Financial fragility of the game

[10$ Ferret]

The financial predicament of the game is down to simple greed.
Greed of everyone involved at the top level. Greed of the administrators, the players and the player managers.

The commission was set up for no other reason than to get mates jobs and the status of saying they were on the commission

 

[Dragonwest]

I think too many people have been hook, line and sinkered by the Tele's crap coverage.

Some balance to the argument. Every business would struggle to survive potentially losing close to a years revenue.

 

[rabbitohs]

A masterstroke.

To accept the bailout, clubs need to accept the conditions determined by head office, in the interests of the sustainability of the game.

Makes the NRL look like amateur hour.

It's shite!
It means the top 4 at this exact moment (all of whom have gone almost bankrupt in the past 25 years), will be given carte blanche to do what they like.

Meanwhile all the other clubs will be even more at the whim of the likes of Collingwood and their 'never play outside Victoria' nonsense, whilst the expansion clubs get away scot free.

 

[Perth Red]

I think too many people have been hook, line and sinkered by the Tele's crap coverage.

Some balance to the argument. Every business would struggle to survive potentially losing close to a years revenue.

lol been saying this since Kent and Rothfield started spouting their nonsense

 

[Perth Red]

The pressure on NRL CEO Todd Greenberg regarding overspending has taken the focus away from the mismanagement of the 16 clubs.

Phil Rothfield reported for The Daily Telegraph that there has been 100 different CEO’s and chairs in the last five years among the clubs.

“What about the mismanagement from the 16 clubs?

“Let’s start at Manly’s CEO’s, Pat Wilson, Grant Mayer, Paul Cummings, David Perry, Graham Lowe, Joe Kelly, Tim Cleary, Lyall Gorman and now Stephen Humphreys. Nine in 12 years.

“Cronulla had four in two and a half years. Lyall Gorman, Barry Russell, Richard Munro and Dino Mezzatesta. Now what sort of instability is that?

“When you look at clubs and how they have butchered money. Look at Penrith, they sacked Ivan Cleary. They brought in Anthony Griffin. They then extended Anthony Griffin. They were running fourth in the competition and they sack Anthony Griffin. Then they bring back Ivan Cleary. It is disgraceful.”
“The bottom line is in the old days the NRL grants were not as big as the salary cap,” Rothfield said.

“Today every club gets a $13 million dollar grant. That is $3.5 million over the top of their salary cap for player payments. They then get their sponsorships. They then get their bums on seats. They then get their memberships and merchandise.

“It should not be too hard under that scenario to at least be close to breaking even.

“What we saw last season is $24 million in losses across the game and the year before $50 million and the year before $60 million.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/446f755642b8c5c6d138f65f82efeaf7

 

[flippikat]

The pressure on NRL CEO Todd Greenberg regarding overspending has taken the focus away from the mismanagement of the 16 clubs.

Phil Rothfield reported for The Daily Telegraph that there has been 100 different CEO’s and chairs in the last five years among the clubs.

“What about the mismanagement from the 16 clubs?

“Let’s start at Manly’s CEO’s, Pat Wilson, Grant Mayer, Paul Cummings, David Perry, Graham Lowe, Joe Kelly, Tim Cleary, Lyall Gorman and now Stephen Humphreys. Nine in 12 years.

“Cronulla had four in two and a half years. Lyall Gorman, Barry Russell, Richard Munro and Dino Mezzatesta. Now what sort of instability is that?

“When you look at clubs and how they have butchered money. Look at Penrith, they sacked Ivan Cleary. They brought in Anthony Griffin. They then extended Anthony Griffin. They were running fourth in the competition and they sack Anthony Griffin. Then they bring back Ivan Cleary. It is disgraceful.”

Very pertinent point.

The question needs to be asked - exactly HOW MUCH have clubs (per club, and in total) spent on settlements for early termination of contracts over the last 5 years.. 10 years.. 20 years?

Imagine what all that money could have done for the game.

 

[Perth Red]

Very pertinent point.

The question needs to be asked - exactly HOW MUCH have clubs (per club, and in total) spent on settlements for early termination of contracts over the last 5 years.. 10 years.. 20 years?

Imagine what all that money could have done for the game.

When you take a look at those few clubs that you can see financial reports for its quite staggering. They are earning around $24-28mill but still spending $30mill plus. No idea what they are spending on given the player and football cap combined are around $16mill!

 

[seanoff]

When you take a look at those few clubs that you can see financial reports for its quite staggering. They are earning around $24-28mill but still spending $30mill plus. No idea what they are spending on given the player and football cap combined are around $16mill!

Go and have a peek at Essendon’s 2019 financial statements. It’ll give you an idea of where the money comes and gos in a pro sport environment

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

The pressure on NRL CEO Todd Greenberg regarding overspending has taken the focus away from the mismanagement of the 16 clubs.

Phil Rothfield reported for The Daily Telegraph that there has been 100 different CEO’s and chairs in the last five years among the clubs.

“What about the mismanagement from the 16 clubs?

“Let’s start at Manly’s CEO’s, Pat Wilson, Grant Mayer, Paul Cummings, David Perry, Graham Lowe, Joe Kelly, Tim Cleary, Lyall Gorman and now Stephen Humphreys. Nine in 12 years.

“Cronulla had four in two and a half years. Lyall Gorman, Barry Russell, Richard Munro and Dino Mezzatesta. Now what sort of instability is that?

“When you look at clubs and how they have butchered money. Look at Penrith, they sacked Ivan Cleary. They brought in Anthony Griffin. They then extended Anthony Griffin. They were running fourth in the competition and they sack Anthony Griffin. Then they bring back Ivan Cleary. It is disgraceful.”
“The bottom line is in the old days the NRL grants were not as big as the salary cap,” Rothfield said.

“Today every club gets a $13 million dollar grant. That is $3.5 million over the top of their salary cap for player payments. They then get their sponsorships. They then get their bums on seats. They then get their memberships and merchandise.

“It should not be too hard under that scenario to at least be close to breaking even.

“What we saw last season is $24 million in losses across the game and the year before $50 million and the year before $60 million.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/446f755642b8c5c6d138f65f82efeaf7

Not often i agree with the alcoholic Sloth

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I think too many people have been hook, line and sinkered by the Tele's crap coverage.

Some balance to the argument. Every business would struggle to survive potentially losing close to a years revenue.

Hahaha, everytime Todd answers the question, Sloth is like "Yeh, but....." and then totally changes the topic.

Sloth is not the brightest and just cannot process quick enough, so he just jumps back to the prearranged questions. Hahahah

 

[Perth Red]

The Gold Coast Titans announced on Monday most of their staff will be stood down without pay, another sign of how much NRL clubs are struggling financially through this period of non-competition.

The Titans will keep a skeleton crew on 50 per cent remuneration, head coach Justin Holbrook and culture chief Mal Meninga included.

Executive chairman Dennis Watt said it was tough decision but the right one.
“The club kept all staff employed on full pay up until last Friday. We waited for funding terms between the NRL, clubs and players to be finalised before we made any big calls. Once that was done, we acted responsibly and compassionately. The goal is to have all our staff back in their jobs once the crisis is over,” Watt said.

The Titans are one of few clubs where this may be possible.
Over the last few years, owners Rebecca Frizelle and Daryl Kelly have worked hard to take unnecessary costs out of the business.

The Titans have the lowest spend of any club in football operations, meaning the largesse predicted to fall out of many clubs, simply doesn’t exist at the Gold Coast.

“I’ve worked with a lot of clever, successful people, inside and outside of rugby league,” Watt said.

“Rebecca and Daryl are as good as any of them. Both know and understand the flow of money, how to make it, how to manage it, and that’s why the Titans are well placed to negotiate our way through these tough times.”

The club has planned for multiple scenarios, including no football being played in 2020, and is extremely confident it can survive all.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/2dd2215f6ebd547f542893f9166746f1

 

[Vee]

The game never gave Big Mal anything, I'm not surprised he was kept on at 50%. Not like he could afford to give back.

 

[Perth Red]

Go and have a peek at Essendon’s 2019 financial statements. It’ll give you an idea of where the money comes and gos in a pro sport environment

had a look, wow now that is how you leverage fan based revenue! If nrl clubs could bring in that sort of money from their fans we wouldn’t be in such crisis mode now.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

had a look, wow now that is how you leverage fan based revenue! If nrl clubs could bring in that sort of money from their fans we wouldn’t be in such crisis mode now.

Probably the biggest blight on the NRL right now is that the teams function at the service of LCs....

So rather than trying to bring huge crowds to well placed stadiums and building membership bases, they are only interested in bringing average crowds to the LC after the game

DSmith was right to aim for NRL franchises and try to push LC back to, you know, funding local footy...

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

^^^^^
Seriously, just imagine the alternate universe where NSW isnt the gambling capital of the world....

QLD club could have competed for players and the national comp would have been a merge of 2 equally power comps. NSW would have fewer clubs and Qld would have more, the brilliant platform to grow into other states/nz.

The richest, most powerful clubs are the ones who engage fans and build support.

Ahhh, what could have been...

 

[flippikat]

^^^^^
Seriously, just imagine the alternate universe where NSW isnt the gambling capital of the world....

QLD club could have competed for players and the national comp would have been a merge of 2 equally power comps. NSW would have fewer clubs and Qld would have more, the brilliant platform to grow into other states/nz.

The richest, most powerful clubs are the ones who engage fans and build support.

Ahhh, what could have been...

Yeah, if the formation of a national league (anywhere between mid 80s and mid 90s) was a merger of both states top tiers, we would be FAR better placed as a national competition.. and far more primed for expansion.

The QRL has been light-years ahead of the NSWRL/CRL in making the top State League something that involves clubs across the whole state.. I can only imagine that an NRL that's more balanced between NSW & Qld would be less beholden to a suburban mindset.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

^^^^^
Seriously, just imagine the alternate universe where NSW isnt the gambling capital of the world....

QLD club could have competed for players and the national comp would have been a merge of 2 equally power comps. NSW would have fewer clubs and Qld would have more, the brilliant platform to grow into other states/nz.

The richest, most powerful clubs are the ones who engage fans and build support.

Ahhh, what could have been...

It’s rugby league, Doc. We’d still get it wrong.

 

[Wily Ole Dog]

had a look, wow now that is how you leverage fan based revenue! If nrl clubs could bring in that sort of money from their fans we wouldn’t be in such crisis mode now.

Can you expand on this if it’s not too detailed for you. I’m lazy

 

[Perth Red]

Can you expand on this if it’s not too detailed for you. I’m lazy

Essendon fan generated revenue:
Memberships $14.2mill
Merch sales $1.3mill (interestingly about same as the bigger NRL clubs)
Matchday revenue $6.2mill

TV grant money
$12.1mill

LC and fitness centre revenue
$17mill

Sponsorship revenue
$13.8mill

Total revenue $64.6mill

Basically their football club generates around $35.5mill a year. That would be around $20mill more than most NRL football clubs are managing.

 

[Perth Red]

Always wise to take with a pinch of salt but.....

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg and NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford are as popular as self isolation.
The empire at NRL headquarters has hit back in the last 48 hours, pointing the finger squarely back in the direction of the 16 clubs.
n classic rugby league fashion, it’s degenerated into an old-fashioned street fight. Gloves off, do your best.
Every man for himself.
The clubs claim Greenberg and Crawford even tried to low ball them to the tune of $22,344 each in the most recent monthly grant payment.
Each club was due to receive $1.2 million but when it landed in the accounts the NRL had short-changed them a collective $357,504.
Surprise, surprise, it took V’landys stepping in to fix the problem.
The plan was to do the same thing over the next three months and hair cut the clubs out of $1 million.
The level of trust has sunk to an all-time low.
Then the NRL doubled down and came up $28,125 short to each club out of the distressed clubs fund as well.
The 16 clubs were supposed to get $450,000 each. Collectively, the NRL was $450,000 light.
Are they for real?
It’s true the clubs each get a $13 million annual grant from head office and plenty are guilty of over-spending on coaches and football departments.
But this doesn’t excuse why the NRL has poured $80 million into the digital arm of its business over the last three and a half years.
Bear in mind, this genius idea runs in direct competition with the NRL’s two primary commercial partners – broadcasters Fox Sports and Channel 9.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
Some Porsche-driving, ponytail-wearing technical geniuses produced a presentation to convince head office this was the best way to secure the financial future of rugby league.
And they went all-in to the tune of $149.8 million - $80 million of which is gone.
You can’t make this stuff up.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg confirmed on Sunday the NRL employs more than 400 staff, of which around 200 are game development officers.
Compare this to one of the world’s biggest sports, the English Premier League, which employs 154 staff.
While the powerbrokers among club land and NRL head office are all at war, thankfully the players are all united about getting back on the field as quickly as possible.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...f/news-story/862f227b2fb44fdf7d39e66fc37050d4