The fact that the NRL hasn't had a team go back to back since 92'-93' is a testament to itself.
How f**king boring would it be seeing the same 4 teams win it every year? During the Manly-Storm reign of 2007-2012 was a nightmare. I don't think many fans would appreciate that.
Plus the difference is that the EPL have a relegation system where some fans are just happy to see their team compete in the Premier League, and we don't have that in the NRL.
If we got rid of the salary cap we'd just see the rich teams get richer and better and the poorer teams linger down at the bottom of the ladder. Having seen Souths at the bottom of the ladder for the best part of a decade was so bad and a lot of supporters would leave if their team had to go through that. We don't have the same passion as soccer fans do.
I can see where you're coming from but I don't think it could work in the NRL. As far as i'm concerned the fact that any team can build a premiership winning squad thanks to the cap works wonders for rugby league. Look at the Titans, they were wooden spoon favourites at the beginning of the year but thanks to great cap management, they're now looking at a good few years down the track. It would be so unfair for them not to be able to compete purely because they don't have the same funds that other teams do.
I guess that what it comes down to - interest in the competition. I personally would find that while the competition without a salary cap may see the rich clubs dominate, the brand and quality of rugby league would rise to unprecedented levels. We would be able to retain, not only the best NRL players and stop them from going over to other codes, but we could also poach the best that Britain has to offer! That for me would compensate for any apparent unevenness in the competition. I mean you can't tell me you wouldn't enjoy seeing a champion team play? How often do we hear rugby league nostalgics hark on about the great Canberra and Brisbane teams of the 1990s etc. Without the salary cap we would be able to see that again! In any case, just because you have a team of champions doesn't mean that you have a champion team - that has been proven numerous times through the history of sport. Hence, I don't think its a foregone conclusion that the rich teams are automatically going to dominate.
English soccer club culture is incredibly strong. You have 40,000 fans happily fill out a stadium to watch Shitonton United get flogged each week by man u and chelsea each week, with no hope of winning a title and to finish 16th each year. Nrl can't even get sell outs for our winning team. If the same 3 or 4 teams win each year then the fans ( apart from the diehards) of the other 12 nrl teams aren't going to stick around. Teams will go broke, either through lack of support or through a situation like leeds in the early 00s who overspent trying to keep up with the big guns on the field and went bust. Lose a few teams, especially in big tv markets, and suddenly the tv money dries up. The current 16 clubs all benifit on each other. Souths benifit from Cowboys and broncos being in the comp, as they bring in a bigger tv market, which increases the tv contract, which increases the grants the nrl give the clubs while also giving sponsors more exposure, which makes sponsorship more valuable etc and so it all flows on.
The popularity or unpopularity of the NRL isn't directly indicative of the presence of the salary cap. I think the biggest thing that is turning fans or potential fans off the code is the way the game is refereed. I've been saying this for a while but I think the game is refereed needs a complete overhaul and that means the rules, penalties, the numbers of referees, the bunker - the lot! Obviously this is a very subjective issue but I feel that fans are just getting fed up with inconsistent refereeing, decisions that are contradictory and referees being too involved in the spectacle - and those are just the tip of the iceberg!
The other big deterrent for rugby league supporters is the poor administration of the game. I'm not picking on Parramatta here but they are a good example - look at them and the way things have been run over there. I'm not going to go through everything regarding them because we all know what has happened but you cannot tell me that if you are new to the code and were looking for a team to support, you'd go for Parramatta. As I've alluded to, if we are going to make rugby league more professional and attract fans then we need to clean up the administration of the game and the way clubs run. I mean we have still go clubs who are relying on leagues clubs and poker machines as their primary sources of income! Those are such outdated methods of generating revenue that we'd be a laughing stock if even the weakest EPL team looked at the books of some of these clubs. The biggest mistake the NRL is making is that they think rugby league fans are a bunch of dumb rednecks who don't care about nor do they understand how their clubs is run. Make no mistake, I think everyone on here fully appreciates and understands how lucky we are to be a well-run club given the hardship we experienced during the 1990s-early 2000s. Why should fans of any other rugby league club see or feel any different?
If rugby league teams get their houses in order they should be able to make money - we are living, breathing proof of that! The Leeds United example you gave isn't the best example to use. Yes they were guilty of over-spending but that came about due to a horrendous gamble from Peter Ridsdale, who hedged his bets on the fact that Leeds United were going to make the Champions League for the next couple of season and spent money on that basis. Hence, the predicament Leeds found themselves in was more due to financial mismanagement rather then trying to keep up financially in a system that they had no chance of winning. Leeds were already a highly competitive unit, they just had to cool down a bit with their spending. In terms of, TV money - that is only a short-term fix and clubs shouldn't be relying on that exclusively to pay the bills. This is my whole argument - clubs need to look at ways of generating revenue independent of NRL funding and hiring suitable and qualified people can make this happen! Once you get the boardrooms and front offices of clubs sorted, you will then find that teams are a more attractive proposition for fans to support. The reason being is that once your club starts being well-run, players want to join it! Think about it; why do you think the likes of the Roosters, Souths, Brisbane and the Cowboys are all still able to snare quality talent even if they have an ordinary season on the field? Its because players and managers alike find them professional and appealing organizations and want to join them. This then translates into on field success because you are then able to build a quality playing roster.
What you say about teams benefiting from each other is true in that parity between the teams generate some sustained interest. However, I believe that you will not only get sustained interest from existing rugby league fans but that you will also attract new supporters if the refereeing and administration is fixed and the salary cap abolished. As I said, this is highly subjective but I personally would definitely be following a code where richer teams dominate at first but where the refereeing and administration is of a world class standard.
