What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

WA BEARS

Dragonwest

Juniors
Messages
1,785
without pokies league clubs don't make money. And Perth is so spread out fans arent going to trek to a Bears LC outside of game day so its not going to be a big revenue generator. There's better RoI's the club could go after.
That is where I see the benefit in pairing with someone like Varsity. Their business model is a proven to work annually on its own. The particular location should be designed to suit the new teams requirements on game day in return for the business it will generate for Varsity.
 

Bukowski

Bench
Messages
2,664
That is where I see the benefit in pairing with someone like Varsity. Their business model is a proven to work annually on its own. The particular location should be designed to suit the new teams requirements on game day in return for the business it will generate for Varsity.
Would varsity be thinking that the pub will be packed on game day with our without the clubs involvement? They may not see value.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,743
Dolphins are in the Queensland Cup GF against North Brisbane...

So if the Bears win the NSW Cup, we'll either see Dolphins v Bears (the last & possibly the next NRL expansion teams' feeder clubs) or North Sydney v North Brisbane in the State Championship game.
Go norths
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,743
There’s some strategic talks happening to acquire either a pre-existing venue or an empty lot then apply for DA & build a venue that would serve as another asset to add to the portfolio in Western Australia and be the Bears Club in WA.

There is no set time line though as heading into WA, owning and operating a venue is a bit different to NSW or QLD.

Also with various stakeholders being spread across the country it’s not as clear cut as how acquiring previous assets were either. There’s now IP and branding elements which need to be siphoned through diligently and respectfully.

I figured somewhere close to HBF Park would be ideal but I also don’t know the geography of Perth that well, so if you say that mentioned location is good then good enough for me. Locals know best here.
Would that asset be solely funded by norths leagues ?
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,598
Would that asset be solely funded by norths leagues ?
Why would it? Way back when the WARL strat plan had plans for a league club for the pirates if they got admitted. But like I said it doesn’t really make sense, unless you know what you’re doing running bars/restaurants isn’t an easy business.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,743
Why would it? Way back when the WARL strat plan had plans for a league club for the pirates if they got admitted. But like I said it doesn’t really make sense, unless you know what you’re doing running bars/restaurants isn’t an easy business.
Because if the bears are involved in funding it they are a much bigger part of this thing

when they didn’t want to invest any money in it was puzzling
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,598
Because if the bears are involved in funding it they are a much bigger part of this thing

when they didn’t want to invest any money in it was puzzling
Maybe that’s why they’re not?
lol it will be interesting to see if Notths LC up their current $350k a they they spend on rugby league in NS, at the moment it looks like western bears will spend more in NS than Norths.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,743
Maybe that’s why they’re not?
lol it will be interesting to see if Notths LC up their current $350k a they they spend on rugby league in NS, at the moment it looks like western bears will spend more in NS than Norths.
They own seven licensed premies including one in tweed heads I think

why would they spend more without a team to feed into ? To produce juniors for other Sydney clubs lol
 

Red&BlackBear

First Grade
Messages
5,425
I’m sure the article will get posted here today at some point but WA Consortium have been talking to Paul Smith (owner of Sydney Kings) from NSW and Paul Kind (former NRL senior executive) from NSW to be key stakeholders in the Western Bears.

Echoing what I said months ago. WA Consortium are looking beyond WA alone in who make up the board, stakeholders and financial benefactors. Now here we are with two lads from Sydney and Wollongong being figures.
 
Last edited:

BuffaloRules

Coach
Messages
15,458
I read the article … if they put their money in they are getting 15% and a seat on the board… it’s only $30mil and they can’t come up with that amount in WA?

Seems the media is scraping the bottom of the barrel though trying to find expansion stories …this is only newsworthy if they end up buying in..
 

MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,072
I read the article … if they put their money in they are getting 15% and a seat on the board… it’s only $30mil and they can’t come up with that amount in WA?

Seems the media is scraping the bottom of the barrel though trying to find expansion stories …this is only newsworthy if they end up buying in..
Should ask twiggy, and let him do joint double header games with the Western Force, if they could make a thing of it most fortnight's, then he'd be interested if only to boost awareness for the force and increase their crowds aswell as advertising for his own purposes thru league aswell, he wouldn't need to sponsor the dragons like he does now either, or just do both, (hell he has the mula for it), trouble is for that all to work either the ARU or NRL need to align perths games
 
Messages
661
I read the article … if they put their money in they are getting 15% and a seat on the board… it’s only $30mil and they can’t come up with that amount in WA?

Seems the media is scraping the bottom of the barrel though trying to find expansion stories …this is only newsworthy if they end up buying in..
You`re being a bit harsh there, this is a massive positive and they did say they came in late and most likely the 30 mill had already been raised.
The best part is what they did for the Kings, 491 % increase in sponsorship, probably all tapped out of Sydney, why not. And I love his thoughts on game day experience, basketball is closely tied to America on this and anything we can do to learn and improve our game day experience will only be a massive positive.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,743
I read the article … if they put their money in they are getting 15% and a seat on the board… it’s only $30mil and they can’t come up with that amount in WA?

Seems the media is scraping the bottom of the barrel though trying to find expansion stories …this is only newsworthy if they end up buying in..
Where’s cash converters money into the team

if only east coast money is funding it that’s a joke

Western are starting off in a parasitic way relying upon east coast money and juniors
 

BuffaloRules

Coach
Messages
15,458
You`re being a bit harsh there, this is a massive positive and they did say they came in late and most likely the 30 mill had already been raised.
The best part is what they did for the Kings, 491 % increase in sponsorship, probably all tapped out of Sydney, why not. And I love his thoughts on game day experience, basketball is closely tied to America on this and anything we can do to learn and improve our game day experience will only be a massive positive.

Lets see if they actually buy in first ..

I wouldn’t say he was exactly talking them up in the article..
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,598
Where’s cash converters money into the team

if only east coast money is funding it that’s a joke

Western are starting off in a parasitic way relying upon east coast money and juniors
lol, so you.

Sounds like the money was raised and these new investors with a lot of experience in building a successful sports club are coming in late to add more to the pot. Win-win.


Whole new ball-game: Kings owners want to buy share in the Bears
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports Writer
September 17, 2024 — 5.32am
Colourful Sydney Kings part-owner Paul Smith and former NRL executive Paul Kind are set to become key stakeholders in the Western Bears if, as widely expected, they become the league’s 18th franchise next month.
Smith and Kind’s Total Sport and Entertainment has for months been in secret negotiations with a WA consortium of businessmen, including chairman Peter Cumins.
The sports marketing company’s involvement was outlined in the bid document lodged with the NRL three weeks ago.
“We’ve come in at the 11th hour,” Smith told this masthead on Monday. “We’re not suggesting at all that we’ve driven the process. We’ve been presented with an opportunity to take 15 per cent. We’re not desiring majority positions on this.
“With the structure of the ownership group, particularly a new set-up, there will be a contest of ideas in the environment we’ll be forming and operating in. But we made it clear we want to be involved in the business. We’re not going to be passive investors. This isn’t a rebuild, but a build.”
A year of speculation and debate about the merits of teams based in Perth, Christchurch, Brisbane and Port Moresby is expected to end in the days following the NRL grand final on October 6.
Sydney Kings part-owner Paul Smith, who is set to buy into the Western Bears NRL franchise.
The WA consortium is considered the overwhelming favourite to enter the premiership from 2027 — the last year of the current broadcast deal with News Corp and Nine Entertainment Co, publisher of this masthead.
It has secured the $30 million required by the NRL and has the endorsement and support of WA Premier Roger Cook, who has pledged an upgrade of HBF Stadium and a high-performance centre.
More than that, the consortium accepted ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys’ advice to breathe nostalgic life into the North Sydney Bears, who will host one match in Sydney per season and will provide elite pathways for players.
TSE’s involvement can only help the franchise’s cause given the success of the Kings. Smith had his fingers burned in 2018 when his $10 million offer to buy 50 per cent of St George Illawarra was rejected. The club took less money from Bruce Gordon’s WIN Corporation.
Andrew Bogut is now a part owner of the Sydney Kings, having been brought on board by Paul Smith.
After taking full ownership of the Kings in 2019, TSE turned the perennial National Basketball League underachievers into champions again, winning the title in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
It brought former NBA stars Luc Longley and Andrew Bogut (first as a player, then owner) into the business and focused on enticing a new audience to Kings matches.
Average attendance grew 208 per cent from 2017 to 2024, membership 290 per cent and sponsorship revenue by a whopping 491 per cent. It also created Hoops Capital, a basketball business that fostered junior talent and streetball.
TSE has sold down its Kings investment in past two years to 23 per cent, mostly to Wollemi Capital Group, which was founded by Teslsa chairwoman Robyn Denholm.
“We’ve always wanted to be involved in rugby league, but it would’ve been a disaster if we landed two whales at the same time,” Smith said. “If we’d have dragged the Dragons into the boat, and had the Kings flapping around, we’d have sunk the boat. We wouldn’t have been able to cope. We’re better positioned now to be effective in rugby league because of what we’ve done with the Kings.”
TSE’s involvement happened by chance after Kind, who was the NRL’s head of commercial and marketing for 13 years, ran into Perth businessman Terry Creasey in a corporate suite at Origin II at the MCG in June.
Creasey, who is part of the WA consortium, owns several McDonald’s franchises in Perth. His son, Joel, is a well-known TV personality.
“Terry spent halftime extolling the virtues of the bid,” Kind recalled. “He’d seen what we’d done with the Kings and said we needed to get involved with the bid. I reported to Paul [Smith] the next day that we’d been invited to have a discussion.”
Should the ARL Commission approve the Western Bears’ bid —including TSE’s part-ownership — Smith and Kind won’t be involved in football matters.
Rather, they will need to work out how to sell an odd marriage between a fresh, new-look franchise in the west that has superficial links to a 1908 foundation club in the east. While TSE will have a seat on the board, North Sydney will not.
“It’s not a relocation,” Kind said. “It’s not South Melbourne to Sydney, it’s not Fitzroy to Brisbane. I’m not even sure what to call it. What is the narrative? We need to get all that right.”
Meanwhile, in the west, the franchise will be a different beast.
Market research suggests WA fans don’t follow teams as much as they follow sport. They are wildly passionate about their state.
Doesn’t Smith know it. He had a running battle with Perth Wildcats fans, players, and coaches during his time as Kings chairman, including some notable tongue-fu in the media with their former owner, SEN boss Craig Hutchinson.
The WA bid wants to tap into the thousands of fly-in, fly-out workers from rugby league-mad states, as well as courting new supporters. More than 1.8 million people live within a 45-minute drive from HPF Park.
“You’ve got a lot of education in the WA market,” Smith said. “If someone tries it once and they don’t enjoy it, they’ll never come back and tell 50 people and watch the AFL. There needs to be a real focus on a quality experience.”
Neither the NRL nor representatives of the WA consortium had any comment.

 
Last edited:

Bukowski

Bench
Messages
2,664
What article are we talking about? Cummins has said all along that they were looking at investors from interstate.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,598
Their track record with the Kings, if they can bring some of that to the Western Bears I'll be happy!

Average attendance grew 208 per cent from 2017 to 2024,
membership 290 per cent
sponsorship revenue by a whopping 491 per cent.
It also created Hoops Capital, a basketball business that fostered junior talent and streetball.
turned the perennial National Basketball League underachievers into champions again, winning the title in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
 
Top