Expansion won't happen anytime soon

[The Great Dane]

biggest issue I can see with relocation (part from its never going to happen!) is ownership. LC won’t give up the license or brand and who wants to follow a club in one city owned and run by a LC in another?

To be fair I don't think your average punter would care so long as the NRL team was well run and the club and media weren't constantly suggesting that the club was interested in relocating back to Sydney.

I mean it's not hard for me to imagine a couple of very realistic scenarios in which the Raiders are forced to relocate the club out of Canberra but continue to own and operate it from Canberra/Queanbeyan, not hard at all.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

They keep saying it but a) it’s impossible to quantify b) if it is true then why the frick havent we done something about it c) more clubs equals more opportunity for players that would otherwise miss out, not because they arent good enough but because there isnt the opportunity and d) nrl has the benefit of signing from SL, union, pacific islands, more kiwi kids and god forbid actually investing in new growth areas.

There's a shortage of quality playmakers at the moment, but that's because the game has focused too much on size and power to the detriment of players who can read a game. It was better when fatigue was a genuine factor that equalised things for the little blokes, who would run rings around the big buggers who struggled to get back in position after 20 minutes of game time. Now it's just hit up after hit up, three in a tackle, wrap up the ball to prevent the offload, hold the ball carrier up so the defensive line can be reset.

England would have a chance of winning and make the international game more interesting if they brought fatigue back into the game.

 

[Perth Red]

To be fair I don't think your average punter would care so long as the NRL team was well run and the club and media weren't constantly suggesting that the club was interested in relocating back to Sydney.

I mean it's not hard for me to imagine a couple of very realistic scenarios in which the Raiders are forced to relocate the club out of Canberra but continue to own and operate it from Canberra/Queanbeyan, not hard at all.

You don't think a Sydney bias media would constantly be white anting it and running stories about a glorious return for the club? lol

 

[The Great Dane]

You don't think a Sydney bias media would constantly be white anting it and running stories about a glorious return for the club? lol

Honestly I think it depends on the club.

If Canberra or the Gold Coast relocated I don't think that most in the Sydney media would even really notice let alone care, but if Cronulla were forced to relocate then every second article Buzz Rothfield wrote would be about the "rumours", that he probably made up, of their glorious return and how millions of the faithful are ready to buy their tickets to the their first home game back at their "true" home.

 

[davi]

Its been reported via the Courier Mail expansion will likely be push back further because of COVID and 2024 maybe a more realistic time frame.

The NRL’s plans to launch a second Brisbane team in 2023 are set to be put on ice as time runs out for Queensland to become home to the league’s 17th club.

The Sunday Mail can reveal expansion has been put on the backburner following the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily suspended the 2020 premiership season and forced the NRL to slash $50 million in annual costs.

The NRL is still at least months away from opening the bidding process for a new franchise - if it decides to do so at all.

It was only a year ago that ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys declared his desire to see a second Brisbane club to rival the Broncos come to life.

However the massive financial and operational impact of COVID has taken a toll on the NRL since last March and delayed crucial research into the viability of another club.

The NRL is yet to commence a detailed study into the impact a new club will have on the competition, which will decide whether the league formally pursues expansion.

Given a 17th team will not generate a ninth game each round, it is unlikely to create any significant increase in broadcast revenue.

That remains a huge hurdle for the exercise, especially with club funding already stretched and the resistance of rival franchises to see their annual grants cut to accommodate another team.

The NRL’s 16 current clubs will fight against having their $13 million handouts reduced to fund a new team.

The game’s current broadcast deal with Channel 9 expires at the end of 2022, fuelling suggestions a new club would ideally enter the competition from 2023.

However time is running out for that to be the case and 2024 looms as a more realistic time frame if expansion goes ahead.

The NRL’s youngest club, the Gold Coast Titans, were awarded the game’s 16th licence in May 2005, giving them about 18 months to prepare for their first season in 2007.

That would be the minimum time the successful franchise needs to begin recruiting players and establishing a roster for their launch.


NRL expansion plans on hold as hopes for second Brisbane team fade | The Courier Mail

 

[Perth Red]

I’m shocked, no really I am lol!

The NRL is yet to commence a detailed study into the impact a new club will have on the competition, which will decide whether the league formally pursues expansion.

what BS! Greenberg commenced a detailed expansion review in Dec 2018 at the request of the commission! I know for a fact they came to perth to meet interested investors in 2019.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/12/13/australian-rugby-league-commission-announce-footprint-study/

Given a 17th team will not generate a ninth game each round, it is unlikely to create any significant increase in broadcast revenue.

hate to say I told you so!

 

[TheEroticGamer]

Greenberg literally spoke about it on Triple M during 2019 grand final week and how it started coming together. The NRL are full of such lying shits lmao.

 

[flippikat]

I’m shocked, no really I am lol!

The NRL is yet to commence a detailed study into the impact a new club will have on the competition, which will decide whether the league formally pursues expansion.

what BS! Greenberg commenced a detailed expansion review in Dec 2018 at the request of the commission! I know for a fact they came to perth to meet interested investors in 2019.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/12/13/australian-rugby-league-commission-announce-footprint-study/

Given a 17th team will not generate a ninth game each round, it is unlikely to create any significant increase in broadcast revenue.

hate to say I told you so!

Exactly - the NRL needs to make Brisbane 2 happen for 2023, and Perth in 2024 or 2025.

That way, broadcasters get a guaranteed game in Brisbane every week ASAP, and the new team is a lower operational/logistical risk than markets like Perth or NZ2 - with the 18th club (and revenue boosting 9th game) a little later, when the pandemic has likely blown over.

Both teams DON'T have to come in simultaneously.. and a staggered approach is just the thing for the current situation. Then teams 19 & 20 can begin simultaneously at the end of this decade-early 30s (at the latest).

 

[The Great Dane]

It was inevitable that expansion was going to be knocked back, for a team to debut in 2023 it would have to have a license by now and be well into the process of setting up the club and building a team. However it's frustrating that they are just flat out lying about not doing a study into expansion and are still pushing this stupid idea of expanding by one club.

Obviously I'm just speculating, but it seems to me that what they really mean is that they didn't like the findings of Greenburg's review into expansion and want another that is manipulated to confirm their bias before they try to go ahead with this dumb idea of giving one license to a club from Brisbane whom have been anointed as the chosen ones based on the gut feeling of a few people in power.

 

[The Great Dane]

Exactly - the NRL needs to make Brisbane 2 happen for 2023, and Perth in 2024 or 2025.

Rushing teams for 2023 and 2024 would be a terrible idea.

 

[Diesel]

Not one quote in that article. It’s just News Ltd protecting their investment in the Broncos. The CM will hammer the shit out of Brisbane 2 at every chance

 

[flippikat]

Rushing teams for 2023 and 2024 would be a terrible idea.

Ok, 2023 *is* very optimistic... but if V'landys wants Brisbane 2 hard enough I think he'll make it happen pretty promptly - question is how much he wants it.

I still think expansion decisions need to be made this year - to set the game up to come out of the pandemic with a chance of increasing the broadcast dollar.

 

[siv]

Now they have a way of keeping the Warriors alive by playing out of Gisford

They dont need the 17th team in case they go bust

 

[flippikat]

Now they have a way of keeping the Warriors alive by playing out of Gisford

They dont need the 17th team in case they go bust

Well, that is the worst case scenario for NZ league.. but to be honest, it's one I was bracing myself for last year. There's still a sizable part of the Aussie league community that thinks we shouldn't be in the NRL, after all.

However, with the prospect that travel may be back to normal for a full trans-Tasman season in 2022 (once a vaccine is fully distributed), I think that threat is fading.

 

[Omott91]

Not one quote in that article. It’s just News Ltd protecting their investment in the Broncos. The CM will hammer the shit out of Brisbane 2 at every chance

Exactly, no quotes at all which equates to me as a clickbait article.

Only a month ago the rumours were firming for a June announcement, so I doubt It has changed this dramatically, especially when majority of the key decision makers would have been on Xmas/New Year break.

 

[flippikat]

Only a month ago the rumours were firming for a June announcement, so I doubt It has changed this dramatically, especially when majority of the key decision makers would have been on Xmas/New Year break.

June makes sense from a Covid perspective too, as we'd be well into the roll-out of vaccines (on both sides of the Tasman), and have a pretty good read on how things are tracking globally - especially given that America will have sane leadership firmly installed & running for a few months.

 

[The Great Dane]

Exactly, no quotes at all which equates to me as a clickbait article.

Only a month ago the rumours were firming for a June announcement, so I doubt It has changed this dramatically, especially when majority of the key decision makers would have been on Xmas/New Year break.

Pfft, this is the NRL we are talking about. Every other time they have backtracked on expansion this is how the story has initially broken, so chances are that they are doing it again.

Even if they do announce a team/start the bidding process in June for a team/s to launch in 2023, that would only leave the club/s roughly a year and a half to build their club and team, which would almost certainly leave it as a rushed mess.
It'd be like the XFL (2001) only starting to sign coaches and players to teams 3 months (or whatever it was) before launching their first season, and the results would almost certainly be the same.

 

[The Great Dane]

June makes sense from a Covid perspective too, as we'd be well into the roll-out of vaccines (on both sides of the Tasman), and have a pretty good read on how things are tracking globally - especially given that America will have sane leadership firmly installed & running for a few months.

Wouldn't it be great if that was true.

The only difference between a Democrat and Republican is how they split the money they've screwed out of their people, and the only difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is that the political and media establishment don't hate Biden like they did Trump, and Biden definitely is corrupt in every way that people tried, and extremely surprising failed, to prove Trump was.

The reality is that nothing has really changed in America since WWII, and unless something totally unpredictable happens nothing will change in America because as George Carlin put more succinctly then I ever could “This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. The shit they shuffle around every four years, doesn't mean a f**king thing.”

 

[flippikat]

Wouldn't it be great if that was true.

The only difference between a Democrat and Republican is how they split the money they've screwed out of their people, and the only difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is that the political and media establishment don't hate Biden like they did Trump, and Biden definitely is corrupt in every way that people tried, and extremely surprising failed, to prove Trump was.

As much as the Democrats and Republicans are both beholden to corporate interests, you can't equate Trump & Biden when it comes to their approach on Covid.

One's a scientifically illiterate egotist, famous for saying it'll "magically go away" & withheld protective equipment stockpiles from states that don't support him, the other is talking about it as a serious threat that needs huge federal resources thrown at it.

Big difference in that policy area.

 

[The Great Dane]

As much as the Democrats and Republicans are both beholden to corporate interests, you can't equate Trump & Biden when it comes to their approach on Covid.

One's a scientifically illiterate egotist, famous for saying it'll "magically go away" & withheld protective equipment stockpiles from states that don't support him, the other is talking about it as a serious threat that needs huge federal resources thrown at it.

Big difference in that policy area.

They're not just 'beholden to corporate interests', both parties are out and out corrupt and in bed with all sorts of interests.

In real terms it didn't really matter what the president and/or federal government did in response to Covid, as the majority of meaningful measures that could prevent/contain Covid impacted on states' rights, and if the POTUS did declare a state of emergency and overrule state legislature everybody (Democratic and Republican governors, the media, political commentators, etc) would have declared it fascist/communist/authoritarian/racist/etc/pick your poison, which BTW is exactly what happened when Trump spoke about closing the boarders to China early on.
In other words in this case the office of the president in particular was damned if they did and damned if they didn't, and it wouldn't have mattered whom was the POTUS at the time they would have been f**ked politically as a result.

And I have a news flash for you, Biden is just as scientifically illiterate and egotistical as Trump and most of the other American presidents and world leaders in general. Every political party/actor around the world, not least the Democrats or Republicans, denies science when it's inconvenient, they just aren't abrasive loudmouths like Trump with a hostile media all too willing to portray him in the worst light possible (to the point of openly lying about him often), so it's easier for partisans to pretend that isn't the case.

Anyway I'm not here to talk about politics, so I won't anymore.