Quade Cooper knocks back Parramatta Eels offer to switch to NRL and sticks with Union

[TeHEel]

Yeah its an interesting one. If he had signed with the ARU or agreed to terms then the ARU would be all over him to make the announcement. They want this matter dusted asap. So I don't think this is the case

If he had signed with the Eels or even agreed to terms then he is not going to say anything until after the AB's games.

Last option is he is telling the truth and has not made up his mind, that being the case I still think he is more likely to stay.

I am sure that he is aware the Eels need to know sooner than later so they can get on with life. I can't imagine the Eels saying take 2 months and then let us know. If they did and are waiting around with fingers crossed they are more foolish that I thought.

 

[Parra Guru]

Although I dont necessarily agree with pete, the messages that are being sent out to the media are either completely true and that he hasn't made his decision yet OR he has signed, which does fit with what we know. He cant say he has signed yet because he will be dropped and miss match fees, Ossie hasn't spoken to him since he has been gone which is very common it would distract Cooper from the Tri Nations after all.

But the signing of this Murray kid puts all this talk to bed, unless we play with both of them in the halves next year.

6. Cooper
7. Murray
9. Mitchell
14. Mortimer / Humble

Keating --> Wenty

Sounds good to me and I will p!ss my pants with excitement if we get Cooper. I just really don't think we'll win a bidding war with the ARU if that's all it comes down to.

 

[strider]

Although I dont necessarily agree with pete, the messages that are being sent out to the media are either completely true and that he hasn't made his decision yet OR he has signed, which does fit with what we know. He cant say he has signed yet because he will be dropped and miss match fees, Ossie hasn't spoken to him since he has been gone which is very common it would distract Cooper from the Tri Nations after all.

But the signing of this Murray kid puts all this talk to bed, unless we play with both of them in the halves next year.

gee Tezza - you're going out on limb there mate .... either he HAS signed or he HASN'T signed .... I reckon you're on the money :lol: ;-)

 

[strider]

Actually Parra Guru, you're the one misinformed here!

The ARU do not have the big bikkies that they got as a result of the 'landfall' from the RWC in Australia so many moons ago.

That brought in a lot of cash, and they used that cash to bring some players over before the world cup in the hope that it would attract major attention and bring them a cash windfall.

It worked.

The windfall has since run out - the offer from the ARU to Cooper is now around $500k - which they have been 'driven up' to from League.

League has more cash to splash.

Union signed a new deal worth around $500k (AUD) for 5 years - that's 100k per year divided by 3 countries.
(http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/04/23/oneill-says-sponsors-and-fans-are-clubs-priority/)
The Australian Rugby Union therefore has AT MOST $33 million to split among 5 franchises, marketing the game, maintaining their head office, and funding grass roots developments.
Even if $25million of that 33 million gets split between the 5 franchises (unlikely) then it's $5million per state. And that's to bankroll 30-35 players.

Now in union it doesn't quite work like that - the ARU keeps a chunk of the funds for promoting the game, national team expenses and central contracts - so it's more likely that the clubs are splitting $15million = $3million per franchise for 30ish players, with 5 players per franchise paid out of the ARUs central coffers (splitting $10million amongst the top 25 players and leaving $8million for advertising etc.

When you break down all that schemozzle, the average for the top 25 players in the game would be $400k (at most). Considering the signed Giteau to an obscene contract last year, that shortens the amount anyone else can be paid. You can see why they're trying to get the Reds to pay $100k of the $500k they're proposing to throw at Cooper - with almost half the rest of the money dependant upon him playing tests for Australia.


If you can't be bothered reading it all
Union does not have the same amount of money to offer a player as league currently does.

the deal in that article is just the TV rights for $500m over 5yrs .... i'm pretty sure they would have ther revenue sources (merchandise, sponsors, gate takings, etc etc)

 

[Parra Guru]

No news is good news. I think if the ARU had him, they'd be dying to anounce it

 

[jk13]

when i read between the lines, i just see qc giving the aru more time to get closer to the eels offer

 

[El Diablo]

nah

they'd hold a press conference here with all the Aus media so they could get some headlines

 

[strider]

i honestly believe has hasn't told anyone any decision (altho that doesn't mean he hasn't made up his mind)

but i also honestly believe he will stay with union as long as they come close with the $$$s

 

[oldmancraigy]

the deal in that article is just the TV rights for $500m over 5yrs .... i'm pretty sure they would have ther revenue sources (merchandise, sponsors, gate takings, etc etc)

No doubts Strider - but remember they have much higher travelling fees than NRL teams - plus all the associated costs with that.

My guess would be that the test match gate fees are used by the ARU to pay for things like 2 weeks in hotels + security etc in Sth Africa (along with national coach etc etc)

The super 14 gate fees wouldn't go far for those teams (22k average home crowd over 6 games does not bring in much cash).
Sponsorship would be lower for ARU since it's not on free to air - each super 14 franchise would get less than half of what an NRL club would get.

Gate and sponsorship would be sunk into travelling to super14 games and coaching etc.

Oh - and those numbers I previously quoted begin NEXT season and represent a 35% INCREASE for the ARU.


It's back to normal: League steals players from Union.

 

[strider]

isn't one of their major sponsors qantas? they'd probably get em some pretty good travelling deals ... i reckon union have some pretty good corporate connections

i don't think they are as flush as they once were ... but i'd be willing to bet they have as much if not more to offer than league ... they have good corporate support because toffs who run companies like union

 

[oldmancraigy]

isn't one of their major sponsors qantas? they'd probably get em some pretty good travelling deals ... i reckon union have some pretty good corporate connections

i don't think they are as flush as they once were ... but i'd be willing to bet they have as much if not more to offer than league ... they have good corporate support because toffs who run companies like union

I totally agree with the toffs thing - however, the amount of money that the ARU gets from TV is something like $25mill this season - increasing to $33mill next.

The NRL is getting $100mill in - and they don't have to travel overseas.

On top of that, the NRL has 192 club games in Australia for which gate receipts are collected and funelled back into the clubs.

The ARU has 26 super 14 games in Australia

NRL is on free to air and tends to win the ratings. ARU is mostly on payTV - and even on payTV really struggles to draw a crowd (I think one game hit the top 20 shows for the week on Fox one time last season).

toffee noses they might be - but they ain't stupid and they're not going to overpay for exposure. IF Qantas does offer free travel, then you can bet that'd be most of their sponsorship. There just isn't the market for union teams to command even 1/10th the sponsorship dollar that league teams do.
Having said that, I'm sure they're run a little better and manage about half of what a league team does - but even still, it'd be just enough money to get them around, hire coaches and stadiums etc etc.

You just have to read the articles where they're talking about Cooper's cash amount, and the union boys conceed they can't offer as much. They stop short of saying "we're just not in the ballgame" - but that's what they're getting at! (they wouldn't want to say it in case the league clubs started poaching from their ranks once again!)

In the end, the union boys had the cash thanks to the 'home run' of the world cup bringing in the bacon - but the cash cow has been carved about as far as possible, they're on their own again now...

 

[TheRam]

Oh dear Lord. What an indictment on how poor the last NRL tv deal was. I mean the Yawnion will now be getting $100 million a year for tv rights, and their not so Super 14's can't even out rate the NRL u20'S games. Yet the No1 rating sport on television gets the same amount as they do per year. What a joke.

 

[TheRam]

Our halfback for next year. Not the one in the sexy gown.

 

[TheRam]

Double Post.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Oh dear Lord. What an indictment on how poor the last NRL tv deal was. I mean the Yawnion will now be getting $100 million a year for tv rights, and their not so Super 14's can't even out rate the NRL u20'S games. Yet the No1 rating sport on television gets the same amount as they do per year. What a joke.

technically they're appealing to 3 TV markets with the deal though. So the 'Australian share' is at most $33mill. (or 1/3rd of the current League deal)

Their current 'Australian share' is 1/4 of the current League deal.

I do think the NRL needs to seriously push the prices up though!

 

[parra-all-the-way]

Our halfback for next year. Not the one in the sexy gown.

Hey RAM, excuse my ignorance, who is this guy?

 

[TheRam]

Hey RAM, excuse my ignorance, who is this guy?

NYC's best halfback basically, played at the Roosters this year. We signed him.

 

[parra-all-the-way]

ok oh, he is the guy everyone is talking about, cheers mate.

 

[forward pass]

Since we look likely to miss out on Cooper and we also missed Cooper Cronk I am thinking maybe we target -

Cooper Vuna (Rebels)
Adam Ashley-Cooper (ARU)
Gavin Cooper (Penrith)
Matt Cooper (Saints)

ah...sorry, thats all the Coopers I got !!!

 

[El Diablo]

Winnie Cooper now she's all grown up