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

[docbrown]

I don't see much growth average-wise since 2005.

Not interested in the cumulative figures because we all know there's an extra game per week since the Titans came in.

I think Gallop mentions "massive crowd growth". I somehow doubt that.

We'd get bigger crowds if we didn't pander to Fox Sports.

Well after the record year of 2005, 2006 did suffer a drop off. However cumulative figures are important as they are the total number of paying fans during a season. The higher that number is, the higher the total revenue for the NRL as a whole.

The addition of the Titans in 2007 should have added about 189,000 extra fans. Instead they added 216,000.

Look purely at the Titans era of 192 games a season

2007 - 3,024,040
2010 - 3,150,000 will be approx

Increase of approx 126,000

Compare that to the AFL in the same time period - 20,000

We were held back this year by the knights stadium and the storm scandal. We have also only just started pushing for memberships and it was always going to take a while for that to really start improving crowds.

I guarantee that next year we will comfortably break the aggregate and average crowd records comfortably (barring some massive issue like the storm this year).

Agreed. We would have broken both easily with a round to spare otherwise.

Next year's attendance figure (barring some act of stupidity) will be around 3.2-3.3 million.

 

[Brutus]

Add another two teams and bingo the cumulative number jumps again.

I'll take averages thanks and we've gone nowhere since the record-breaking season of 2005.

 

[Brutus]

We were held back this year by the knights stadium and the storm scandal. We have also only just started pushing for memberships and it was always going to take a while for that to really start improving crowds.

I guarantee that next year we will comfortably break the aggregate and average crowd records comfortably (barring some massive issue like the storm this year).

Well we should be breaking those records. It shouldn't be that hard.

I really thought after 2005 that we'd be around the 18-19k average by 2010.

 

[docbrown]

Add another two teams and bingo the cumulative number jumps again.

I'll take averages thanks and we've gone nowhere since the record-breaking season of 2005.

Well as I said - 126,000 extra people without adding a team. That's a whole round and pretty big in terms of sports attendance figures.

As for your your 18k-19k numbers by 2010 (which would have been twice the increase than the AFL's), I refer you to the "Pathetic Tigers Management" thread and the attitude some people have to ground rationalisation.

We won't get those kind of number unless bigger games are moved to larger venues. Until we can move a Rd26 Dragons vs Rabbitohs to the SFS, 20,000+ averages will be out of reach

My predictions
2011 - 192 games - 17,000 avg - 3,260,000 season
2012 - 192 games - 17,400 avg - 3,340,000 season
When a comp expands the averages usually peak
2013 - 216 games - 17,400 avg - 3,750,000 season
2014 - 216 games - 18,000 avg - 3,880,000 season
2015 - 216 games - 18,600 avg - 4,000,000 season

 

[Brutus]

As for your your 18k-19k numbers by 2010 (which would have been twice the increase than the AFL's), I refer you to the "Pathetic Tigers Management" thread and the attitude some people have to ground rationalisation.

We won't get those kind of number unless bigger games are moved to larger venues. Until we can move a Rd26 Dragons vs Rabbitohs to the SFS, 20,000+ averages will be out of reach

Fully agree.

 

[Parra]

If the demands were so unreasonable, there would be no ARL/ QRL go ahead for the I.C.
Geez mate give it time, instead of the constant bitching ,as no I.C is actually in place yet.No one has a clue to the name of the new 8 commissioners .
News Ltd is out and some of the incompetent ARL leaders are out of the equation ,thta is a plus IMO.

Getting it right is just as important as getting it done.

Doing whatever-it-takes to get a restructure makes no sense. Another way of putting it is that we'll get a restructure whatever-the-cost and that is just not good enough.

Certain principles should be non-negotiable. Not allowing a media company to insert clauses, staff or board members is one of those principles. Or else 'independence' is just a myth.

It is worth waiting until they leave according to the current agreement, and implementing a structure that suits the game.

 

[ouwet]

We were held back this year by the knights stadium and the storm scandal. We have also only just started pushing for memberships and it was always going to take a while for that to really start improving crowds.

I guarantee that next year we will comfortably break the aggregate and average crowd records comfortably (barring some massive issue like the storm this year).

We were held back by some Sydney RL teams who insist on playing in stadiums barely fit for Junior RL with capacity's of 18,000-20,000!!!

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/commission-on-track-for-november-20101005-16693.html

Commission on track for November
Greg Prichard
October 6, 2010

EXPERIENCED league official John Chalk, a member of the ARL and NRL boards, says serious discussion between the ARL and News Limited on who will make up the independent commission should begin before the end of the week.

Chalk said yesterday he remained ''very optimistic'' that the commission would be in place to take over the running of the game from News and the ARL on the scheduled date of November 1.

''We're still working towards November 1,'' he said. There are still some important things to be worked out in terms of the drafting of a new constitution, but there are lawyers working hard on that.

''And once we reach the point of the new constitution being in place, the rest can be done pretty quickly. The ARL have got lawyers working on it, and News have got lawyers working on it, and they are pretty much agreeing on a lot of things. There are still some legalities to work out, but once that has been done we can move on to the final stage. Hopefully, that point is not far away.''

The debate over commission members will mostly involve discussion between lawyers Ian Philip, representing News, and the ARL's Colin Love. Chalk said there had been no point in pursuing potential commission members until the new constitution had been completed.

The Herald reported on Monday that a position for ARL chairman Love on the commission, which had looked a safe bet, was now in serious doubt since QRL officials had threatened to support constitutional changes needed for the commission to come to fruition only if Love was not involved.

NSW and Queensland have one vote each on constitutional matters to do with the ARL, and since a 75 per cent majority is needed for changes to be approved, both votes are obviously required. But it is anticipated Queensland officials will only support changes if the eight commissioners are truly independent from the outset. There has been a long-held view in some circles that, for at least its first term, the commission should be run by an experienced league official, regardless of whether he is seen as independent according to the constitution. But if, as expected, the constitution states that anyone having held an official position with the ARL, NSWRL, QRL, CRL, News Ltd or any club in the previous three years is ineligible, the QRL may decide to enforce that.

Another influential league figure, South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson, said yesterday that the restructuring committee he was a part of with other club officials on behalf of all 16 NRL clubs, understood where the QRL was coming from on the question of the true meaning of independence in terms of the commission.

''We're not in disagreement with what the QRL are asking for in the constitution, which is a qualified definition of independence,'' Richardson said.

He said he was ''confident'' the commission would be in place by November 1.

 

[chefman21]

Are we putting too much faith in the Independent Commission? It seems a lot of people think it is the Guardian of the Universe/Oracle/Mr Fixit etc etc. It's intentions are noble, but intentions don't always mean success.

 

[Perth Red]

if they are only starting to talk about who should be on it this week how the hell are they going to have it in place for Nov 1st?

in terms of our expectations, it can't really get much worse in terms of underselling the game and lack of vision. My only fear is that the old cronies that have led the game to this point are still going to be the puppet masters pulling the strings instead of new top quality fresh business minds who can take the game to the next level.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I just hope it helps with TV rights negotiations. I dont think this commission will help with the 2013 deal, but after that we should be sweet.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

As long as the NRL clubs get more cash, what else could possibly matter?

 

[Paul J]

If you believe that and other recent articles in the media, the most time consuming work is with the lawyers working out the constitution. Selecting the actual Commissioners is expected to be reasonably quick (except for the whoo haa over Colin Love) which would suggest both News and the ARL already have their candidates for the Commission in mind.

As for the next TV deal, that should be the number one priority for the IC and I’d much prefer them to handle that than the current News/ARL partnership.

 

[adamkungl]

As long as the NRL clubs get more cash, what else could possibly matter?

Grassroots...international game...

 

[adamkungl]

Are we putting too much faith in the Independent Commission? It seems a lot of people think it is the Guardian of the Universe/Oracle/Mr Fixit etc etc. It's intentions are noble, but intentions don't always mean success.

The main hope is that we eliminate the blatant conflicts of interest, resulting in fairer media deals (no News negotiating with News) and a better vision for the improvement of Rugby League, rather than the improvement of News' profit margins.

 

[Perth Red]

Grassroots...international game...

expansion, profile, positive media, national FTA coverage, memberships

In fact clubs getting $500k a year more grant is the least of the games priorities, get everything else right and the clubs will have the $'s.

 

[chefman21]

The main hope is that we eliminate the blatant conflicts of interest, resulting in fairer media deals (no News negotiating with News) and a better vision for the improvement of Rugby League, rather than the improvement of News' profit margins.

So who do we want on the Commission, and what is the balance between league identities and non league identities?

 

[Parra]

So who do we want on the Commission, and what is the balance between league identities and non league identities?

As long as News Ltd get enough stooges on the thing no-one cares how the others are selected.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

So who do we want on the Commission, and what is the balance between league identities and non league identities?

There have been heaps of names thrown around(high profile business).
Ex PM Howard has also been mentioned(as much as as i hated him in politics,he is a RL fan) & has plenty of contacts in the political & Business world.
From the ex player ranks it would be great to have someone like Gould(if he could put aside his personal agendas),or Webcke as they are very very passionate about RL.

 

[chefman21]

There have been heaps of names thrown around(high profile business).
Ex PM Howard has also been mentioned(as much as as i hated him in politics,he is a RL fan) & has plenty of contacts in the political & Business world.
From the ex player ranks it would be great to have someone like Gould(if he could put aside his personal agendas),or Webcke as they are very very passionate about RL.

Been criticised for a few of these names, but I'd like to see the likes of:

Wayne Bennett - should he retire
John Singleton
John Howard - seriously.
Gail Kelly
Allan Fels
Bruno Cullen
Shane Webcke
Michael Searle
Nick Politis
Frank Lowy
Chip Goodyear
Gerry Harvey
John Coates
Malcolm Speed
Graham Annesley

My biggest concern about ex players is a lack of intelligence and political/business nous to be really relevant. You have to pick the right ones. Gould would be good but he would have to quit PBL. As would Sterlo.