WA BEARS

[Perth Red]

Surely it's after the Fed Election?

This would get buried in the news cycle if next week, and likely only hurt WA Federal Labor.

Yeh he actually texted ‘after Saturdays election’ so week after next. I had a tequila hangover this morning lol

 

[Perth Red]

2 historically poorly managed clubs, yes.

Also mate your opinion has been completely wrong on so many things regarding this Perth Bears NRL franchise this entire time. It’s no big loss if you don’t see eye to eye here. However, maybe if you had taken any thing I said of note in the last 6-8 months into consideration you wouldn’t have come across as a sensationalist petulant child at times in an abundance of your posts.

On the point, you need a CEO that is commercially catered to business operations in non- heartland territory. They need to be able to face media, would-be commercial partners, and stakeholders otherwise not brought up in rugby league loving house holds.

There is various differing parameters to a CEO that is required for a Perth based franchise which should be likened to the Melbourne Storm CEO position rather than say any other CEO that operates in rugby league heartland.

Peter would do a fantastic job as a football department manager and/or operations general manager. He would assist a head coach to great effect. But he isn’t the sort of bloke you position as a CEO for a start up club in a non-heartland state. So no, he isn’t CEO material.

You missed off the bottom “ in my opinion” lol

 

[Perth Red]

I tend to agree with this.

The Bears didnt have a big following when they were in the NRL. I find it hard to belive they now have 250k fans out there.

I would have prefered the Reds return but the Bears is better nothing and relocating teams has worked for the AFL.

I’m expecting, and hoping as a min, there are around 10k north sydney fans who will actively support the perth bears through memberships, merch etc.

10k NS members + 15-20k WA members is a good membership foundation to build from.

 

[JD359]

I’m expecting, and hoping as a min, there are around 10k north sydney fans who will actively support the perth bears through memberships, merch etc.

10k NS members + 15-20k WA members is a good membership foundation to build from.

I was a Bears fan before their demise from the top grade. Became a Storm fan at the time via my girlfriend's love for them. Have followed the Bears on/off through their NSW Cup travels & have bought some merch (clothing) so would happily buy more merch & become a basic entry member. Hopefully I'm not the only one with that attitude once they're 'officially' back in the top grade

 

[Senor M]

There's 5 million people in Sydney mate.
They're not going to be interested in a former Sydney teams return?
Again, 5 million people, Australia's largest city and RL heartland.

Are you just bored or something?
Nobody's this dense.

Your statement above makes it sound like the Bears would be the only team in Sydney after 25 seasons without a team in the entire city.

As you said, there are 5 million people in Sydney; however, the majority of them already support another team. According to Roy Morgan; there is over 3.2 million supporters of the 9 existing Sydney based NRL teams.

The overwhelming majority of people who would support the Bears; are already watching NRL and supporting another club. Sydney is not a growth market; it’s a market that already has 9 teams including some of the smallest supporter bases in the league.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Why are the clubs receiving any money ? And why are they voting for Perths inclusion??

I thought the whole point of an independent commission was to make decisions in the best interests of the game and to take control away from the clubs.

Because the clubs have built up the value in the existing competition and deserve to be a) rewarded for that and b) compensated for the dilution by adding another club. That's exactly what a licence fee is for in sport and it's hardly unique to Rugby League.

On the independent commission, yes they make strategic decisions and conduct negotiations for the good of the game as a whole but clubs are still members/shareholders in the game and consultation on whether or not to bring in a new club is pretty important as it affects the existing clubs.

 

[wb2027]

The overwhelming majority of people who would support the Bears; are already watching NRL and supporting another club.

Majority of Bears supporters just stopped watching rugby league instead of picking another club.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Majority of Bears supporters just stopped watching rugby league instead of picking another club.

Or certainly weren`t going to pay 100 + dollars a month to watch other people`s favourite teams on Foxtel.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Let me preface this post by saying I'm really happy we have Perth and the Bears back in the NRL.

However, are the Bears really back? Sure, there's a team in Perth called the Bears coming in. But it's not a relocated North Sydney Bears, they will still exist in North Sydney. It's not owned by North Sydney, the NRL owns it and will sell to a 3rd party in 5 years that probably won't be North Sydney and if it is, the fact that they'd have to buy their own team back proves that this isn't the North Sydney Bears back in the NRL. Colours? Sure but the Western Reds used red and black as two of their primary colours.

This isn't the North Sydney Bears returning to the NRL. I am however happy for the sake of the team's popularity that the media are feverishly pushing it as if it was North Sydney Bears coming back as a relocated team.

 

[wb2027]

Or certainly weren`t going to pay 100 + dollars a month to watch other people`s favourite teams on Foxtel.

It’s been years since I lived in a house with foxtel, are Fox Sports not an add-on to a particular package?

 

[Senor M]

Majority of Bears supporters just stopped watching rugby league instead of picking another club.

So haven’t watched NRL in 25 years?

How will a team in Perth encourage them to watch again after a quarter of a century?

 

[wb2027]

So haven’t watched NRL in 25 years?

How will a team in Perth encourage them to watch again after a quarter of a century?

Not regularly, no.

Most just want the club reinstated.

 

[Perth Red]

Not regularly, no.

Most just want the club reinstated.

Its going to take a lot of consideration and some skilled people to create this clubs brand that appeases the NS crowd and still makes WA feel like it is getting its own club.
Name, colours, jersey design, logo all need to be spot on to engage both sides of this venture. In all likelihood neither side will be totally happy.

 

[ThornlieBear]

Let me preface this post by saying I'm really happy we have Perth and the Bears back in the NRL.

However, are the Bears really back? Sure, there's a team in Perth called the Bears coming in. But it's not a relocated North Sydney Bears, they will still exist in North Sydney. It's not owned by North Sydney, the NRL owns it and will sell to a 3rd party in 5 years that probably won't be North Sydney and if it is, the fact that they'd have to buy their own team back proves that this isn't the North Sydney Bears back in the NRL. Colours? Sure but the Western Reds used red and black as two of their primary colours.

This isn't the North Sydney Bears returning to the NRL. I am however happy for the sake of the team's popularity that the media are feverishly pushing it as if it was North Sydney Bears coming back as a relocated team.

The team hasn’t officially been announced as being part of an expanded competition yet nor have the full details surrounding the ownership of this club. Hold your horses.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Its going to take a lot of consideration and some skilled people to create this clubs brand that appeases the NS crowd and still makes WA feel like it is getting its own club.
Name, colours, logo all need to be spot on to engage both sides of this venture. In all likelihood neither side will be totally happy.

I don`t necessarily agree, North Sydney Bears fans will get tired very quickly of calling it "their" club once they realise that all their homes games are played on the other side of the country and if they want to see them over here they will have to travel and be an away fan at someone else`s ground !
That`s going to make it very hard to claim it as their club.

 

[wb2027]

What happened to all their TVs and streaming devices?

 

[Perth Red]

Let me preface this post by saying I'm really happy we have Perth and the Bears back in the NRL.

However, are the Bears really back? Sure, there's a team in Perth called the Bears coming in. But it's not a relocated North Sydney Bears, they will still exist in North Sydney. It's not owned by North Sydney, the NRL owns it and will sell to a 3rd party in 5 years that probably won't be North Sydney and if it is, the fact that they'd have to buy their own team back proves that this isn't the North Sydney Bears back in the NRL. Colours? Sure but the Western Reds used red and black as two of their primary colours.

This isn't the North Sydney Bears returning to the NRL. I am however happy for the sake of the team's popularity that the media are feverishly pushing it as if it was North Sydney Bears coming back as a relocated team.

North Sydney Bears are not back, no. But let the media have its fun with the narrative. Bears fans now have an option to support a Bears branded club in the NRL, they will see their local talent have a direct pathway into the NRL in a team called the Bears and the new WA club will pay homage to the NS Bears history. We are really in uncharted territory as something exactly like this has never been done before. We've had full relocations and weve had mergers but we haven't ever had a new club start up with part of an old clubs branding whilst the old club continues on.

Will be interesting to see how the NRL handles it. Clearly the WB consortium, with a view to cementing this as a new WA club, where planning to brand the Western Bears away from the old NS branding in many aspects. If the NRL leans more heavily back into NS branding, and how that will make WA feel, remains to be seen.

 

[Trifili13]

While I am happy that the Bears supporters have 'sort of' got their team back given they were previously shafted, this surely has to be marketed as a new WA side for the people of WA rather than the Bears are back for it to work. Everything should be what is best for WA rather than appeasing old North Sydney supporters with WA as an afterthought as the WA media will have a field day.

 

[Perth Red]

I don`t necessarily agree, North Sydney Bears fans will get tired very quickly of calling it "their" club once they realise that all their homes games are played on the other side of the country and if they want to see them over here they will have to travel and be an away fan at someone else`s ground !
That`s going to make it very hard to claim it as their club.

I think you may be surprised. Human psychology when it comes to sport attachment is a very funny thing. There are die hard fans of clubs who've never even seen the club play live.
There will be a % that follow NRL, or an adopted club, that dont currently have the emotional buy in of watching a game and cheering their team. For them having a team called Bears in predominantly red and black will be enough for them to commit. Watching sport as a passionate fan of a club playing trumps watching a game as a neutral every day of the week.

 

[Perth Red]

While I am happy that the Bears supporters have 'sort of' got their team back given they were previously shafted, this surely has to be marketed as a new WA side for the people of WA rather than the Bears are back for it to work. Everything should be what is best for WA rather than appeasing old North Sydney supporters with WA as an afterthought as the WA media will have a field day.

You'd hope so, but is Vlad that smart or will he let his NSWRL nostalgia cloud decisions? Ideally I would like to see a board appointed and a CEO before any decisions on branding are made. They should be engaging the branding experts and field testing with fans on both sides before making the decisions like this for the club, not Vlandys and Abdo.