The North Sydney Bears have met with ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys and declared “we are ready” as the NRL prepares to table a historic document for a 20-team league by the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
This masthead can reveal NRL hierarchy is putting the finishing touches on a strategic plan, to be shown to the existing 17 clubs, outlining rugby league’s most ambitious expansion drive since the Super League war.
It can be revealed:
- North Sydney chiefs held talks with V’landys on the day of Origin I last Wednesday as their hopes of a stunning return to the big league gather steam;
- Perth’s entry to the NRL will be contingent on joining forces with the Bears;
- The door is all but shut on a fifth Queensland club being part of a 20-team league;
- The Bears and a second New Zealand franchise are fighting it out for the NRL’s 19th licence; and
- A secret third Christchurch consortium has entered the race to launch a second NRL team in New Zealand.
As first revealed by this masthead last month, the NRL is ramping up expansion plans with an 18th team in Papua New Guinea, backed by $600 million in Federal government funding.
It could be announced as early as July, but more likely by the end of this season.
Now the ARL Commission is getting serious about the code’s biggest growth project in 30 years.
The 17 clubs will receive detailed information on plans to add three clubs within the decade after the NRL created an expansion task-force, headed by Commissioners Peter Beattie and Kate Jones, to begin due diligence on PNG.
The ‘Expansion Masterplan’ will formally outline the 20-team league, where the new teams will be based, when they will come in and the multifaceted benefits of having an international presence in the Pacific.
The game’s existing clubs will be offered a financial sweetener to garner their support for expansion. It is understood discussions have been held with PNG and the Federal government over charging a licence fee to the 18th team of more than $50 million.
It would then be shared across the 17 clubs to win their backing.
Well-placed sources say the clubs want as much as an additional $170 million over the five years of the next broadcasting cycle.
V’landys declined to comment on the Norths meeting but confirmed the ARL Commission is seeking new fans in new markets, putting PNG, Perth Bears and a second Kiwi team firmly in the expansion frame.
“I am super confident there will be 20 teams, that’s the ambition,” he said.
“I’m not confirming anyone will be the 18th or 19th or 20th team, but the main assessment criteria we are looking at is – are you bringing new fans in, because we don’t want fans stolen from another team.
“The analysis will show us what the best options are and what the bid teams have to prove to us is they will bring in a new audience.
“The Dolphins got over the line because they showed they would bring more eyeballs to the game because more fan support brings in more revenue.
“Papua New Guinea is an easy one. They will bring in new fans. Perth is an easy one because that’s another new market. Christchurch will attract new fans as well.
“I think it (20 teams) can be done within a decade or even earlier.
“If we don’t expand, we will never reach our full potential.” North Sydney walked away from the meeting with V’landys buoyed by the strongest hope yet the mighty Bears are coming back to the big league.
It is understood Perth will not be admitted to the NRL as a stand-alone club, and nor would the Bears.
The NRL’s preference is for a Perth Bears joint-venture relocation model operating under a motto of ‘Two Histories, One Future’ – ostensibly becoming the Sydney Swans of the NRL.
The Bears will agree to a full-time franchise based in Western Australia, on the proviso their heritage is recognised.
The proposed 19th club would have the Bears logo, feature black-and-red colouring and play two NRL games annually at North Sydney Oval in honour of the club’s 116-year foundation roots.
Newtown Jets have also held discussions with the Perth consortium in the hope of reviving the Bluebags in the top league.
The NRL has yet to finalise an expansion time frame.
PNG is most likely to enter the NRL in 2028, while the Perth Bears and a Christchurch-based team could complete a 20-team premiership by the Brisbane Games in 2032.
That is the year in which the code’s next TV rights deal will expire, setting the NRL up for a record broadcast bonanza with 10 televised games weekly for 2033 and beyond.
North Sydney chairman Daniel Dickson confirmed the meeting with V’landys and says the Bears, who last played in the premiership in 1999, can hit the ground running as an NRL operation.
“We’ve had ongoing dialogue with the NRL and this meeting was just a regular catch-up,” he said.
“We are very confident we are ready.
“That’s the point. The benefit of the Bears is that we have the following, we now have a feeder system and that’s an attraction to the NRL.
“Perth has a great flavour and we’d be only too happy to march in that direction.”
The Brisbane Tigers could be snubbed. They are gunning to be Queensland’s fifth franchise but there is a view the Sunshine State risks becoming a saturated market and cannot sustain another NRL team after the addition of the Dolphins last year.
Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson, the former NRL strategy chief who investigated expansion in 2015, backed V’landys’ vision for a 20-team competition.
“We would love to see an expansion blueprint because there’s no doubt 20 teams could work,” Richardson said.
“People say we haven’t got the players, but we have the players if we have a bigger view of what the game is about.
“We are in a position now to become the dominant code in Australia and across the board.
“There is no doubt we can go to 20 teams, but let’s sit down now and look at the financial side of it.
“What are the dollars and cents of it all and what is television willing to pay for a 20-team league.”
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