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Football got out of that hole by sanitising itself. It still remains largely a male young following but moving to all seater stadiums after the disasters and getting rid of a lot of the hooliganism from the 70’s and 80’s opened it up to new followers. In England it’s always been by far the biggest sport in modern times. It’s national, has the media, and then came the money men. They did a great job reinventing to the epl and making it the biggest comp in a global sport.
Neither are the relevant needs of a SL club compared to an nrl club.
Do you feel there is the corporate support in Christchurch for an nrl club? That’s where a big chunk of an nrls clubs revenue comes from These days.mSponsors and game day box sales.
A second NZ should go hand in hand with the next NZ broadcast deal and part of the deal should be a guaranteed Friday 8pm (NZ) game every week, and for that game to be broadcast free-to air in NZ.
Fta is the important bit to growing the game
Sky NZ now have a Sky branded FTA channel (Sky Open) so it’s more viable for them as they can use it to promote the paid content too.
We are talking SEQ expansion though, not just Brisbane
Not at all. However, I'm realistic about the actual state of league in NZ outside of the Warriors 2023 bandwagon.
Great so neither of us make our comments based on just this season, both of us agree that the game can grow in NZ and add the fact the NRL are finally investing in NZ and we have the opportunity to take the game to the next level
The game can grow in NZ because it has been in an all time low (league had the fastest decline in player numbers of all sports in Auckland as of 2022), as discussed much earlier in this thread and just generally ignored. However, a second team in Auckland just does not seem a realistic option. Here's some questions for you:
They stil can if Australian sides also host games in that timeslot (which they already do) and the NRL schedules those matches to be against NZ sides. All that needs to be done is ensure one NZ team is always playing in that timeslot, whether it’s a home or away game.
I agree but it’s never going to happen now. These tours are a good idea but would add to an already congested international window.
Firstly, I would dred the day we based sides location based on corporate interests! Or government for that matter!
Influenced by the private equity firm no doubt.
“One New Zealand” is the sponsor and have national reach as they’re just a rebranded Vodafone. The other major Warriors sponsors are Autex (effectivey the club’s owner) Puma, and Sky Sport- all of which are nationally relevant. So theoretically a club from any part of the country could have similar corporate support.
