RL independence day arrives - NRL Independent Commission announced for November 1

[Perth Red]

yes that would work or the NZRL could get a grant from the NZ NRL clubs, in effect owning the club licenses similair to the way the WAFL gets money from the two Perth AFL teams.

 

[Parra]

want
should
could
think
sort of
wonder

Basically no-one knows anything.

 

[Quidgybo]

yes that would work or the NZRL could get a grant from the NZ NRL clubs, in effect owning the club licenses similair to the way the WAFL gets money from the two Perth AFL teams.

The danger with that is they end up like the SANFL, spending money that should be going to the grassroots propping up poorly performing franchises. Best to stay out of the relationship between the NRL and individual franchises. The NRL will always be in a better position to absorb the risk of unexpected problems that clubs may encounter from time to time.

The asset the NZRL has to sell is not the franchises themselves but the right to base franchises within its territory. The ARLC needs to recognise the fact its exploiting another RLIF member's territory to increase the value of its elite competition. Of course what we're talking here is just a grant by another mechanism. But it's an important distinction that maintains the NZRL's status as a peer of the ARLC rather than a subordinate state body.

Leigh

 

[Haffa]

want
should
could
think
sort of
wonder

Basically no-one knows anything.

As is usually the case with most forum threads.

 

[Quidgybo]

Basically no-one knows anything.

Correction, you don't know anything - including whether those in the positions that count know anything or not.

Leigh

 

[Perth Red]

As I understand it, the current ARL as a legal entity will cease to exist. Replaced and subsumed by the ARLC who will take over all the existing responsibilities of the ARL as well as controlling the NRL club competition. Certainly that was the starting position of the Commission proposal 18 months ago and I've seen nothing reported since that contradicts that.

The document presented to the ARL board on the 7th of December 2009...

http://resources.news.com.au/files/2009/12/08/1225808/419135-dt-file-nrl-restructure-outline.pdf

Under that plan the ARL would sell its assets to the new body for $1 and then vote itself out of existence. The original idea was the NRL would do the same but since then I think they've decided it would be easier to create the new structure within the existing NRL company rather than create a new company. Any ARL infrastructure not already duplicated by the NRL would be taken over by the reformed body under the ARLC.

Leigh

So on a practical level who will sit on the RLIF, who will organise SOO and how will funding below NRL get divided up?

 

[Quidgybo]

So on a practical level who will sit on the RLIF, who will organise SOO and how will funding below NRL get divided up?

There is no doubt who sits on the RLIF - the ARLC for Australia and the NZRL for New Zealand. And there is no doubt that the ARLC would run SOO. And there is no doubt the ARLC would decide how funding below the NRL gets divided up in Australia. But given the ARLC will also exploit the NZRL's territory to generate some of that money, the ARLC should license the right to do that so that a fair slice is returned to fund the levels below the NRL in New Zealand. The fee it pays should be proportionally tied to whatever level of funding the ARLC grants to the lower levels in Australia.

Leigh

 

[Parra]

Correction, you don't know anything - including whether those in the positions that count know anything or not.

Leigh

No Leigh, I am part of the no-one. I am talking about people in this thread.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/...ndent-commission/story-e6frf3ou-1226099211793

NRL releases list of eight who have been invited to join rugby league’s independent commission

• By staff writers
• FOX SPORTS
• July 21, 2011 5:28PM

The NRL has finally released the list of eight people who have been formally invited to join rugby league’s inaugural independent commission, while also announcing a salary cap rise is on the horizon.



John Grant, a former Queensland international and managing director in internet technology company Data#3, has indicated he will accept an invitation to become the inaugural chairman of the commission.
Catherine Harris AO PSM (Chairperson of Harris Farm Markets), Ian Elliott (brand strategist and former chairman and managing director of George Patterson Bates), Peter Gregg (executive director and chief financial officer of Leighton Holdings), Gary Pemberton AC (former chairman of QANTAS and SOCOG), Jeremy Sutcliffe (CSR chairman), Wayne Pearce OAM (Balmain Tigers legend and Fox Sports rugby league commentator), Chris Sarra (executive director of Queensland Technology’s Stronger Smarter Institute).
"It is certainly important that we do all we can to ensure that the Commission is in a place to make decisions from the earliest possible opportunity," NRL chief executive David Gallop said.
"This has been a lengthy process and there are a number of legal steps required to finalise all membership agreements, dissolve the existing NRL Partnership and Board, dissolve the ARL Board, transfer all contracts and meet all tax and company requirements.
"We are being advised that this may take a bit more time, which will give valuable time for the Commissioners to be briefed on all important issues in advance of their first formal meeting.
"Already we are moving forward with the immediate priorities for 2012 including the draw, salary cap and club grants.


"At the same time, there is a significant amount of necessary groundwork underway to assist the Commission in determining strategic decisions for 2013, including television rights and competition structure.
"This year has seen an important balance between maintaining the game’s strong momentum in terms of crowds, membership and ratings and in preparing for the introduction of the Commission to review long-term strategies."
The NRL is aiming for a lift to next year’s salary cap by $100,000 to $4 million (with allowances and third party agreements adding a further $760,000 and the retirement fund contribution a further $100,000) with the club grant rising $200,000 to $3.85m (up from $3.65m).

 

[Smiley]

Where did we get all the money to increase club grants?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/quinn-warns-nrl-of-bush-backlash-20110720-1hoqn.html

AAP
Country Rugby League boss Terry Quinn has warned the NRL it faces a backlash from the code's heartland if it goes ahead with proposals to scrap the annual City-Country clash in 2013.
Removing the City-Country game is among a raft of proposals to be tabled at Thursday's landmark summit in Sydney, where chairmen and chief executives from all 16 NRL clubs will join league chief David Gallop to discuss the future of the game.
Gallop will give club bosses an update on the status of the independent commission - with official invitations to the eight nominated commissioners reportedly in the mail - while the new broadcasting rights deal and scheduling will also be high on the agenda.
And the City-Country game - which has been part of the rugby league calendar since 1930 - is on the endangered list, with clubs desperate to reduce the threat of player burnout.
Asked about the prospect of followers in the bush turning their back on the game if the fixture was scrapped, Quinn said: "Absolutely, there'll be a huge backlash.
"We're not very happy about it at all. It just takes away a lot of the interest from the bush and displaying our rep players that have come through the NRL."
The game is believed to be safe for 2012, with the likelihood it will be played on a standalone weekend of representative football, with the mid-year Test between Australia and New Zealand on the Friday night and City-Country on the Sunday.
Beyond that, however, it appears the only mid-year representative fixtures would be State of Origin.
The NRL seems unwilling to have Origin as a stand-alone games, the preferred option being to play the three matches on Monday nights, lessening the impact on players having to back up the following weekend.
But players would still be stood down from NRL matches preceding each Origin, a situation deemed unsatisfactory by Rugby League Players' Association boss David Garnsey.
"The big concern that I have is that we have two fantastic competitions ... the State of Origin and the NRL competition which people love, yet they compete with each other," Garnsey told AAP.
"We really should be using both to compete with other codes.
"You get to the Origin period and you get less people at NRL games because the quality drops because the top players aren't there ... it cannibalises (the NRL competition)."
The interests of broadcasters are tipped to win out, however, with the NRL chasing a $1 billion pay deal for the new television deal which is due to take effect in 2013.
Clubs are anxious to learn what their slice of the pie will be under the new deal, with Gallop having stated his preference for the annual grant to move closer to parity with the salary cap, which currently stands at $4.3 million.
The NRL handed out $3.65 million to clubs this year, with that figure to rise to $3.75 million next year, but Garnsey said it is imperative any injection of funds is passed onto the players.
"I don't know that we're too concerned with what the grant is - we're focused on the salary cap and whether that's adequate," Garnsey said.
"It's difficult to talk with any sort of precision about that because we don't know how much money's going to come in, and we don't know when, and the NRL doesn't either."
Club bosses are hoping to have a better idea on their budgets for 2013 and beyond.
"There's long-term planning needed around player contracts and that's obviously the key revenue item," Wests Tigers' chief executive Stephen Humphreys said.
"A good meaty conversation is timely.
"I'd imagine we'll get a range of possibilities."

Looks like the clubs aren't even going to wait for the IC to screw country RL over. They're doing it already. It's amazing the NRL can wash their hands of any expansion decisions because they're waiting for the IC to come in, but when it comes to making decisions about rep football the clubs seem to be able to come up an agenda right now.

 

[Tigger Madness]

City v country should be scrapped with the majority of trial games getting played in the bush, or even a full round aka "bush round"

 

[East Coast Tiger]

So where's that part of the deal? If the clubs agree to do that then fine. But they haven't and they won't.

 

[Moffo]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/...ndent-commission/story-e6frf3ou-1226099211793

sorry, but was a mish mash of people. can gallop please explain the decision behind electing these people as opposed to some of the other names that were thrown around?

ffs

 

[BDGS]

Reported on the footy show there will be a bush round.

 

[Brutus]

Just heard John Grant interviewed on Sky Sports Radio by Jimmy and Zorba and he does sound impressive. He's a good talker and there's no annoying umming and arrrrring. He was asked some difficult questions about the future of the game but was reluctant to answer them on behalf of the entire commission (for obvious reasons - they barely know each other yet).
But he gave a personal insight into expansion and it sounds as though he's all for it. He direct with his answer, but that's what I gathered anyway. He sounds very keen on another Brisbane team and brought up the reasons why the Crushers eventually failed. He quite rightly pointed out the Crushers were successful early before Superleague killed them off.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Just heard John Grant interviewed on Sky Sports Radio by Jimmy and Zorba and he does sound impressive. He's a good talker and there's no annoying umming and arrrrring. He was asked some difficult questions about the future of the game was reluctant to answer them on behalf of the whole commission (for obvious reasons - they barely know each other yet).
But he gave a personal insight into expansion and it sounds as though he's all for it. He wasn't direct, but that's what I gathered. He sounds very keen on another Brisbane team and brought up the reasons why the Crushers eventually failed. He quite rightly pointed out the Crushers were successful early before Superleague killed them off.

 

[Brutus]

Welcome Brisbane II.

 

[Brutus]

John Grant about to be interviewed on ABC Grandstand.

 

[Billythekid]

Just heard John Grant interviewed on Sky Sports Radio by Jimmy and Zorba and he does sound impressive. He's a good talker and there's no annoying umming and arrrrring. He was asked some difficult questions about the future of the game but was reluctant to answer them on behalf of the entire commission (for obvious reasons - they barely know each other yet).
But he gave a personal insight into expansion and it sounds as though he's all for it. He direct with his answer, but that's what I gathered anyway. He sounds very keen on another Brisbane team and brought up the reasons why the Crushers eventually failed. He quite rightly pointed out the Crushers were successful early before Superleague killed them off.

Hearing people actually stand up for the game and talk positive almost feels too good to be true. It's kind of surreal as a league fan to see that the game may finally be getting treated properly.