NRL's growth mindset points to 18th team. And it ain't Perth.

[MugaB]

this one? Yeh probably hard for you to accept perth has rl fans, doesn’t fit your narrative. we understand lol

View attachment 70106

You didn't mention PVL, you could've had tripple yatzee...
Rinse, Recycle, Repeat...
FMD

 

[Perth Red]

You didn't mention PVL, you could've had tripple yatzee...
Rinse, Recycle, Repeat...
FMD

Wrong thread, I save my thoughts on pistol Pete for the Vlandys thread. But thanks for joining in.

 

[MugaB]

Wrong thread, I save my thoughts on pistol Pete for the Vlandys thread. But thanks for joining in.

What do you mean joining in?....ive never left, very warped way of thinking here... we were talking about .gifs, not pics of perth stadium, this thread is specifically about NOT Perth being no.18

 

[titoelcolombiano]

I dunno man, I've lived in Brisbane since the mid 90s and back then AFL was a joke in QLD, you would never admit to following it. The Brisbane Bears certainly did nothing for the sports profile up here. These days it's pretty common to follow the Broncos/NRL club and the Lions. They get decent crowds and if they are losing money every year then the club probably has a poor business model, their expenses must be way too high. The Suns are pretty irrelevant, I will admit that. The Gold Coast is very much RL heartland despite the Titans not having much success. There is a large community of Victorian retirees on the Gold Coast but they all follow their Victorian AFL club, not the Suns.

I remember reading somewhere that the Lions and to a lesser extent Swans have to have those big years where they are getting good crowds because if not, they are losing money.

Superleague and the lack of a second Brisbane NRL team has helped the Lions along over the years but even when they are going well like last year, they still only averaged 28k which is a shit Broncos season and is well below the Lions' own halcyon days of the early 2000's. They certainly aren't going from strength to strength.

Agreed though, the Suns and Lions benefit greatly from travelling and expat Victorians at their games.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Say what you will about the 'struggling' Lions, but they're sustainable and not going anywhere anytime soon.

It's more likely than not that a larger percentage of Brisbanites born now will follow the AFL over NRL than in past generations as a mere fact of it being an accessible option, and those numbers will continue to increase with each future generation until they reach market saturation. There's also very little that the NRL, or RL in general, can do to directly impact that outside of work in the grassroots and waiting for them to make mistakes and capitalising on it.

BTW, the 'struggling' Lions had more members than the Broncos last year, have a solid average attendance depending on results, and they made a profit in 2021, so I'm not really sure how we're defining 'struggling' at this point. Is it just because they get a larger grant from the AFL than the Broncos do from the NRL?
A larger grant that the AFL sees as a long term investment into growing their fanbase in Brisbane/Queensland BTW, and which has worked so far as Aussie Rules is bigger now in Brisbane/SEQ than it's ever been, and has a steady growth rate.

The Lions have shown no growth in average crowds or TV ratings over the last 20 years and yes, when they aren't topping the table they do struggle financially also. They still rely heavily on expat and travelling Victorians attending the Gabba. Last year was a successful year for them and they couldn't crack 30k average which is a shit year for the Broncos.

They've had a great ride through Super League, the premiership runs of the early 2000's and the lack of a second NRL side in Brisbane, but they maxed out 20 years ago and there won't be any more meaningful growth for them. It will be slow and incremental, very slow and very incremental.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

When you’ve got the revenue you can afford the investment. Swans get one of the lowest grants, well below what Sydney nrl clubs get in grants now.

Yeah, I know you like to say this but just because a business has the funds available to it, doesn't mean it's smart business to just piss it up against the wall.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Yeah, I know you like to say this but just because a business has the funds available to it, doesn't mean it's smart business to just piss it up against the wall.

Which is why we need clubs to generate more revenue from football operations. A club that can generate $25m from football operations every year is set for life and can afford to invest in its infrastructure.

Broncos are not far away from generating $25m from football operations. Cowboys generate about $17m. The strongest Sydney clubs are lucky to generate $10-12m. It's why we have clubs running to the gov wanting handouts. It's embarrassing because major sports clubs in England and America aren't subsidised to this extent.

 

[Wb1234]

Disagree, I ignored Donkey over 12 months ago and my time on here improved no end. If I see someone reply to something of his that sounds interesting, I check it out.*

* Doesn't happen often.

My goal is to win Lotto so I can hire a pretty girl to edit out all the BS so I only read the worthwhile stuff. She can moderate for me since no-one else seems to.

Agreed

ignore is great

 

[Bukowski]

Agreed

ignore is great

Pretend ignoring is better. You know, when you reply to someone but don't quote them. No one picks up on it.

 

[Pneuma]

Agreed

ignore is great

I’ve got GROTD and the whinger on ignore and my experience here has improved 100 fold. GROTD is clearly a split personality. The whinger is one endlessly negative twerp.

 

[Wb1234]

I’ve got GROTD and the whinger on ignore and my experience here has improved 100 fold. GROTD is clearly a split personality. The whinger is one endlessly negative twerp.

Me too

changed the whole feel of the forum for the better

they live off the attention their negativity creates

 

[Pneuma]

Me too

changed the whole feel of the forum for the better

they live off the attention their negativity creates

The whinger is clearly a troll. Life is sweet without him.

 

[bad boy bubby]

I have no one on ignore.
I post by mood, and sometimes I need to combat,
most times though I need a laugh, and I get that from all sides.

 

[Bukowski]

Pirates has to be the next team. They tick all the boxes for what the game needs.

So true.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Reality is IF AFL decide its financially and strategically in their interests to expand to 20 clubs only Brisbane and Perth are viable options.

These days you say AwFuL won't put a third team in Perth.

Tassie is already AFL and too small to be sustainable, even more so Darwin, and Canberra is a remote possibility but likely too small as well to generate enough revenue and Tv viewers to be valuable.

Aren't they putting a team in Tasmania?

They really only have Brisbane and Perth they could expand into in terms of valuable markets.

They're not putting a second team in Brisbane. The Lions have the largest debt in AwFuL hanging over them.

 

[Perth Red]

Whilst we are delving into the past. The good old days lol

Perth has a good sized population and a decent consortium bidding for a licence. It's the only non-RL city putting its hand up for inclusion. A team there will give the game a national footprint.

We need more people watching the game to command more money from broadcasters and advertisers. A Perth team can help do that.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Whilst we are delving into the past. The good old days lol

Perth is the only non-RL city in this country with a chance of holding an NRL licence. Whether they should get one ahead of the other candidates is my main contention.

Let's see what the Perth consortium has to offer. If it's too good to turn down then give them a licence. If it doesn't stack up then tell them to come back and try again in 10 years.