I've gotta disagree on a couple of points here.
Firstly, SE Queensland have had half a dozen teams over the past twenty years or so, and for various reasons, all have failed with the exception of the broncos (who are heavily financially supported) and, so far, the Tiatans (who are far, far from out of the woods yet). Why the steadfast reluctance to accept that another team in the region MAY not work out? Everyone here who just goes along with the notion that the next inclusion in the comp must be from that region needs to understand that just because its "NOT NSW", does NOT mean that a new team will be successful, nor the cash cow you all expect. I name the Giants, Seagulls, Crushers et al.
Sweeping through some big issues here which have been covered before.
1. The Seagulls were never properly set up financially, and were playing in Tweed Heads. Moving them to Carara (still not great as an oval) was the right move, and they were finally starting to be viable when they were killed by the SL war.
2. the Crushers were viable, 20k average, killed off by the SL war, just like the Reds. Cowboys and Warriors were lucky to survive Super League.
3. Titans may have over capitalised on the centre of excellence, but that was a business decision, no different to the Bears plans of moving to Gosford or Souths playing at ANZ, or Canterbury shifting back to Belmore. The Tits will be fine.
Another team in South East Queensland will be a huge success if set up properly. Channel 9 have said another Brisbane metro team would the only option they would pay more for. Look at the sponsorship arangements the Broncos have with Brisbane to themselves.
ANY expansion option is risky, South East Queensland's risk is mitigated to an extent by increased TV money (only 1 Bris metro team currently) and sponsorship oportunities in a region of 3.5 million people (South East Queensland).
It would be reasonable to assume a Brisbane based team would average +20k on the back of casual league fans, fans of Sydney clubs living in Brisbane, members, and the odd Broncos fan after a League fix.
They would have a feeder arangement with at least 2 Queensland cup sides (important considering the NRL have kicked NSW based NRL clubs out of Qld), provide another avenue of support for Junior RL, and have national sponsorship appeal, particularily for rival companies to Broncos sponsors (have a quick look at the Bombers sponsors and compare to the Broncos).
Secondly, as I've pointed out several times previously (and Ronny has also just pointed out again), the number of Sydney based teams has been reduced by 25% in the last decade and a bit.
Did you also notice Souths were kicked out only to get back in through a legal process? Have you noticed Manly's or Cronulla's problems?
If anything, reducing by 25% was not enough. We have 9 teams of a national competition of 16 based in the one city, yet have no presence in Perth, Adelaide, Wellington. National growth vs Sydney roots will be an ongoing problem for the game.
In our second biggest market, Australia's third biggest overall we have 1 team. Now you want to increase the number of Sydney teams -how will that affect the competition as a whole?
- free to air slots are important for clubs to generate value from sponsors, fans and brand awareness. Will adding another team in the metro Sydney ratings area be a good thing or a bad thing for the current clubs?
- will broadcasters value a 10th Sydney metro broadcasting area club more or less than an interstate club that offers a unique timeslot, a new market, or a big market that is under utilised?
- some current Sydney clubs struggle to get sponsors now, they don't need more competition.
So I ask again, what has so dramatically changed in that time, that a regional team, based well over an hour from it's nearest rival, is now no longer appropriate? No one has yet offered any decent answer to this. Why, Goddo, do you say specifically that "the time for that has passed"? What has changed?
Whats changed? 10-15 years ago Gosford was a quick fix option for a crowded Sydney in a game needing to cull Sydney teams to grow nationally. Now the games sights are set on bigger targets, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Wellington. Gosford just isnt in the mix.
