Should the NRL buy buy the ESL?

[AlwaysGreen]

End of season:
Play weeks one and two of a finals series between the top 8 sides in each hemisphere hemisphere, then play a combined finals between both top 4s to determine the eventual champion. Alternate hemispheres for the finals series each year.

I take it you either weren't around or have forgotten 1997. The gulf between the comps is even wider.

The buying super league idea, like the PNG idea is crazy talk. The only difference in that it isn't Australian government money that will be pissed up the wall, it is the NRL's own.

You make investments to make money not lose it.

 

[Vlad59]

I take it you either weren't around or have forgotten 1997. The gulf between the comps is even wider.

The buying super league idea, like the PNG idea is crazy talk. The only difference in that it isn't Australian government money that will be pissed up the wall, it is the NRL's own.

You make investments to make money not lose it.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, strengths an and weaknesses, and reality or BS of these headlines, I’ll take an off season of news like this over the usual bad behaviour crap we have from some players. All the talk this off season has been about speculation over the growth of the game. That’ll do me.

 

[The Great Dane]

The support for Super league is going down year after year.. why?
As you delicately put " the establishment " are holding it back. They are the ageing demographic who demands nostalgia over everything else " bring back the Bears " crowd on steroids!
The game in England will continue to go backwards and decline as thier supporter base ages and frankly dies..

Super league has to capture the imagination of a new generation if it's to survive.

Wests - gone
Saints- gone
Steelers- gone
Jets- gone
Bears- gone
Tigers- gone

Super league was bad in a lot of ways but it cleared the dead wood.

Small clubs in small towns must go outside of historically successful clubs and still keeping some tradition.

Have to go to grow:
Liegh
Castlford
Windnes
1 Hull
Salford ect

Even if we accept that everything you're saying here is true, which I don't for the record, it doesn't change the fact that the English RL establishment and fanbase would reject any such proposal out of hand.

They would react to it in a similar manner to how football fans reacted to the European Super League proposal, which would kill it in the cradle just like it did soccer's proposed ESL.

 

[The Great Dane]

Gus doesn't explain how buying the ESL would make it better, other than the chance to tap into the North America market, at the time Gus wrote this article Toronto were going good and Ottawa were going to join.

Nothing I've read explains how buying the ESL would make it better ? Surely the IMG process is going to make the ESL the best it can be ?

I'm not defending his opinion, nor do I agree with it, just pointing out that his claim of being one of the first in modern times to propose that the NRL should buy out the SL is true.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Maybe the NRL could simply by the participation of the clubs worth keeping a offer franchise options for places where they want clubs.
By buy participants is simply offering them a grant above what they get now: Wigan, st, Warrington, Leeds, Catalan, Toulouse, Hull .
Then open up bidding for franchisees.

Buying a stake in the FFRXIII and linking it with the Queensland Cup would help improve the standard of French RL. Add a Queensland Cup team in New Caledonia to help strengthen the affiliation.

 

[Wb1234]

Brisbane broncos and Richard Branson couldn’t do it

arl would only want the top 14 clubs

the rest would revolt

it would be easier to set up its own comp with teams from France and England and bypassing the existing structure totally

 

[Perth Red]

Rumours are the English clubs will feed into the NRL clubs. We could get a situation where Hull KR feed into the Dolphins.

Kind of ironic considering Perth Red thinks the BRL clubs should feed into Melbourne and Perth.

V'landys knows how to rile up Perth Red.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-mulls-shock-plan-to-buy-super-league-after-record-700m-year/news-story/9dd18ec18e9948053c828a1e53640e81?utm_campaign=EditorialSB&utm_source=news.com.au+Sport&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_content=SocialBakers

haha you think uk clubs will accept that? cuckoo cuckoo

 

[Perth Red]

Brisbane broncos and Richard Branson couldn’t do it

arl would only want the top 14 clubs

the rest would revolt

it would be easier to set up its own comp with teams from France and England and bypassing the existing structure totally

yeh uk fans will buy into that. cuckoo cuckoo

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

haha you think uk clubs will accept that? cuckoo cuckoo

English clubs don't have any bargaining power. They're broke.

 

[Canard]

The NRL had a profit of 58M. Running the ESL would eat a big fat whole into that number.

How's this for a radical idea, the NRL invests money back into NZ and Australia?

 

[docbrown]

You are essentially encouraging the pillaging of another competition to the point of it becoming irrelevant - strip mining assets for a short term benefit in essence. Whilst it may be happening now for sure, it would be increased significantly if they bought the ESL and put it in the same window.

Now, I think that is a terrible outcome, particularly for the competition over there and it is not really ‘why’ you should buy the competition. The point should be trying to improve their competition and in turn improve the game over there (well in my mind anyway)

Sure, anybody can pillage it. As the salary cap grows in the NRL, that's going to increase regardless of ownership. Hopefully though the goal is to build both up to their mutual benefit. I guess it's a pessimism vs optimism debate.

 

[docbrown]

Does the NRL need to buy Super League to do this ? If it benefits both competitions and internationals it would be common sense for both leagues to make it happen regardless of who owns ESL ?

Indeed. But getting them to agree is easier with only 1 owner.

 

[docbrown]

All that'd achieve is buying out the only commercial competitor in the RL market and instigating a global monopoly on professional RL products.

Monopolies are bad for all stakeholders except the owners of the monopoly and I shouldn't have to explain why.

Do you feel that the current arrangement of having two rival competitors is working in the overall best interests of the game? I guess that's where we disagree. Even the recent debate about international matches suggests two ships steering in different directions.

Monopolies have their pros and cons. I mean, the NFL's effective monopoly on professional American Football is working alright for them.

Think of it this way. England is bigger in population than Australia. Europe is magnitudes larger than that. If Super League ever got its act to get, it could rival or exceed the NRL. And that point people would complain about the talent drain to Super League. NRL fans like the current arrangement because they're the big dogs. With coordination though, Super League could be just as big. Even just from capturing more fans in the North alone.

 

[Canard]

There is a lot of arrogance to this discussion.

Us Aussies aren't exactly covering ourselves in glory, by suggesting that the NRL is well run, that it's administration could make Rugby League huge in the UK.

 

[final say]

The NRL had a profit of 58M. Running the ESL would eat a big fat whole into that number.

How's this for a radical idea, the NRL invests money back into NZ and Australia?

What, like a couple of new teams..
You're negative on everything. This forum would be much better if you an Perth red just private messaged each other and left us alone.

 

[final say]

There is a lot of arrogance to this discussion.

Us Aussies aren't exactly covering ourselves in glory, by suggesting that the NRL is well run, that it's administration could make Rugby League huge in the UK.

Surely you're a Union troll.

 

[Wb1234]

The Poms will sort out their own league

we don’t have the money to fix all their problems and if we did we wouldn’t get a return on it

there’s a good base of six clubs there

sad reality is for the game to progress many traditional clubs need to die off

 

[Canard]

The Poms will sort out their own league

we don’t have the money to fix all their problems and if we did we wouldn’t get a return on it

there’s a good base of six clubs there

sad reality is for the game to progress many traditional clubs need to die off

That's very negative of you, to have such a realist take on this issue.

 

[The Great Dane]

Do you feel that the current arrangement of having two rival competitors is working in the overall best interests of the game? I guess that's where we disagree. Even the recent debate about international matches suggests two ships steering in different directions.

I reject the premise of the question that the two competitions should exist for the overall best interests of the game globally in the first place. I think that's an unachievable and idealistic goal, and that it's inevitable that the interests of the sport and bodies in each region, nation, and the IRL, won't always align, and as such we have to deal with that state of affairs.

But setting that aside, a global monopoly doesn't address the problems you bring up anyway. All that would do is give the NRL absolute power to pursue it's own interests, and as I said before, sometimes, more often than not frankly, it's interests contradict the best interests of the other stakeholders in the sport.

The best way to actually address that problem would be more commercial competition and powerful regionalised stakeholders, not less. Take NZ as a single example; it'd undeniably be better for the sport both in NZ and globally if the NZRL was capable of supporting it's self and wasn't effectively beholden to the whims of the NRL.

Monopolies have their pros and cons. I mean, the NFL's effective monopoly on professional American Football is working alright for them.

Sure American Football's situation globally works out great for the NFL, but the NFL isn't the be all and end all of American Football and never has been. Their power and monopoly has stifled the growth of the sport both internationally and within the USA for generations.

Go and ask the multiple attempted competitor, minor, and spring leagues, like e.g. the AFL, USFL, XFL, etc, etc, what they think of the NFL's monopoly and anti-competition practices.

Go and ask the players and union what they think of threatening to strike being their only real bargaining chip in negotiations with the NFL and owners. While you're at it ask them, and all the players who miss out on the relative handful of NFL contracts, what they think of the lack of opportunities in their chosen profession because of the NFL's anti-competition practices.

Go and ask the international bodies and leagues, such as the IFAF, CFL, X-League Japan, LFA, European League of Football, etc, and their multiple predecessors and other governing bodies, what their opinions are of the NFL's monopoly and practices. May as well get their players opinions as well.

You'll find that most all of them are disgruntled with the situation and NFL's attitude, and have very good reason for being so. Most of the major individuals will have first hand experience of being personally bent over by the NFL repeatedly, and most of the leagues and bodies have regularly experienced corporate espionage, sabotage, and direct attacks on their businesses and operations from the NFL, and all at the expense of the best interests of the sport itself.

So yeah, following the NFL's path would be a terrible outcome if the best interests of the sport as a whole is truly your aim. FIFA and other bodies corruption aside, soccer and cricket are probably the two biggest team sports in the world for many reasons, but the devolved powers and relative independence of each body and league within the sport is a major reason why.

Think of it this way. England is bigger in population than Australia. Europe is magnitudes larger than that. If Super League ever got its act to get, it could rival or exceed the NRL. And that point people would complain about the talent drain to Super League. NRL fans like the current arrangement because they're the big dogs. With coordination though, Super League could be just as big. Even just from capturing more fans in the North alone.

None of that requires a monopoly, and if anything a monopoly makes it less likely to occur, not more.

TL;DR, free-market economies work LOL.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Boring.