It's all about the dollars.
NRL is a great game, but it is just as watchable on the TV as it is live. Aussie Rules is rubbish on TV, but a good game to be at the ground for. Why do you think the Victorians have 40-60,000 people each week barracking?
It is pretty cheap to watch the games on Foxtel, as the money they pay isn't chicken feed, but it's not massive either. How about you make Foxtel pay megabucks for the rights to show the game? They would have to put up costs for subscription, which would in turn be passed on to Joe Q. Public. They then have to decide whether to pay the bigger $$ for cable access, or go to support their team. It certainly is not handy that pies ar $5 or a beer is more at the grounds, but the reason they charge so much is because they need to make money somehow. If more people were at the game they could freeze prices as they are making more - it's like JB Hi-Fi. They sell cheap but stacks of it, rather than only a couple of things over priced like DJs.
Salary cap - drop it by a million. Do it gradually over the next 5 years or so (as suggested by Fitzgerald), but they have to. The players won't like it, but the players should not be earning those dollars in the first place. Super league jacked up the dollars, and this is the hangover. Only 1 club made a profit last year (Brisbane - no surprises there), so how can the comp survive if they can't afford to pay the players. They could afford it if players were paid less. Reduce the salary cap, but let players get money from outside sources to supplement. Cap that amount or even the amount of players per club who earn extra.
it is only a suggestion, and I'm not an accountant so you may be able to cut it to threads technically. I just want the game to survive so i can take my kids to watch my eels play in 20 years instead of telling them stories about things that don't exist any more.
NRL is a great game, but it is just as watchable on the TV as it is live. Aussie Rules is rubbish on TV, but a good game to be at the ground for. Why do you think the Victorians have 40-60,000 people each week barracking?
It is pretty cheap to watch the games on Foxtel, as the money they pay isn't chicken feed, but it's not massive either. How about you make Foxtel pay megabucks for the rights to show the game? They would have to put up costs for subscription, which would in turn be passed on to Joe Q. Public. They then have to decide whether to pay the bigger $$ for cable access, or go to support their team. It certainly is not handy that pies ar $5 or a beer is more at the grounds, but the reason they charge so much is because they need to make money somehow. If more people were at the game they could freeze prices as they are making more - it's like JB Hi-Fi. They sell cheap but stacks of it, rather than only a couple of things over priced like DJs.
Salary cap - drop it by a million. Do it gradually over the next 5 years or so (as suggested by Fitzgerald), but they have to. The players won't like it, but the players should not be earning those dollars in the first place. Super league jacked up the dollars, and this is the hangover. Only 1 club made a profit last year (Brisbane - no surprises there), so how can the comp survive if they can't afford to pay the players. They could afford it if players were paid less. Reduce the salary cap, but let players get money from outside sources to supplement. Cap that amount or even the amount of players per club who earn extra.
it is only a suggestion, and I'm not an accountant so you may be able to cut it to threads technically. I just want the game to survive so i can take my kids to watch my eels play in 20 years instead of telling them stories about things that don't exist any more.