Poker machine tax = good?

[Alan Shore]

While we hear all the whinging about the poker machine tax, there's no doubt it will damage the clubs, and is just a necessity to attempt a cover up of Bob Carr's incompetence, and will go to the "black hole" called the ALP Christmas Party Fund rather than hospitals, as they claim to seek the moral high ground.

However, I believe this tax will cause a long-needed shake up and reform of rugby league and rugby league culture.

Think about it. It will reduce revenue streams to sponsorships, gate receipts, memberships and merchandise. It gives us the perfect opportunity to kill the lazy Sydney culture and get everyone out to games.

With most Sydney clubs, bar Souths and the Roosters, playing in suburban grounds with capacities of around, on average, 22,000, it will be very easy to sell these grounds out on a regular basis, and the worst crowds should be just under the current average at 12,000. As these grounds are small, overheads are low and as a result we can run them with huge profit margins. Demand would, over a decade, reach such a point where stadium upgrades in both amenities and capacity would not only be necessary, but easily affordable.

Memberships and merchandise simply just have to be promoted as "must haves" in society and watch sales skyrocket.

If the situation is played out correctly by someone with common sense, the result of the tax is higher passion for footy than ever before.

 

[Crippler]

and it could also get strggling sydney teams to move to brisbane, gold coast, NZ etc.

 

[Aries]

The real pity is that it will all be forgotten by the time the next election comes around. The tax will go through... he has over 3 years to repair the damage.

Carr is a genius at selling the public one thing before an election and then actually doing what he had in mind, straight after an election. He has done it 3 times now. :?

The new Tax relief that the federal government has just stated they may give us will also end up in Carrs hands. The last $4 did and this will also, and ontop of the pokies tax. He will then still cry poor about the Hospitals and schools and still blame the federal government for it....and people will swallow that also...

 

[Mystery Man]

Yes, it has the potential to be extremely good for rugby league. The reliance on leagues clubs has had a negative impact on the game in two ways.

Firstly, it has meant that underperforming football clubs have not been forced to lift their game because they have always been propped up by their leagues clubs. As mentioned above, rather than trying increase revenue through crowds, memberships, sponsorships and merchandising, football clubs have been able to become complacent, knowing that the money will always be there.

Secondly, it has resulted in the Sydney market remaining overcrowded. Without the leagues clubs, it is doubtful that there would still be nine clubs, and this would open up expansion opportunities. It would also mean that the Sydney clubs that survived would become stronger because the sponsorship pie wouldn't be divided into so many pieces, and, in the long term, they would be able to build bigger supporter bases.

 

[Aries]

Yes, it has the potential to be extremely good for rugby league. The reliance on leagues clubs has had a negative impact on the game in two ways.

Firstly, it has meant that underperforming football clubs have not been forced to lift their game because they have always been propped up by their leagues clubs. As mentioned above, rather than trying increase revenue through crowds, memberships, sponsorships and merchandising, football clubs have been able to become complacent, knowing that the money will always be there.

Secondly, it has resulted in the Sydney market remaining overcrowded. Without the leagues clubs, it is doubtful that there would still be nine clubs, and this would open up expansion opportunities. It would also mean that the Sydney clubs that survived would become stronger because the sponsorship pie wouldn't be divided into so many pieces, and, in the long term, they would be able to build bigger supporter bases.

Says a person living in QLD :roll:

Dont tell me, you follow the Bronco's! Funny how it doesn't effect the Bronco's, Melbourne, Canberra, Newcastle or the Kiwi's isn't it. I bet 90% of the people that are for the tax are from those places. ALL one team "towns"...

Newcastle supporters are the only ppl to even have a right to comment on the tax, and be for it, cause they at least are IN NSW. ALL their funds come from private enterprise and they don't even have a club of their own or they too may be spewing about it!! It is also a one team town...

I just have to laugh at people that are always trying to get rid of Sydney teams, yet don't follow one from Sydney and are from a one team town!!

btw, what to you have against pensioners and others being able to get cheap meals and cheap entertainment? what do you have against the kids being able to play footy and other sports because the clubs subsidize them? what do you have against the charaties that are helped by the clubs?

Maybe it's the fact your just a QLDer. Wait till Beatie does it to you ;-)

 

[Mystery Man]

Yes, I am from Brisbane, follow the once-mighty Broncos, and have as much right to comment on this as anyone. I am not in favour of the taxes - I couldn't give a shit either way.

I'm not saying that the NRL should get rid of Sydney teams for the sake of it - only if they're not sustainable. If they were strong enough to survive, I'd have no problem with all of them remaining, but I doubt that this will be the case. It's sad, but if rugby league doesn't move forward soon, the sport will be left behind.

If this tax does go ahead, as seems likely, the alternative would be to keep all the Sydney teams, bring the salary cap back by, and this is a guess, $1.5 million, and watch all the best players go to rugby union or England. This would see media interest, fan support, crowds, and sponsorship all getting smaller and smaller in a continuous cycle, resulting in the death of rugby league as a major sport in this part of the world.

To answer your other questions, I have nothing against pensioners, kids playing footy, charities, etc. I don't even know why you would think that I would have anything against them. My comments were about the possible positives that could come out of this for rugby league.

As for Beattie taxing Queensland clubs, I'm pretty sure that they're already taxed at a higher rate than their cockroach counterparts. I'd also be disappointed if any successful one team town had a football club that relied on handouts, from a gambling joint, for its survival.

 

[bubs]

Aries mate, I am going to quote you a line from the Sharks Financial Report from the year 2002.
Quote " Without the grant from the Cronulla Leagues Club, the Football Club will not be able to run efficiently." (or words to that effect)
Says it all really.

 

[simon says]

I always love how people rationale getting rid of Sydney clubs.Well ill tell you one thing,Itd be a boring old comp if it was just all the major cities with one club.Often the best games with the most awesome atmosphere are the old Sydney clubs with traditon and rivalry,that you just cant buy.Saints,Souths,Tigers,Dogs Eels etc.Match any of those two up and you are guaranteed some oomph,on and of the field.

If you want to move forward,go to a Melbourne v Cowboys game,zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.Better than a sleeping pill.

I think we should be doing all we cn to maintain the Sydney clubs,they are the heart and soul of this competetion IMHO.

 

[legend]

I totally disagree with this thread. The AFL have Melbourne clubs struggling financially and without assistance from the AFL, at least half the Melbourne clubs would be broke.

The rising cost of hiring sporting venues, advertising and insurance without Leagues club assistance would see most NRL clubs go to the wall. The only other way would be to jack up the ticket prices and the NRL, being a predominantly working mans game would die a fast death without the Leagues clubs assistance.

There are initiatives that can be undertaken to make the NRL clubs more self sufficient but it is extremely hard to turn a buck in NSW these days and if this tax comes in, we'll revisit this thread after four Sydney clubs go bust.

 

[Bengal]

I need a history lesson.

Which came first – the Leagues club or the footie club?

Was the Leagues club set up in conjunction with the footie club with its primary goal to service the footie fans with any profits generated going towards helping the footie club?

Or were the Leagues clubs set up independently of the football club and somewhere down the line they've been roped in to helping out the footie club?

I was just thinking. Years ago one of my local League clubs had there own clubrooms and they had a bar licence with all the proceeds used to help out the team.

Just for arguments sake say a decade down the road this club became hugely successful, say a multimillion-dollar establishment.
And each season this club gives its football team a huge sum to help cover its expenses for the year, which is primarily what the original clubrooms was set up to do.

Would one view this sum as a handout?
Would one view this footie team and associated clubrooms as being lazy if say gate takings had been minimal, sponsorship was low, mainly because the clubrooms were so successfully that the money they received from their clubrooms was more than adequate.

Heck their clubrooms were now so successful they were giving money to all sorts of organisations, not just to their own League team.

My point is I was just wandering what the actual purpose of these Leagues were?

I’m not a fan of this tax. I’m not a fan of any money leaving the game.

Sydney teams are in a lucky and very unique position both in relation to out of town teams and other sporting codes.

To fight the good fight League needs as much money as it can get (compromises aside).
It annoys me to see League fans take delight in seeing future money leave the game.

 

[yappy]

I'm not really on either side of the tax argument. There is a lot of exaggeration, hyperbole, and downright lies on both sides. But's Tamazoid's point about the laziness induced is spot on. All clubs, but especially the Sydney clubs need to get smarter and more creative about their income streams. This change will help sort the wheat from the chaff.

 

[dimitri]

I totally disagree with this thread. The AFL have Melbourne clubs struggling financially and without assistance from the AFL, at least half the Melbourne clubs would be broke.

but there are now 2 melbourne clubs playing outside victoria

if that happened in league it can only be good for the game like it has been for AFL

 

[Misty Bee]

I agree. How DARE that bastard Bob Car tax poker machine revinue from the clubs! Clubs do enormous good for the community. Look at the wonderfully selfless actions of people like Roger Cowan, Bob Hagan et al. Look at what Ken Arthurson and Ian Thompson did for the good folk of the Central Coast! And to think that arsewipe Carr is going to tax pokies heavily and waste it on hospitals! Can't people become gambling addicts without it being TAXED????

Half of these whining clubs jumped to Traitor League and shafted the code, and the pensioners, and the kids etc etc, or a quick megabuck.

To answer Bengal's question - profit making Leagues clubs came far after football clubs existed. Twas the era that made Wests the 'millionaires' by having a leagues club backed team bought to cmobat St George that introduced the concept.

If relocating Sydney teams means an expansion of the game nationwide or in NZ, then LET'S DO IT!!!! While I love my club (Eels), I also love my sport. Even though Parra is probably one of the least favorites to relocate, I would be happy to see them do it is it meant putting them in a stronger position.

Besides, if it was a choice between increased revinue for hospitals, or even any other State funded project that would benefit our community, or a cheap meal for a pensioner, I'd be telling the penmsioner that the extra cost on their chicken snitzel could be easily saved by not wasting their hard earned in the pokies!

 

[Grantwhy]

If you want to move forward,go to a Melbourne v Cowboys game,zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.Better than a sleeping pill.

I think we should be doing all we cn to maintain the Sydney clubs,they are the heart and soul of this competetion IMHO.

I do go to Melbourne vs Cowboys games simon, and they are quite enjoyable ;-) perhaps your drowsyness is caused by something else?

I hate to say this but you sound like a person who is dissapointed that "outsiders" have teams competing in the Sydney comp.