something Mr V'landys (among others) seems to have spades.

What evidence do you have that Adelaide and Perth are both viable?

You made the claim, now prove it.

The ARLC has stated it will cost $200 million to fund a team in Perth. The same amount would be needed for Adelaide. We know this because the Storm required $101,500,000 in funds from News Ltd and ARLC over 20 years to prevent them from going under. News Ltd is no longer running the game and are in debt, so you can rule them out as a financier. ARLC just took out a loan to stay in operation.

Inflation and the ever increasing costs of running a football club in 2020, compared to 1998, means a club in Adelaide or Perth would need twice as much as the Storm to stay afloat. Say, $200 million?

Cameron Smith said the teams would need to win constantly. How do you plan on making a Perth and Adelaide team successful when they won't have the advantages that boosted the Storm?
Currently the NZ market is significantly more value to an entertainment industry than the PNG market in almost every way. That's not a knock on PNG, it's just reality.
I agree with you. I am just pointing out that the only television market in the country that will add money to the game is the under served Brisbane metro area. Colin Smith said Ch9 and Foxtel want another team in Brisbane.
Sure, but those 15k crowds aren't that impressive when on average the people are paying under AU$5 for their ticket. . .

Considering the average turnover of NRL clubs, plus the extra expenses that a PNG club would undoubtedly incur, you're average Papuan simply doesn't have the disposable income to support an NRL club.
I don't know how much they charged for 2017 World Cup tickets in Port Moresby.
 
Messages
14,822
I don't really know anything about the specific case that you are talking about, however going from your description I'd bet you anything that what happened was that when ECW went bankrupt it's assets were sold off to pay off as much of their debt as possible and that Vince McMahon bought those assets.


You've also got to keep in mind that this is professional wrestling that you are talking about, and you may be confusing a kayfabe story line with what actually happened in real life.

There was nothing kayfabe about it. Paul Heyman ran the company into the ground. It ended up in bankruptcy in 2001 and when WWF used rhe WCW/ECW invasion storyline they got in trouble as they didn't own the trademarka to ECW, so they started called it The Alliance Vince ended up buying ECW's assets and went on to relaunch the brand a few years later.


You can keep cutting the part of my post where I say this, but I knew that the Diehards folded in 90s and never once have I suggested that they didn't fold in the 90s lol.

I honestly don't know why you keep saying that I didn't know it either lol.
Okay. I misunderstood you. Sorry.
 

Jimmy Wiggle

Juniors
Messages
118
Were the Diehards even a registered club at the time?

If my memory is correct the club was wound up at the end of 1995 and didn't begin fielding senior teams in the second division and relaunched BRL until a few years ago.

Even if the brand was owned by some one, an agreement could have been worked out. It had been done in 1988,89 when Fortitude Valley Diehards and Tweed Heads Seagulls merged.

View attachment 40145

The Seagulls-Diehards won the BRL in the two seasons they competed in it.

EDIT.

I WAS RIGHT!

Is there anything you don't get wrong?

"https://www.valleysdiehards.com/return-of-the-diehards

THE FORTITUDE VALLEY DIEHARDS


ICONIC BRISBANE RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB

ESTABLISHED IN 1908

24 PREMIERSHIPS

RUGBY LEAGUE KINGS

BY 1996 THE CLUB WAS DEAD AND BURIED

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE CLUB YOU LOVE IS TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU?

YOU BUILD IT AGAIN

THIS IS A RUGBY LEAGUE COMEBACK STORY

This documentary debut from Anthony O'Brien traces the history of one of Rugby League's most famous clubs. Featuring Rugby League historian Steve Haddan and a host of Valleys legends as they tell the story of the club's glittering history through to its tragic demise in 1995. Set against the backdrop of the club's long road to resurrection in 2015 and its fly on the wall tilt at the 2017 BRL Premiership.

RETURN OF THE DIEHARDS is a comeback story that will resonate with all sports lovers."​


I don't want to be pedantic but a lot of what you have said about Valleys is incorrect.

They mightn't have been able to use the Diehards name even if they wanted to because the juniors were still going strong at Stafford, the seniors now play there as well.

Seagulls - Diehards won the 1988 premiership, Valleys won the 1989 & 1990 premierships.
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,809
I have given you plenty of evidence. You just don't want to acknowledge it.

The most important evidence is the example set by the only other team from fumbleball land in the NRL. Melbourne Storm. I've shown you how much it cost to prop them up until they could survive on their own. It took 20 years and $101,500,000 in bailouts from News Ltd and the ARLC between 1998 and 2018.

didn't News sell the club in 2013? when did the ARLC bail them out?

This is the same News ltd who undersold the games TV rights to themselves up until 2012.

News Ltd are no longer in a position to fund a club like the Storm. Neither is the ARLC. No one else will undertake that task. An ARLC commissioner said it would cost $200,000,000 to run a Perth based team. I'd imagine that figure is based on what it cost the Storm plus inflation, as the cost of living is much greater now compared to 1998. The game doesn't have that money.

There aren't any businessmen from Adelaide, or anywhere else in the country, interested in funding an Adelaide based team. Name one if you disagree.

$200,000,000 up front? over 10 years? seems you are just throwing random amounts out there. How do you know how many businessmen are in WA or SA who could to invest in an NRL team?

Who is going to fund all these Brisbane NRL teams btw, pokie clubs? why bother...
 
Messages
14,822
didn't News sell the club in 2013? when did the ARLC bail them out?
When News Ltd left the geme in 2012 they added a stipulation that the ARLC had to bankroll the Storm to the tune of $26.5 million over six years. I've cited this many times now, so you cannot claim to be unaware of it. News Ltd funded them to the tune of $75 million from 1998 until they sold the club. Altogether that is $101,500,000 just to keep the club afloat, as it was money it couldn't provide for itself and they would have gone under without it.

"THE Australian Rugby League Commission has guaranteed $26.5 million over the next six years to Melbourne Storm to keep the game thriving in Victoria."

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...k=730e2a90ff24558fec8091ff5be1cf4e-1595319967

"Storm

The Storm have new owners following the sale by media outlet News Corp. The financial depth of the new owners is unknown, and only time will tell if they can make the highly successful football club a financial success. The Storm has been overspending to the tune of between $2 million and $5 million for 15 years. This shortfall has been financed by News Ltd and the amount spent by the club does not seem to be falling since the salary cap scandal in 2010.​

The Storm football club spends about $20 million a year, or about $2-$4 million more than most other clubs except for the wealthy Broncos. The new consortium of owners, led by New Zealander Bart Campbell, are projecting the club will break even in five years, which is a long time to be losing money. The Storm has risen to the top of the competition by overspending; if the club has to curtail its expenses it is very difficult to see the performance on the field continuing, placing greater financial stress on the group."

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/moneyball-how-is-your-club-placed-20130830-2swhv.html

This is the same News ltd who undersold the games TV rights to themselves up until 2012.

I don't know what this has to do with Adelaide and Perth or Melbourne.

$200,000,000 up front? over 10 years? seems you are just throwing random amounts out there.

I am going by what Roy Masters wrote in the paper regarding a Perth team needing $200 million to get the green light from the ARLC.

"Unless Twiggy finds another $200m, a second Brisbane team is ahead of Perth," was the observation of one ARL commissioner.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/no...brisbane-ripe-for-growth-20190623-p520gy.html


Seems like you don't want to know or don't have the ability to understand.

How do you know how many businessmen are in WA or SA who could to invest in an NRL team?

Name one billionaire from WA/SA that's willing to invest $200 million in an RL team.

Who is going to fund all these Brisbane NRL teams btw, pokie clubs? why bother...
The Broncos have so many companies coming to them each year they have to turn most away. Brisbane 2, 3 and even 4 if they wanted another, would be the go to clubs for sponsors knocked back by the Broncos as they would get better value aligning with them in RL's 2nd largest city than hooking up with the Lions, Reds or Roar.
 
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Messages
14,822
I don't want to be pedantic but a lot of what you have said about Valleys is incorrect.

They mightn't have been able to use the Diehards name even if they wanted to because the juniors were still going strong at Stafford, the seniors now play there as well.

Seagulls - Diehards won the 1988 premiership, Valleys won the 1989 & 1990 premierships.
I stand corrected.

Weren't they the Caboolture Diehards in 1995?

Did they continue to field senior teams in the second division between 1995 and 2013?
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,957
What evidence do you have that Adelaide and Perth are both viable?

You made the claim, now prove it.
Over the years this subject has been discussed ad nauseam, so I'm going to be super brief-
WA and SA are the last major markets in Australia where the NRL has basically zero presence and there's heaps of room to grow, and even a small presence would instantly increase sponsorship and corporate values for the whole league, increase the value of advertising on NRL products as an extension of that increase broadcast rights values (which BTW seems to be why Nine is against it, but that is a completely different discussion), simply because you are growing the potential audience by so much.

On top of that every major and secondary sport in the country except RU and RL has built a presence in both cities. If the NBL, A-league, Super Netball, AIHL, ABL, and many other minor sports can support teams in Perth and Adelaide in their national competitions then the NRL can do it as well.

Finally both markets have also shown lots of promise in the past, and though they might be relatively small bases, there are bases in both that could be built on.

The ARLC has stated it will cost $200 million to fund a team in Perth. The same amount would be needed for Adelaide. We know this because the Storm required $101,500,000 in funds from News Ltd and ARLC over 20 years to prevent them from going under. News Ltd is no longer running the game and are in debt, so you can rule them out as a financier. ARLC just took out a loan to stay in operation.

Inflation and the ever increasing costs of running a football club in 2020, compared to 1998, means a club in Adelaide or Perth would need twice as much as the Storm to stay afloat. Say, $200 million?
Firstly where did the ARLC say that, and secondly, if they did in fact say it the way you are describing it it's a totally meaningless thing to say!

Saying simply that it'll cost $200mil but not showing how they formulate that cost and over how long a period that money would be invested is a totally valueless statement.
Does he mean that money would be spent specifically on the club it's self or would that money be spent on other things as well. Is he talking only about money the NRL would have to put up or money from investors, broadcasters, and government grants as well, and is he including the clubs yearly grant. Over what period would he expect that money to be invested in, because $200mil sounds like a lot of money, but if it's $200mil over 20+ year period that's nothing, I mean unless the NRL clubs grants get cut they'll get at least $260mil each over that period.

You also make out that $101mil to the Storm is a lot of money, but you leave out that only a fraction of that money came from the NRL it's self, and you also leave out the return that the NRL got for their investment. There's no chance in hell that the NRL gets billion dollar broadcasting contracts without a solid presence in Melbourne, and the Storm have easily made more than $101mil for the NRL over those years, so even with that investment the Storm have been a net positive to the NRL.
Cameron Smith said the teams would need to win constantly. How do you plan on making a Perth and Adelaide team successful when they won't have the advantages that boosted the Storm?
You keep bringing up these people, but all you are doing is appealing to their authority. You're not actually looking at their claims in any detail, you're not thinking about what they have to say for yourself, you're just saying "name in the paper says this thing that re-enforces my point of view, therefore it must be right because they'd know better", when frankly, they often don't know any better and all of them a have an agenda.

You also only cherry pick opinions that suit your argument and never give quotes so people can address what has actually been said, but whatever.
I agree with you. I am just pointing out that the only television market in the country that will add money to the game is the under served Brisbane metro area. Colin Smith said Ch9 and Foxtel want another team in Brisbane.
I mean that's just BS on the face of it. Anything that adds unique viewers (i.e. new sets of eyeballs) in reasonable numbers adds value to broadcasting contracts, and not only Brisbane does that. In fact if anything you're targeting the same market of people in Brisbane and hoping that they'll watch in the same numbers twice a week instead of once, but I digress.

You're also only thinking short term. You're thinking if we add another Brisbane club you'll add another match that rates like the Broncos each week (which is an assumption that might not turn out to be true BTW), where I, and anybody else that's looking at real long term growth, is looking at Perth and Adelaide and thinking we can add clubs there and initially it's ratings and fan base won't be huge, but after a generation or two it'll grow into a big strong club that rates well and we'll add thousands of new fans.
I don't know how much they charged for 2017 World Cup tickets in Port Moresby.
Neither do I, but that was a one off event not 12 regular season games a year, so it's not really reflective of what you could expect on a regular basis in PNG.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,957
There was nothing kayfabe about it. Paul Heyman ran the company into the ground. It ended up in bankruptcy in 2001 and when WWF used rhe WCW/ECW invasion storyline they got in trouble as they didn't own the trademarka to ECW, so they started called it The Alliance Vince ended up buying ECW's assets and went on to relaunch the brand a few years later.
If that's the case then how is this at all applicable to the scenario of the Titans trying name themselves Diehards that was being discussed?

I mean it's literally a completely different scenario.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,957
I am going by what Roy Masters wrote in the paper regarding a Perth team needing $200 million to get the green light from the ARLC.

"Unless Twiggy finds another $200m, a second Brisbane team is ahead of Perth," was the observation of one ARL commissioner.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/no...brisbane-ripe-for-growth-20190623-p520gy.html
Hang on a minute, that's not him saying that it'd cost $200mil to set up a Perth club with some knowledge behind it, that's an offhanded comment said flippantly.

It's also been said before the NRL had really started their review into expansion, and before the findings have been presented, we also don't know who this guy is or what his agenda is.

I mean that could just be V'Landys being his insular self, or it could be a quote from a patriotic Queenslander who won't even discuss any bids other than Brisbane bids, and for all we know he might be in a minority on the commission and that the as a whole the ARLC actually supports a Perth club.

See this is why you need to provide the quote you are referring to.
 

greenBV4

Bench
Messages
2,510
When News Ltd left the geme in 2012 they added a stipulation that the ARLC had to bankroll the Storm to the tune of $26.5 million over six years. I've cited this many times now, so you cannot claim to be unaware of it. News Ltd funded them to the tune of $75 million from 1998 until they sold the club. Altogether that is $101,500,000 just to keep the club afloat, as it was money it couldn't provide for itself and they would have gone under without it.

"THE Australian Rugby League Commission has guaranteed $26.5 million over the next six years to Melbourne Storm to keep the game thriving in Victoria."

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...k=730e2a90ff24558fec8091ff5be1cf4e-1595319967
"Storm
The Storm have new owners following the sale by media outlet News Corp. The financial depth of the new owners is unknown, and only time will tell if they can make the highly successful football club a financial success. The Storm has been overspending to the tune of between $2 million and $5 million for 15 years. This shortfall has been financed by News Ltd and the amount spent by the club does not seem to be falling since the salary cap scandal in 2010.
The Storm football club spends about $20 million a year, or about $2-$4 million more than most other clubs except for the wealthy Broncos. The new consortium of owners, led by New Zealander Bart Campbell, are projecting the club will break even in five years, which is a long time to be losing money. The Storm has risen to the top of the competition by overspending; if the club has to curtail its expenses it is very difficult to see the performance on the field continuing, placing greater financial stress on the group."

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/moneyball-how-is-your-club-placed-20130830-2swhv.html
Those numbers seem big when you isolate them like that but really there not all that bad

Ive asked you this before and you have never really answered, how much money have some of the other clubs owners (which includes leagues clubs) pumped into them over their lifetime? as news ldt was the clubs owner at the time so they should bankroll them

and 26 million over 6 years isnt that much, its only 4 million, and was that including what every club already got as a grant anyway? (genuine question), as that has been between 6-10 million a year over the last 6 years.

Spending 2-4 million extra a year is not really that much of a big deal either, especially since it was more of a choice to over spend than "bleeding" like you have put it, as the article mentions, the broncos spend more than that, and both clubs are considered "sucessfull" over the last 2 decades

"The Storm has risen to the top of the competition by overspending; if the club has to curtail its expenses it is very difficult to see the performance on the field continuing, placing greater financial stress on the group." - seems like it worked out for them, as they are now making a profit, and still performing on the field, you have to spend money (wisely) to make money
 

greenBV4

Bench
Messages
2,510
also worth noting, do you want to know how much EVERY club has received from the NRL in the form of the grant since 1998? 106.738 Million, and it is safe to assume that most, if not all, clubs have been spending more than just the NRL grant each year
 

greenBV4

Bench
Messages
2,510
I am going by what Roy Masters wrote in the paper regarding a Perth team needing $200 million to get the green light from the ARLC.

"Unless Twiggy finds another $200m, a second Brisbane team is ahead of Perth," was the observation of one ARL commissioner.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/no...brisbane-ripe-for-growth-20190623-p520gy.html


Seems like you don't want to know or don't have the ability to understand.

Seems like you don't understand, that mentions that they would need that to be AHEAD of Brisbane 2, I don't a single person on here thinks Brisbane 2 shouldn't be the next team
 
Messages
14,822
Over the years this subject has been discussed ad nauseam, so I'm going to be super brief-
WA and SA are the last major markets in Australia where the NRL has basically zero presence and there's heaps of room to grow, and even a small presence would instantly increase sponsorship and corporate values for the whole league, increase the value of advertising on NRL products as an extension of that increase broadcast rights values (which BTW seems to be why Nine is against it, but that is a completely different discussion), simply because you are growing the potential audience by so much.
Perth is a potential growth market for the game. If we go on what the Lions and Storm have done in Brisbane and Melbourne, I'd estimate, conservatively, that a Perth team could increase the game's weekly national television audience by 15,000 to 40,000. That's just my estimate, so don't take it as gospel. Storm games get around 30,000-40,000 on 9Gem in Melbourne, but non-Storm games rate as low as 4,000. Lions get about 40,000 for their matches on 7mate in Brisbane. How much those extra 25,000-35,000 viewers watching Storm in Melbourne allow Ch9 to charge for ad spots, God knows, but it's something I guess. It's a matter of breaking down how much money goes into propping up new clubs vs how much is gained from the extra viewers they bring in. Only the NRL and media analysts like Colin Smith can say for sure as they've gone over the data. None of us are privy to it.

The biggest advantage of the Storm is they draw good ratings in both NSW and Queensland. If they were to fall down the table then those ratings would slide, which is my main concern about having 2 or more expansion clubs in non-RL areas. One can be turned into a power house, but 2 or more can become an albatross around the game's neck. Brisbane 2 would also have some impact on the Storm's popularity in south-east Queensland. The Storm are currently acting as a surrogate Brisbane 2 for people in the area who don't like the Broncos.

When the Lions stopped winning they fell off a cliff and racked up $13 million in debt. AwFuL were so busy propping up the Swans they either forgot about the Lions or decided Brisbane wasn't as important. Being just the 3rd largest city, they let Brisbane fend for itself and dedicated their resources to propping up the largest non-AwFuL metro area, Sydney. If that's what they did, and it's just my suspicion based on the Lions languishing down the bottom of the ladder for and one a half decades while the Swans were at the top, due to them receiving concessions that were taken away from Brisbane after the Lions made 4 GF's in a row, then my fear is the ARLC might look at Perth and Adelaide and say not big enough people live there to warrant that sort of investment.

In all seriousness, I think the ARLC will take Perth into consideration one day. It has a decent player base and responds well to games that are taken there. I've seen no indication that the NRL is keen on putting a team in Adelaide. It is never spoken about by the NRL or media as a potential expansion market. It's always Brisbane, with some chatter in the media about Perth and New Zealand as possible locations for the 17th and 18th licences.

On top of that every major and secondary sport in the country except RU and RL has built a presence in both cities. If the NBL, A-league, Super Netball, AIHL, ABL, and many other minor sports can support teams in Perth and Adelaide in their national competitions then the NRL can do it as well.
I don't doubt the game's ability to carve out a niche in those cities. My concern is the money required to compete with the OTHER NRL clubs is far greater than the budget that NBL, ABL, AIHL, Super Netball and A-League clubs run on. The NRL and AFL clubs are able to run on far greater amounts because of their greater popularity in their strongholds, which makes it harder for them to expand into new territories. The minor sports don't have that problem as they're small everywhere, so it equalises their clubs to an extent. AwFuL has the money required to fund expansion, whereas our game does not. Super League killed our funds and the clubs and RLPA take up whatever is generated from broadcast rights. Until the game has about $250 million in reserve, there's no way it can fund expansion into Perth and Adelaide without running the risk of those clubs being wound up should they hit a hurdle, and considering they're in expansion areas, they most likely will at some stage.
 
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14,822
Finally both markets have also shown lots of promise in the past, and though they might be relatively small bases, there are bases in both that could be built on.
They provided excellent support for their clubs during their first year of competition, but fell off a cliff in the second. I know the game was in a turbulent place at the time, which may or may not have had an impact on fans walking away in season 2, but it was a set back the game decided it either could not afford or thought the benefits were outweighed by the cost.

Firstly where did the ARLC say that, and secondly, if they did in fact say it the way you are describing it it's a totally meaningless thing to say!

Saying simply that it'll cost $200mil but not showing how they formulate that cost and over how long a period that money would be invested is a totally valueless statement.
Does he mean that money would be spent specifically on the club it's self or would that money be spent on other things as well. Is he talking only about money the NRL would have to put up or money from investors, broadcasters, and government grants as well, and is he including the clubs yearly grant. Over what period would he expect that money to be invested in, because $200mil sounds like a lot of money, but if it's $200mil over 20+ year period that's nothing, I mean unless the NRL clubs grants get cut they'll get at least $260mil each over that period.

Roy Masters didn't elaborate any further, but he did say the $200 million had to be on top of whatever funding they got from the WA Government. I took it to mean they needed that as "insurance" to cover the hurdles of starting up a new club in enemy territory. Heartland clubs have always found a way to struggle, so it's only fair to assume a Perth team will too. Melbourne did for its first 15 years and Perth went bust after 1995 and wouldn't have played the 1996 season if News Ltd hadn't have bailed them out.

The $101,500,000 figure was from an article that said the club was overspending to the tune of $5million a season for 15 years, which equates to $75,000,000. I saw another article saying they were overspending to the tune of $8million a year. When News Ltd exited the game they added a stipulation that the game had to fund $26.5million over six years to the Storm. Altogether that equates to $101,500,000.

You also make out that $101mil to the Storm is a lot of money, but you leave out that only a fraction of that money came from the NRL it's self, and you also leave out the return that the NRL got for their investment. There's no chance in hell that the NRL gets billion dollar broadcasting contracts without a solid presence in Melbourne, and the Storm have easily made more than $101mil for the NRL over those years, so even with that investment the Storm have been a net positive to the NRL.

The $101,500,000 is the amount that was needed to keep them solvent due to overspending, not the amount they ran on for 15 years. The total amount they got from grants to cover the salary cap and football department would have been much greater. They were basically spending like the Broncos, but without the income that the Broncos generate, to develop an onfield advantage over every other club in the competition. News Ltd were essentially using the money they made from the fans of the other clubs who subscribed to Foxtel so they could turn the Storm into a team that was almost unbeatable. This is a kick in the teeth for fans of other clubs who've never had much success and are loyal to the core. I cannot imagine this is good for the game's health in the long run as it will make people hate Melbourne and not want to invest their money into the product, as they know it's like playing the rigged games at the royal show. It has also bitten them on the arse, as their Pay TV product is now floundering badly. People who were loyal to Foxtel for years are now cutting the cord, for various reasons. Their favouritism towards Broncos and Storm obviously doesn't endear fans of other clubs to them.

The Storm do provide good ratings in QLD and NSW, which is good for Ch9 and Foxtel. So yes, that does provide the game with money. But those ratings are on the back of their team being stacked with immortals and having more success than any other team in Australian sport over the last 25 years. People like to watch a winner. If it was the Canberra Raiders of the early 1990s playing then just as many people would be tuning in as it was such a great side which drew wide appeal around NSW and QLD. Once the team's superstars retired and dropped down the ladder, so too did the Raiders from consciousness of Queenslanders and New South Welshmen. The same thing will happen to Melbourne at some stage.

You keep bringing up these people, but all you are doing is appealing to their authority. You're not actually looking at their claims in any detail, you're not thinking about what they have to say for yourself, you're just saying "name in the paper says this thing that re-enforces my point of view, therefore it must be right because they'd know better", when frankly, they often don't know any better and all of them a have an agenda.
I don't agree with everything Colin Smith or Roy Masters say, just pointing out that the views on here are not necessarily reflected by the game's administration or people who follow the game in the media. I don't think Melbourne will be ready for a 2nd team any time soon, at least not within the next 25 or 35 years. I wouldn't put a team in PNG either, at least not until it has a sizable middle class.

We all have an agenda. You want to expand the game to a new audience, so you are against any plan that jeopardises that possibility. I want the game in Brisbane to be as strong as it possibly can, as I feel the city has been ripped off over the last 30 years by having its clubs consigned to the history books and forcing its people to follow a team that is run by ruthless "News Ltd" people who don't care about the sport and did more to hurt it than anyone else. Perth Red is angry because the ARL put the Western Reds in an impossible scenario, forcing them to pay for visiting teams' airfare and accommodation, which shows the game probably didn't have the resources to expand into Perth so it wrongly passed the buck over to the Reds and let them wither on the vine.
 
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You also only cherry pick opinions that suit your argument and never give quotes so people can address what has actually been said, but whatever.

When I quote from articles, I put them in quotation marks and use the inline function to. I don't use the "quote" function as it only shows a small fraction of it.

I mean that's just BS on the face of it. Anything that adds unique viewers (i.e. new sets of eyeballs) in reasonable numbers adds value to broadcasting contracts, and not only Brisbane does that. In fact if anything you're targeting the same market of people in Brisbane and hoping that they'll watch in the same numbers twice a week instead of once, but I digress.

I get what you're saying. Self-interest of the clubs has always been driving force that has set the game back. We cannot forget the impact of the Super League War. It left the game broke and put its fate in the hands of News Ltd. Public sentiment towards the game nosedived and took a good decade to recover back to where it was before Murdoch, Ribot, Broncos and co did their stuff.

You're also only thinking short term. You're thinking if we add another Brisbane club you'll add another match that rates like the Broncos each week (which is an assumption that might not turn out to be true BTW), where I, and anybody else that's looking at real long term growth, is looking at Perth and Adelaide and thinking we can add clubs there and initially it's ratings and fan base won't be huge, but after a generation or two it'll grow into a big strong club that rates well and we'll add thousands of new fans.
Brisbane 2 will not average 34,000. It will probably get 25,000, but that's okay. Depending on how it is branded and marketed to the public, it will increase its crowds over time. It has to be right though otherwise it will fail. I like the idea of an established brand as it has history and nostalgia tied to it. Just like a boxing/wrestling promoter can use the history of two experienced fighters to draw interest in a bout, so too will the NRL if they market a couple of resurrected BRL clubs. It could be billed as the downtrodden true blue Queenslander, the backbone of the game north of the Tweed, coming back from the grave to take on the corporate bullies of News Ltd who almost killed the sport. Everyone loves a David vs Goliath with spicy drama mixed in. Good vs evil. There's years of bad blood between the BRL and Broncos that can be exploited for commercial purposes to get one group of people on side with the Broncos, the other onside with the BRL clubs. A new brand just won't have that and will take years to develop a rivalry, if it does at all. Brisbane Firehawks and Redcliffe Dolphins can fill that void.

What really gets my attention is the massive drop in viewers up here when Queensland teams are NOT playing. Even the Titans draw good ratings in Brisbane, and they're the weakest of the 3 Queensland clubs by a mile in terms of support. My hope is one day we will be able to have 2 games on a Thursday night, 2 on a Friday and 2 on a Sunday afternoon, plus Brisbane 2, 3 and a few decades down the track a 4th team so that FTA can broadcast a Brisbane team into Brisbane and Sydney teams into Sydney. Foxtel can broadcast the Sydney game into Brisbane and the Brisbane game into Sydney on Fox League, and put the home city game on one of their other channels.

Neither do I, but that was a one off event not 12 regular season games a year, so it's not really reflective of what you could expect on a regular basis in PNG.
Their Queensland Cup team draws good crowds. I'd still wait a few decades before putting a team in Port Moresby. Maybe a second team in the Queensland Cup and a South Pacific Cyclones team that plays a few games in Port Moresby, the rest in NZ.
 
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also worth noting, do you want to know how much EVERY club has received from the NRL in the form of the grant since 1998? 106.738 Million, and it is safe to assume that most, if not all, clubs have been spending more than just the NRL grant each year
$106,738,000 as in $106 million?

That means the Storm have gotten $208,238,000.

No wonder they've dominated the competition!

What makes the Storm's spending all the more contemptible is News Ltd used the money it received from fans of other clubs who subscribed to Foxtel and invested it in the Storm so they could develop a massive advantage over every other team, which helped them dominate the competition from the mid 2000s until now. It's enough to make fans from teams who struggle to not want to invest in the game.
 
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