and what criteria do you put on the "when it is ready" to do so?
everyone keeps saying AFL gets more tv money, partly due to expansion, yet we are saying it is a black hole that will soak up money. Yes it is costing $35mill a year for AFL's two expansion teams bet their increase in TV deals has more than covered that. Would they have got as much without expansion? impossible to say but not likely, everybody says having a ninth game is valuable.
For NRl it gets a triple whammy with expansion, a ninth game to sell, a second Brisbane team which we know TV is crying out for and a Perth team that adds a new live tv opportunity in a new but popular market.
The idea that we cant expand in 2 years because 4 or 5 clubs are in strife right now is laughable when the NRL's revenue is set to have trebled in the space of 10 years.
The same criteria as any basic business.
It would be too much risk and cost too much money at this stage, better to secure the competition as a whole before expanding out.
It's really straight forward, the fact that you're impatient to get a Perth team is why you can't see it.
The AFL ,for the most part, is a better run competition, I'd put that as one of the reasons for a good tv deal.
It's more professional, involves women a lot more, overall it is a more polished product to present.
NRL was stagnant with Gallop but it is starting to show it's value now.
Have you read what people in the AFL think of GC and GWS? There's varying opinions but the general consensus is that the AFL under estimated the costs of these teams.
It will continue.
In general, I wouldn't really compare how the AFL operates as a business to the NRL.
This is the same competition that signed 2 NRL players with limited AFL experience purely for media attention/exposure.