Rumoured Targets 3

[The Showstopper]

NRL needs to overhaul TPA and make it a free market. It has turned the game into a pointing fingers contest. Why can't a club save money by getting a sponsor to pay the majority of a player's wage? I am pretty sure that is how players in the NFL make their salaries topped up. Sponsorship. We demonise our stars here whereas the US idolises them and treats them with respect.

If Grant is so obsessed with club's being profitable why restrict how a club gets TPAs for their players. Get rid of the cap. If clubs know they will lose their licence if they are in debt or run at a loss they will know how much they can and can't spend. Salary cap is about artificially creating a fair comp. Player trades and values should be decided among clubs in a transfer window. If they go broke doing it tough luck. We have no chance cos the avenues of TPAs are very limited by the game's governing body. They make no allowances for poorer clubs.

 

[macavity]

100% disagree. They should get rid of TPAs full stop and have a hard cap.

 

[Whats Doing]

100% disagree. They should get rid of TPAs full stop and have a hard cap.

Have to agree with Macca on this one. If you seriously want to have a level competition, you need to have a level playing field in terms of playing strength across the clubs.

At the moment, some clubs which have TPA's are spending more than $2million per annum more than clubs without.

This is leading the NRL going the same way of EPL where only 4 or 5 of the rich clubs ever win the title due to the disparity in money spent on players between the clubs

 

[Caped Crusader]

Lol get rid of the cap and we'll be wooden spooners, or near enough, every year

 

[Alex28]

I do not understand how we are in the position where we have absolutely no TPA's. What the f*** is our sponsorship department doing? Do we even have one?

 

[Swarzey]

Either scrap them completely or have the NRL offer them for the clubs who are struggling. It's an absolute f**king disgrace.

Two ways this club can earn TPA: Another billionaire takeover or consistent results over years. Problem with the latter is even if this club gets one good season under it's belt the following is usually full of mediocrity for one reason or another. If Nathan Tinkler wasn't such a merkin in the business world I'm sure we would be in a better position.

 

[Noname36]

I do not understand how we are in the position where we have absolutely no TPA's. What the f*** is our sponsorship department doing? Do we even have one?

The problem is the market we're in. There simply just isn't the big business/money in Newcastle...and the very few large businesses are already club sponsors and you can't use club sponsors for additional TPAs.

The issue is also worse now because the only big money in Newcastle and the Hunter is in the mining and energy sectors and those industries have crashed in a dramatic fashion in the region.

Our only real option if we want TPAs is to try and attract some from out of the area however we need to be realistic about our chances there. Why would a business from say Sydney where the money is want to help a wooden spoon side from Newcastle when they can get involved with one of the big Sydney clubs that are consistently up the top and have the stars?

This is just as much a Newcastle problem as it is a Knights one.

 

[Alex28]

Not ONE third party sponsor - at all - could be found? Even with all the property development happening in the city?

Blaming it on the mining industry is a weak argument. There is plenty of other industries in the area.

Sell the club to Wests NOW and get people who know what they are doing in there...

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

There shouldnt be a reason why a high profile player cant attract a third party deal from somewhere outside newcastle.

If the third party deals were totally seperate from the clubs(which they arent) then most players should be able to call on those 3rd parties for money regardless of what club they are at. For example: why couldnt SBW play for the knights and still have the same 3rd party deals he had at the roosters?

 

[slotmachine]

Sell the club to Wests NOW and get people who know what they are doing in there...

Wests are good at making money, they don't want to be involved in loss-making enterprises like the Knights.

 

[Noname36]

Not ONE third party sponsor - at all - could be found? Even with all the property development happening in the city?

Blaming it on the mining industry is a weak argument. There is plenty of other industries in the area.

Sell the club to Wests NOW and get people who know what they are doing in there...

I was under the impression that the majority of the players do have third party sponsors...they're announced at the home games.

I think we've got TPAs, but not big companies/investors throwing in enough money to attract stars.

Which Newcastle-based companies that aren't already sponsors of the club or haven't had huge loses/closures recently (most mining and energy companies in the area) do you think we should be targeting? Because I personally can think of very few. There's a reason most sports teams in the town have folded and the two that haven't are constantly in states of poverty despite going through every imaginable ownership and management structure. There's absolutely no doubt the club could have been run a lot better through the years but I also dont think we'll ever have the capacity to be a top side either. The game is changing - big markets are everything - the days of having a strong support base or a big junior pool suggesting power are dead.

I agree about selling to Wests by the way - but I don't think it will solve many of the TPA issues either.

 

[Noname36]

There shouldnt be a reason why a high profile player cant attract a third party deal from somewhere outside newcastle.

If the third party deals were totally seperate from the clubs(which they arent) then most players should be able to call on those 3rd parties for money regardless of what club they are at. For example: why couldnt SBW play for the knights and still have the same 3rd party deals he had at the roosters?

No there shouldn't be a reason, but if I'm with a Sydney-based business and have the opportunity to either do business with a top Sydney club to secure a player or a less successful one up in Newcastle my choice is fairly clear.

 

[Frederick]

I was under the impression that the majority of the players do have third party sponsors...they're announced at the home games.

I think we've got TPAs, but not big companies/investors throwing in enough money to attract stars.

Which Newcastle-based companies that aren't already sponsors of the club or haven't had huge loses/closures recently (most mining and energy companies in the area) do you think we should be targeting? Because I personally can think of very few. There's a reason most sports teams in the town have folded and the two that haven't are constantly in states of poverty despite going through every imaginable ownership and management structure. There's absolutely no doubt the club could have been run a lot better through the years but I also dont think we'll ever have the capacity to be a top side either. The game is changing - big markets are everything - the days of having a strong support base or a big junior pool suggesting power are dead.

I agree about selling to Wests by the way - but I don't think it will solve many of the TPA issues either.

I'm fairly certain that what's announced at home games are jersey sponsors, not player sponsors

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

No there shouldn't be a reason, but if I'm with a Sydney-based business and have the opportunity to either do business with a top Sydney club to secure a player or a less successful one up in Newcastle my choice is fairly clear.

But you cant do business with the club.

I would think that the status of the player would have a bigger influence on TPP rather than the club he plays for. A player like Cam Smith or SBW should have their fingers in so many pies and have so many networks that they could earn the same amount in TPP wherever they play. This doesnt happen because its an absolute rort and the big clubs organise TPP secretly.

 

[The Showstopper]

100% disagree. They should get rid of TPAs full stop and have a hard cap.

Good luck with that one. In the modern world that would be hauled into court as restriction of trade. The NRL are control freaks. That is the truth. They threaten the clubs to be profitable in two years and totally neglect that 13 were run at a loss. So are they going to have 3 teams? Empty threats.

Maybe limit the number of TPAs accepted per club and do not cap the amount on offer to players lucky enough to get one. Makes clubs prioritise marquees and opens market up to other clubs.

 

[Caped Crusader]

But you cant do business with the club.

I would think that the status of the player would have a bigger influence on TPP rather than the club he plays for. A player like Cam Smith or SBW should have their fingers in so many pies and have so many networks that they could earn the same amount in TPP wherever they play. This doesnt happen because its an absolute rort and the big clubs organise TPP secretly.

Exactly

**edit. Blind freddy doesn't want to go to court.**

No way are the NRL policing their own rules here. There would be too much backlash from big clubs if they did

 

[Noname36]

I'm fairly certain that what's announced at home games are jersey sponsors, not player sponsors

Ah I see, my apologies.

 

[Burwood]

I've mentioned it on other occasions, but how can McGuigan, as a director of McGuigan Wines, not be able to tee up any TPAs? He must know so many people involved in winemaking in the Hunter, Australia, and across the world. They are often companies worth tens of millions, or owned by bigger companies valued in the hundreds of millions.

Mining is on the slide in our region, but winemaking seems to be going from strength to strength.

 

[The Showstopper]

I've mentioned it on other occasions, but how can McGuigan, as a director of McGuigan Wines, not be able to tee up any TPAs? He must know so many people involved in winemaking in the Hunter, Australia, and across the world. They are often companies worth tens of millions, or owned by bigger companies valued in the hundreds of millions.

Mining is on the slide in our region, but winemaking seems to be going from strength to strength.

Very good question. TPAs is a migraine for clubs like ours cos we are just not attractive enough. That said I think the alleged raw deal Darius got with third parties might have had a much bigger hand in him leaving than just following Bennett to Brisbane. You cannot hold that against him and that sort of result spreads like wildfire in the game. When players see a then privately owned club not coming through in 3rd party deals, it is a fair bet they see that as unreliable and dangerous to their earnings. Add Tinklers highly questionable business model and we have become a poison chalice. They see that we were dumb enough to get into the Tinkler situation without getting the full story. Whether true or fair it does not matter. Business and reputation go hand in hand and once it threatens profit you are cut.

 

[Alex28]

Wouldn't the easy solution be tell minor sponsors to not sponsor the club, but sponsor players through TPA's instead. Boost the team, build revenue - the loss of sponsors will pay for itself

Heck - other clubs lost 6 times what we did last year. Funnel $1 Million in club sponsorship to TPA's and we still are better off fiscally than some other clubs...