Relocation of Sydney clubs

[SnowDragon]

tuff topic as although almost everyone seems to agree there needs to be relocation from Sydney, no one wants their club relocated.

Given that what criteria should be applied if any. The matching to TV rights will make waiting for financial issues to force it unlikely or at least less practical.

Personally I think the dragons are safe, but if they moved it wouldn’t be the end, (in a large part as I live outside Sydney anyway).

Interested in the thoughts of others who are more affected...

 

[TruSaint]

Sharks.

 

[muzby]

St George licence to Perth.

Illawarra to take full control of the JV licence, keeping jersey, name, history and all associated dragons stuff.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

St George licence to Perth.

Illawarra to take full control of the JV licence, keeping jersey, name, history and all associated dragons stuff.

With all due respect my friend, l fart in your general direction.

 

[KogarahWarrior]

what about a team literally nobody supports, e.g the titans

 

[TruSaint]

what about a team literally nobody supports, e.g the titans

Fair point, although I think the NRL will keep them liquid as long as they can, not to lose more ground to the AFL.

A second BNE team is inevitable.

 

[Mickthedragon]

St George licence to Perth.

Illawarra to take full control of the JV licence, keeping jersey, name, history and all associated dragons stuff.

Funny guy.

 

[possm]

I doubt relocation is the answer. I think joint ventures would do the trick with surplus licences being distributed to new ventures.

The Dragons and West Tigers have done their duty and gone through the pain so that the NRL could survive after Super League. Now it up to the untouchables to go through some pain:

Easts and Souths to become a joint venture - Sydney City
Parramatta and Penrith to become a joint venture - Sydney West
Canterbury and the West Tigers to become a joint Venture - Western Tigers
SGI and Cronulla to become a joint venture - called SGIC
Manly and Central coast to become a joint venture - Northern Sea Eagles

That leaves 5 licences to be distributed to 5 new clubs:

NRL
Perth
North Brisbane
Ipswich
Fiji
Sunshine Coast

New Canterbury Cup Clubs
Geelong
Christchurch NZ
New Guinea
Samoa
Tonga

 

[Alec’s-saints]

If we become a joint venture with the scum I’ll never watch rugby league again.

 

[Wittenberg]

Greenberg has said the main criteria will be a club’s ability to be financially independent....so that means the Roosters, a club with the fewest juniors, mediocre crowds and in an area shared by another club will be safe. Cronulla after their developers’ money are now safe while the NRL will not relocate any regional club, so that means Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, Gold Coast and North Queensland are safe. The Warriors are safe and with Greenberg running the show, the Bulldogs are hardly going to be in the firing line. The NRL will not endanger league in Western Sydney so at least one of Parramatta or Penrith will be safe, more likely than not, both. The NRL would remember the bloody nose Souths handed out when the League threatened to kick them out of the comp so they would probably be scared to try it again. Essentially the two clubs most in danger are West Tigers and Manly. On one level Manly deserve it for what they did to Norths years ago but the argument will be made that Sydney needs a club north of the harbour so Wests will be heading to Perth or Brisbane. Us? We are not totally safe as Beattie said how national the St George brand is. Thank god for our Illawarra connection....I think it will save us but it is likely that not too long in the future the Sharks will absorb our traditional heartland and we might return to Kogarah only in the heritage round. I fear my crystal ball might be accurate.

 

[J.moz]

Was on nrl 360 paul kent said it wont be the Dragons because they have a massive following in Australia. And always attract big corporate sponsors 1 in being St george bank longest sponsor in the nrl.Also mentioned Illawarra no longer are part of the merger sold out by win corporation. St george when new licenses are signed with nrl by 2020 will be back to St george dragons.

 

[Miller was a legend]

Was on nrl 360 paul kent said it wont be the Dragons because they have a massive following in Australia. And always attract big corporate sponsors 1 in being St george bank longest sponsor in the nrl.Also mentioned Illawarra no longer are part of the merger sold out by win corporation. St george when new licenses are signed with nrl by 2020 will be back to St george dragons.

Excellent, so Kent sees the Sharks taking over the Illawarra then.

 

[muzby]

Was on nrl 360 paul kent said it wont be the Dragons because they have a massive following in Australia. And always attract big corporate sponsors 1 in being St george bank longest sponsor in the nrl.Also mentioned Illawarra no longer are part of the merger sold out by win corporation. St george when new licenses are signed with nrl by 2020 will be back to St george dragons.

1. Bought out, not sold out

2. If the dragons have “a massive following in Australia” it means they are more ripe for relocation as there are fans in other locations

3. The “new licence” peice he mentioned said nothing about being St George only, so don’t lie. Lies make baby Jesus cry.

4. No Illawarra, no security. The Sydney market is too crowded to stand alone.

 

[Saints of George]

I wouldn't panic about St.George at all. We paid our dues to the NRL 20 years ago, paved the way and on paper are the only successful merger club and I think in turn have bought our safety for years to come.

Only scenario I can see (and it's very unlikely) is that we'd become a solely Wollongong based team, but again I don't think that'll happen as St.George football club own the club now and the majority of our revenue comes from the Sydney base.

So for what it's worth, I imagine we're safe.

 

[SnowDragon]

I doubt relocation is the answer. I think joint ventures would do the trick with surplus licences being distributed to new ventures.

The Dragons and West Tigers have done their duty and gone through the pain so that the NRL could survive after Super League. Now it up to the untouchables to go through some pain:

Easts and Souths to become a joint venture - Sydney City
Parramatta and Penrith to become a joint venture - Sydney West
Canterbury and the West Tigers to become a joint Venture - Western Tigers
SGI and Cronulla to become a joint venture - called SGIC
Manly and Central coast to become a joint venture - Northern Sea Eagles

That leaves 5 licences to be distributed to 5 new clubs:

NRL
Perth
North Brisbane
Ipswich
Fiji
Sunshine Coast

New Canterbury Cup Clubs
Geelong
Christchurch NZ
New Guinea
Samoa
Tonga

Thanks for the post, well thought out even if I am not sure I agree.
5 teams in Sydney, 4 in Brisvegas, 2in Melbourne... maybe, but 2 in NZ first I think before Melboure. A team in Perth and nth qld, Newcastle... all good. Not sure if Fiji ranks higher than others like PNG and Tonga? But somehow we need to get there...

I have gotten to the stage that the region is less important than the club. I’m originally a saints supporter, but we are dragons now, and Illawarra is a founding member like the Saints. Once this happened I accepted it. And hate divisive comments. All that said, I’d prefer to relocate than merge again. A merger now would loose too much identity.

I would think fans may prefer a relocation rather than a merger? (I mean if it was one or the other which it must be for some teams I think). But I may be wrong.

A poll on how Dragons supporters view it Would be interesting.

Also, is 16 clubs all we can handle? Finances for 20 teams? In the long term? Or what’s the magic number? (We need that to identify the distribution).



Oh... and St George Illawarra Cronulla... that’s SIC mate!

 

[Dragonslayer]

I believe that relocation is not really on the cards for any of the current 16 clubs. Merge or Joint Venture more probable, with Manly and the Central Coast region being the most likely.

Perth already has a registered team playing in SG Ball known as the Pirates.

The more interesting scenario is that we now have a Victorian team now playing in JF, known as the Thunderbolts, and obviously aligned with the Storm. Previously I believe they played out of QLD. So, this indicates to me that an expansion team in either Brisbane or Ipswich the most likely outcome. Interestingly they also have a new junior club called the Mustangs. QLD also have the PNG Hunters playing in their ISP and there is also talk of Fiji joining our CC competition.

For me, the most likely outcome here is 2 expansion teams in the short term (making 18) and 2 more in the long term (making 20). My guess would be: Perth and Brisbane/Ipswich as the first 2, with NZ and Pacific Islands (Fiji/PNG) as the long term goals.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

When will Greenberg and co. realise that unlike the AFL, rugby league relies on Sydney clubs being the lifeblood of the game? Despite the misnomer of the NRL title, it is NOT a national code.

 

[muzby]

St.George football club own the club now and the majority of our revenue comes from the Sydney base.

Wrong on both counts..

 

[Saints Forever]

1. Bought out, not sold out

2. If the dragons have “a massive following in Australia” it means they are more ripe for relocation as there are fans in other locations

3. The “new licence” peice he mentioned said nothing about being St George only, so don’t lie. Lies make baby Jesus cry.

4. No Illawarra, no security. The Sydney market is too crowded to stand alone.

Keep your orange sun tan cream on Muzby, everybody knows we have already been relocated to the Illawarra region when we merged. Hence we are not at risk of relocation.

Our support is huge where ever the team goes because we are St. George.

Our trading name will remain St.George Illawarra when the new licence is issued and will be owned by St.George and WIN Corporaton, provided WIN still exists in 2020.

The one thing I am certain of is that St.George will remain an iconic name in Rugby League going forward.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Keep your orange sun tan cream on Muzby, everybody knows we have already been relocated to the Illawarra region when we merged. Hence we are not at risk of relocation.

Our support is huge where ever the team goes because we are St. George.

Our trading name will remain St.George Illawarra when the new licence is issued and will be owned by St.George and WIN Corporaton, provided WIN still exists in 2020.

The one thing I am certain of is that St.George will remain an iconic name in Rugby League going forward.

Joint venture NOT a merger.

Given the sole Illawarra Steelers’ Board representative doesn’t have influential voting rights, it’s correct to question the veracity of the term JV when referencing St. George. In the nascent days of 1999, we jokingly said “at least they’ve got the socks”. This hasn’t been the case for a long time now.