Financial fragility of the game

[10$ Ferret]

It is broken though.

The rules of the salary cap disincentivise clubs investing in juniors, which leads to a handful of the clubs doing the lion's share of junior development.

Sounds right on the surface of things but not right in reality.
The salary cap has very little impact on development at all. The size of the junior base dictates that so much more. Clubs like Penrith, their development is focused on their junior area. The Roosters, also put a lot into their junior development but also put alot into junior development in other ares such as the central coast.

Every team is keen to have local juniors in their top 17, they realise this increases their fan base and gets people to the game. But the money involved dictates that they all try and get the best players from where ever they can

 

[Diesel]

Throw in NZ who bring very few fans with them

Pretty sure they have one of the biggest away fans in the competition

 

[franklin2323]

Pretty sure they have one of the biggest away fans in the competition

Some places. Not too many ex kiwis in NQ not consistent enough to draw regularly

 

[franklin2323]

Sure talent is being produced, but it isn't being produced anywhere near as efficiently as it could be. If you had a nationalised system that funded and supported junior development properly outside of just Qld and parts of NSW, then they'd produce a whole lot more talent.

Also I didn't mean that the clubs don't scout talent, obviously they do, however they almost exclusively scout RL/RU players and only in very specific parts of of country (i.e NSW and Qld), and once scouted the players are almost required to move the clubs little region if they seriously want to pursue a career. They also almost exclusively scout RL and RU competitions in very specific parts of of country (i.e NSW and Qld).

Well if that is where the RL talent is. In 22 years Storm are yet to develop a Victorian. You can’t doubt the way they develop a player so if some was there would have it

 

[Dark Corner]

doubt many are watching 8 games live. Fox could have two games on at same time on different channels on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Once we get adelaide, perth and nz2 in we have much more variety in time zones. If that happened we could have a (eastern time) 6pm Friday Nz game every week, a Sunday 5:30 or 6pm from SA/WA every week. That could give us a schedule that was much more fan attending friendly.
Friday 6pm NZ
Saturday 2 games@3pm, 5:30pm, 2 games@7:30pm
Sunday 2 games@3pm, 6pm

I never understand having a 3pm game on when most amateur teams are playing or does junior Rugby start earlier in the day ?

 

[Dark Corner]

8.invest more into marketing, advertising, and match day experience, and less on the football department.

9. allow the clubs to license and produce their own range of merchandise.

And make sure the merchandise is mad in Australia and not China.

 

[Perth Red]

I never understand having a 3pm game on when most amateur teams are playing or does junior Rugby start earlier in the day ?

doffers around the country I think.In WA jnrs start at 9am on Saturday and are finished by 1pm

 

[Dark Corner]

doffers around the country I think.In WA jnrs start at 9am on Saturday and are finished by 1pm

I wish half days would come back and instead of having half day Wednesday we should have half day Fridays so all the junior, Amateur and Touch/Tag clubs could play on that day and then 1 Friday night game 6pm so go watch it in the clubhouse after and then leave Saturday for the NRL plus semi pro leagues ( or 2nd tier if it ever happens ) and then NRL only Sunday.
My pipe dream.

 

[Perth Red]

How many fans subscribe on being every game live. Sponsors because again all 3 games live.

All the regional teams for starters:

0 other pro sport teams in Townsville
GC has AFL and NRL only
Newcastle A League and NRL
Canberra only Brumbies
Wollongong only NBL
Throw in NZ who bring very few fans with them
Melbourne despite being good have very few supporters.

Event games you will draw more but generally 12k is all those will get especially on weeknights BUT sponsors like weeknights and generally pay more

id say most subscribe first of all to be able to see all of their teams games live, then secondly to watch the games that interest them most. Doubt many subscribe to watch allgames every week, audience levels would suggest that isnt the case.

My point exactly, if we want clubs getting 20k crowds and 30k members so we aren’t so reliant on tv money at a club level then we need to drop crap KO times and that will mean some games being played at same time. Fans will still be able to watch their team on fox live every week.
Not sure what you’re getting at with the bit about clubs, one city teams should be able to get 20k plus to games with just their own fanbase.

 

[big hit!]

So many things wrong with this too many to list but here is a few

Clubs should be investing in juniors not the NRL if it isn’t broken why change it? The only RL always has done well is junior development.

Delayed games doesn’t work these days with our population

Elaborate. What you really mean is that you're used to getting 8 separate games live and can't go back to how it used be, and how it should have remained, and how it needs ti be to get supporters back to games.

the NRL failed to protect, the game-day product. this isn't what you just see in your 16:9 close-up on your 55" screen. it is the atmosphere and the event. it is what NFL clubs achieve 8 home games a year. it is what euro clubs achieve 20-30 home games a year.

the NRL has basically exhausted all it can to increase the value of its broadcast rights under the current structure. the only way is now to lengthen the season, or expansion. both of which will dilute the game-day 'event' even further.

 

[TheDalek079]

What does the ideal game day product look like?

 

[Perth Red]

What does the ideal game day product look like?

things going on outside the game pre game for adults and kids, meet the players tent with players not playing that week signing stuff, beer and food village outside with local breweries and food trucks, reserve grade game, some local bands playing between reserve grade and main game, main game, fireworks, lights shows etc. reasonably priced good range of food and drink inside stadium, players celebrating tries with the crowd, give aways to the crowd, ticket prices $15 cheap seats up to $40 best seats, all kids seats $5. Basically you should be able to turn up to a night game 1 hour before kick and have fun, enjoy the game, get a feed and drink and kick on. Day game should offer a full afternoon of fun and RL. Of course if you can only fit 16-17k in comfortably and are only getting 14k non of that is going to be viable, if you can get 25-30k there then this stuff becomes do able.

 

[Frailty]

Well if that is where the RL talent is. In 22 years Storm are yet to develop a Victorian. You can’t doubt the way they develop a player so if some was there would have it

Mahe Fonua - Born in Melbourne, repeated year 12 in Melbourne, played junior footy for South Eastern Titans in the Melbourne before being signed by Canberra. Represented Victoria in U15s and U18s.

 

[franklin2323]

Mahe Fonua - Born in Melbourne, repeated year 12 in Melbourne, played junior footy for South Eastern Titans in the Melbourne before being signed by Canberra. Represented Victoria in U15s and U18s.

I stand corrected 1 junior.

Still not a huge number to say that RL missed the mark not developing more guys from there

 

[franklin2323]

Elaborate. What you really mean is that you're used to getting 8 separate games live and can't go back to how it used be, and how it should have remained, and how it needs ti be to get supporters back to games.

the NRL failed to protect, the game-day product. this isn't what you just see in your 16:9 close-up on your 55" screen. it is the atmosphere and the event. it is what NFL clubs achieve 8 home games a year. it is what euro clubs achieve 20-30 home games a year.

the NRL has basically exhausted all it can to increase the value of its broadcast rights under the current structure. the only way is now to lengthen the season, or expansion. both of which will dilute the game-day 'event' even further.

Gameday experience has dropped no doubt. Live content is a must these days scores get leaked and with social media etc someone like GC and Manly will hardly get neutrals to tune in after a live game. Harder to sell sponsorship on the back of delayed coverage numbers too.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

8.15pm start on a Thursday / Friday fked crowds.

4.15pm Sunday fked crowds.

 

[franklin2323]

I never understand having a 3pm game on when most amateur teams are playing or does junior Rugby start earlier in the day ?

Nope Junior sport of all codes. Some people still working on Sat arvo,

 

[Perth Red]

I stand corrected 1 junior.

Still not a huge number to say that RL missed the mark not developing more guys from there

reality is the ”affiliated states” (which is totally the inappropriate name for them given nswrl and qrl are the affiliated states and the others are now actually part of the nrl lol) get a tiny amount of the grassroots/state funding and don’t have LC’s to fund jnrs. WA has 5 part time DO’s for the whole state! Producing nrl talent is a combination of numbers in and elite pathway programs for the cream. Storm spend on the elite pathway but Victoria will not produce first graders in numbers until NRLVic gets decent funding and the nrl gets serious about growing the game nationally. Getting a tv partner that will show the game on the main channel in these states wouldn’t be a bad start to getting kids interested in the game.
Consider how many local first graders come through at Sydney clubs then consider how much money, LC’s, game exposure and jnr numbers there are in say the Penrith region and they would be producing 4 or 5 first graders a year I suspect?

 

[greenBV4]

I stand corrected 1 junior.

Still not a huge number to say that RL missed the mark not developing more guys from there

From what I can tell funding for NRL Vic is abysmal, To get kids to be interested in playing a sport out of its heartland they need something extra to get them to try in the first place - advertising, school visits & giveaways, and more funding for junior clubs and comps so they can have better facilities and equipment.

If you were a Victorian living in Victoria and your parents and parents parents and so on were all Victorian and brought up with AFL, why would you send your kid to play league in a 2nd-rate set up?

That doesnt mean give up, it means more work needs to go into it. League needs to be in the kids face and convince them that they want to play. Same goes for the other affiliates states.

 

[big hit!]

Gameday experience has dropped no doubt. Live content is a must these days scores get leaked and with social media etc someone like GC and Manly will hardly get neutrals to tune in after a live game. Harder to sell sponsorship on the back of delayed coverage numbers too.

All games would be live. Different channels. Bigger crowds mean bigger events mean bigger television numbers.

Do you think OS leagues would be as big and have the pull that they have for television if they had 1/4 full stadiums and just relied on tv, as the NRL do? Is this how the AFL have grown?

Ideal schedule
8pm Friday
3pm Saturday
5pm Saturday
7pm Saturday
2:30pm Sunday
2:30pm Sunday
2:30pm Sunday
4:15pm Sunday

There are still 5 exclusive time slots. The beauty is that only 2 matches starting after dinner, ability to get folks to games in winter.

3pm better for Sunday but give NINE the exclusivity and run in to news that they want.