More important to the broadcasters, but just because something is good for them doesn't mean that it's what is best for the league or the clubs.
It would be great for the Titans (maybe not the NRL) for a bunch of reasons. South Queensland Titans could be huge with sponsorship and third parties and recruiting Brisbane juniors.
not for the clubs. In the other code, top clubs are bringing in $30million plus from fan generated revenue. Our clubs are getting $13million from tv. which Would you rather have, full stadiums and more money or $1-2million more from the tv grant and empty stands?
A positive step! "We are excited about the opportunity to play again on May 28 and to share the game with the rest of the world. We are working with all our partners to make sure the game is in front of as many sport-starved fans in the world as possible.” As the first collision sport to resume following coronavirus-forced shutdowns, the NRL is attracting unprecedented global interest, with Sky Sports UK announcing within hours of the draw being released last Friday that they would broadcast all eight matches live each week. France's BeIN Sports has also increased its coverage to four live NRL matches per round, while ESPN executive vice-president of programming Burke Magnus said the network was positioning itself to provide live content from international competitions that resumed before US sports. https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/05/18/why-may-28-return-could-be-a-free-swing-for-nrl-in-us/
I wonder if they will also show repeats closer to prime time in each market Live is good but it's not going to generate much interest/gain new fans at 2 in the morning
https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/05/19...belltown-canberras-historic-ties-to-new-home/ If only the current NRL/ARLC adminstration had the foresight and willingness to expand to a truly national comp like they did back in the 80's. Admittedly the Super League war may have killed this a bit but still seems like they were far more progressive and forward thinking back in the 80's.
With RU in the doldrums, I wonder if this presents a unique opportunity for the NRL to stoke interest in nearby foreign megacities like Singapore, HK, KL...
To be honest, I hope not. I'd prefer the NRL open up other cities in Australia first like Perth and Adelaide before the decide to go off-shore in SE Asia. Make it a national game before any further expansion overseas. Even playing exhibition games over there wouldn't happen for a while because of everything going on. NRL should stick to improving interest and attendance here in Aus first.
RU may be all f**ked up in the Southern Hemisphere, but in the Northern Hemisphere it's plodding along just fine. In places like Asia it'll be able to live of it's connections to aristocracy and 7s being an Olympic sport for decades to come.
If Campbelltown had got the license it would have just ended up as another struggling Sydney club, I mean look how well the Magpies went there...
More people watch rugby league in Australia than any other sport. And our crowds aren't that bad - were just not obsessed like some.
True, but we could do a lot better with teams in the other major states of Australia and be truly national rather than looking to SE Asia. I agree that if they had included a Campbelltown team that things would be an even bigger cluster than they are now.... Then again, had a Campbelltown team survived long enough then they may have been the club that merged for WSM rather than the tigers Maybe we would have had 4 mergers in the early 2000s. From an administration POV though, at least they were looking to get the game out of Sydney and make it national. The administrations in the last decade or so haven't exactly had much ambition to go national.
I think in the 80's the games management had more control and didn't seek the approval of clubs and TV before making any decisions. Also we've made the game so expensive to be part of at the top tier that existing clubs are all fighting for as big a slice as they can get to keep afloat and the NRL has insecurity around adding new clubs as they may not be able to generate the $26-30 million clubs now needed in club annual revenue to survive. Unless the NRL can see a big return on expanding they wont do it, realistically expansion needs to bring in at least $40mill a year for the NRL to see any margin. The days of expanding the top tier with growing the game as key driver are long gone, its now about the bottom line.
Maybe with RUgby on its knees in NSW and Qld we should be looking internally for expansion. Look at ways to expand from the working class into the middle and upper classes. Get some RLeague going in the universities. Have them play before NRL games. Maybe that could be reserve grade.
This gets raised a bit but the Sea Eagles either need to move interstate or move to North Sydney oval. It makes zero sense for the team north of the harbour to be in the middle of nowhere where it is. Call yourself Northern Suburbs Sea Eagles or Sydney Sea Eagles of NS Sea Eagles and play majority of games at NSO and a handful of games at Brookvale. They should be representing North Sydney, Chatswood, Hornsby etc as well as Manly.
A team from Tasmania will be joining the NBL competition for the 2021/22 season. Could an NRL team have a "part-time presence" in Tasmania? I can't see a full-time team down there, but could a team take 2 or 3 games a season down there, plus a trial?
