The Unusual Suspects - Case for Teams 21/22 in 2040 & Beyond.

[flippikat]

This isn't a shot at you but it's strange to me that everyone generally agrees mergers were one of the worst things to happen in the SL War but are happy to try and repeat the same mistakes for BNE3.

Easts Tigers and the Ipswich Jets are as far apart demographically/culturally as the Roosters and Penrith. You don't just combine the colours and hope all will be well. Merging them is how you kill two identities and come up with the WT on steroids.

It's the same issue with Ipswich & Newtown, two totally different clubs that only share four letters in common.

The last thing we want is another compromised club in the NRL. Either we bring in the Ipswich Jets and the NRL helps them financially knowing that they'll eventually be a powerhouse, or we bring in the Tigers (aka Redcliffe v2). We can't just throw everything into the pot and hope it mixes well. We know it doesn't work.

One way it could conceivably work is if Brisbane Easts own & run the NRL club but uses the Jets branding, licensed from Ipswich - in return for a licensing fee back to Ipswich that can be put into junior league in the area (thus increasing the player pool).

A bit unusual, but such an arrangement means a fresh Brisbane Easts bid can be made using something better than the Firehawks idea, Ipswich get their brand in the NRL (plus junior funding!), and one of the wealthiest clubs in Brisbane gets a place at the big table.

 

[Perth Red]

Could they just be called Brisbane Easts? Come up with some logo accordingly? Make them unique as not having an Americanized brand. Doesn't seem to bother football clubs no to have animals.

 

[flippikat]

Could they just be called Brisbane Easts? Come up with some logo accordingly? Make them unique as not having an Americanized brand. Doesn't seem to bother football clubs no to have animals.

Potentially, but the talk is that the Western Corridor is what's really appealing from a population aspect. I imagine a club branded as Brisbane Easts doesn't reach out to that market.

 

[cinders7]

One way it could conceivably work is if Brisbane Easts own & run the NRL club but uses the Jets branding, licensed from Ipswich - in return for a licensing fee back to Ipswich that can be put into junior league in the area (thus increasing the player pool).

A bit unusual, but such an arrangement means a fresh Brisbane Easts bid can be made using something better than the Firehawks idea, Ipswich get their brand in the NRL (plus junior funding!), and one of the wealthiest clubs in Brisbane gets a place at the big table.

It'd still have the same core issue of a merger between two culturally different clubs/supporters.

Do we think that BNE2 would be as successful if it was the Dolphins in the background paying for everything while using the Jets name, playing in green/white colours with red trim?

It'd be a mess and a Tigers/Jets merger would be the same, losing the traditions of both clubs in an industry where traditions mean so much.

Could they just be called Brisbane Easts? Come up with some logo accordingly? Make them unique as not having an Americanized brand. Doesn't seem to bother football clubs no to have animals.

I wouldn't think so. The Tigers entire culture revivals around the black and orange colours (how good would it be to see this in the NRL), being called the Tigers, TigerTown, all that stuff. Remove the nickname and the colours don't make sense, and vice-versa.

Half of their affiliated clubs (spread around eastern, southern and western Brisbane) are called the Tigers. It's their core identity and you'd have to ask are they even the same club if they join the NRL but are called something else. We don't want to end up with a Brisbane Lions (FC, not AFL) -> Brisbane Roar situation.