The officials hoping to win their franchises a place in an expanded National Rugby League are used to working in the dark. So there is no extra sense of gloom following Tuesday’s sudden departure of ARLC CEO David Gallop.
Expectations are that two new clubs will join the competition in 2015 bringing an extra game and thereby adding value to the soon to be finalised broadcast rights deal. But although Gallop has often met with officials involved in bids from Queensland (three), Perth, PNG, Central Coast and Wellington, there has been no official green light given to a bidding process.
John Sackson, the chief of the WARL, said it was too early to tell what effect Gallop’s resignation would have on the process but he expected action on it to remain sidelined until after the TV rights deal was finalised next month.
“We’re all pretty much in the same boat,” Sackson told SBI. “Everyone is patiently and anxiously waiting for some clarity, how the events of yesterday impact things, we don’t really know but I don’t think anything will be done or communicated in terms of expansion until the TV deal is locked away.
“That makes sense. In the chronological and logical order of things I can see why that’s the next major issue at hand and how that would naturally flow into more clarity in expansion plans.
“But for all we know, if the ARLC are taking more control of the game, they might want to fast track it, they might have a more aggressive approach to expansion than David did, but it’s only speculation.”
Sackson said Gallop told him in March that the TV deal would be complete by the end of July and that the ARLC would, in early August, then “articulate their vision for expansion.”
