This is spot on I reckon. Especially the parts about being truely independant and also the value of opening up new markets ie. Perth.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...ent-commission-it-deserves-20091202-k6cx.html
How ironic, league might get the independent commission it deserves
RICHARD HINDS
December 3, 2009
To those outside tight-knit rugby league circles, the paradox was as striking as John Daly's new trousers. The chief executives of the 16 NRL clubs emerged from a conference proclaiming they opposed the expansion of the competition yet, in the next breath, professed their support for the formation of an independent commission.
It's an example of the game's old-school governance in which self-interest and survival instincts regularly obscure long-term vision. Then an apparent willingness to hand power to a body that would, if properly constituted, make it difficult for clubs to have a strong influence on such wide-reaching strategic decisions as expansion or contraction.
Which makes you wonder if the NRL clubs fully grasp the ramifications of handing total control to an impartial commission, or whether they are confident the commission would be so heavily loaded with vested interests, club puppets and myopic cheerleaders that it will not have the strength nor the inclination to make difficult and unpopular decisions - the only kind that usually lead to meaningful change.
The concept of a rugby league commission is in its honeymoon period. Until its powers are established and its chairs are filled, it is whatever you want it to be - the supplier of more money for clubs from the improved rights deals and sponsorships it will negotiate; of higher wages for players; of better facilities or timeslots for fans and, for the true believers, a Stalingrad-style defence against the invading AFL forces and soccer's growing popularity.
Apart from a few miffed blazers from the game's alphabet soup - ARL, NRL, NSWRL, QRL - who fear their own territory will be annexed, no one seems to have considered they might be the loser. Or, at the very least, that their lives might be made less comfortable by independent scrutiny.
While any comparisons between the codes is fingernails-down-the-blackboard to NRL diehards, the successful AFL commission should provide some idea what NRL clubs are in for - assuming the NRL version contains the type of hard-headed businessman who sometimes erred on the side of brutality when modernising the once fiercely tribal VFL.
The NRL clubs justify their opposition to expansion on the basis they need time to get their houses in order. If they are not forced to do that under the threat of merger or relocation as struggling VFL/AFL clubs were - the NRL has already experienced some natural attrition - at the very least a truly independent rugby league commission would impose strict financial criteria forcing some existing clubs to improve management and revenue streams.
But the supposition of NRL clubs seems to be that a commission would, by unravelling the game's current structure and deals, produce a hidden pot of gold. Somewhat perversely, league banks on the fact that its governance has been so badly compromised and it has been short-changed so significantly on television rights particularly, it has forgone hundreds of millions of dollars.
While opening up the game to genuine competition might improve the NRL's rights deals, it was largely through expansion and value-adding that the AFL has reached the point where it might garner $1 billion from its next five-year TV-rights deal. If the AFL's free-to-air ratings in Sydney and Brisbane still look sickly beside those for the NRL, the impression of a vibrant, growing national competition with successful franchises in five capital cities is powerful.
For the NRL, the Storm has been successful on the field but neglected and the relatively small markets of Adelaide and Perth are in the too-hard basket. Yet the game would merely preach to the converted by starting expansion franchises in heartland areas such as Central Coast and Brisbane. Where can the value be added?
It is just one issue upon which the game needs a clear vision. One provided by a commission without blinkers.
