NRL's head in the sand as we enter the era of sports globalisation
Steve Mascord
Professional sport elsewhere is already decades beyond the era of nationalisation, as the NRL plans to give existing clubs in a non-national competition more say in its future direction.
The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957. South Melbourne became the Sydney Swans in 1982. Yet rugby league shut down franchises in Perth in 1997 and Adelaide in 1998, has no plans to go back, and now existing teams with a vested interest in hoarding the sport's revenue are about to be given seats on what was an "independent" commission.
Nationalisation is an established policy in other pro sports. They have long since moved on to internationalisation and we stand at the cusp of an epoch that will threaten many sporting leagues: globalisation.
Internationalisation, which sees basketball and ice hockey in the US embrace all of North America, which saw American Football toy with a failed European League, which brought us Super Rugby and the New Zealand Warriors, is close to reaching its natural commercial conclusion.
The difference between internationalisation and globalisation from rugby league's point of view is very important. Internationalisation involves satellite leagues in many countries, with increasing intercompetition such as the European Champions League and our World Club Challenge. Where the sport is strong in one territory and weak in another, or one country is richer than another, outpost franchises may be formed. Rugby league was richer in Sydney than Brisbane, so the Broncos joined the Sydney competition.
Globalisation comes in over the top of this process with giant brands that engulf everything in their paths: the Premier League, the NFL, the NBA and MLB. It is logical, predictable evolution. For any local business, including sports franchises and competitions, staving off this clear societal change is difficult and becoming more so.
Under globalisation, local versions of the same sport will struggle to compete with the big brands, the way Henny Penny failed to stave off KFC. Sports which themselves are local peculiarities will find the task even harder - like the Chiko Roll fighting against the Subway sandwich.
Discord would argue that the NBA to young Australians in 2017 is what the NSWRL was to Queenslanders in 1987 – distant, glamorous, wealthy, visionary. But with a bit of planning, evolution can become cultural imperialism.
It seems that scarcely a week goes by when one colleague or another is not in the US at a major sporting event. The doors are flung open to them and they get to speak to iconic athletes one-on-one, while their workmates back home struggle to get 10 minutes with the back-up halfback at an NRL club.
What is the NRL doing to push back? Globalisation is a train; you're either on board or you're not. Where are the American reporters coming here to see the sport that, in 2025, is supposed to be having its World Cup in their homeland? How often does anyone at the NRL speak to their US and British rights holders, Fox Soccer Plus and Premier TV? What promotions are being done involving players and clubs to help these broadcasters feel they have an investment in the sport, the way ESPN does when it promotes the NBA in Australia?
Clint Gutherson's post-try celebration last week was an imitation of NBA star Steph Curry. Would Ron Hilditch have been able to name a single NBA star?
Most importantly, do we continue to assume that because your kids still like their NRL, their kids will if they live in an age when the big global sporting brands come to town once a year, when the NFL has a team in London, and today's free-to-air TV channels are nothing but a historical curiosity? If they are watching sport on their mobile or via a wireless transmission straight into their cerebral cortex, will they really want to watch something between two suburbs played in front of 9000 people?
But don't worry about all that, NRL clubs. You're about to get a seat on the independent commission and 130 per cent of your wages bill paid by head office.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-of-sports-globalisation-20170607-gwmrxb.html
Steve Mascord is spot on again with this one.
