Western Corridor NRL bid

[East Coast Tiger]

If Ipswich aint Brisbane, no way Penrith, Gosford, Campbelltown, Wollongong or Parra are Sydney.

Ipswich isn't Brisbane. Gosford and Wollongong aren't Sydney, but Penrith and Campbelltown are. Why do you think Wests and Penrith have always been called "Sydney clubs", but the Steelers and Northern Eagles weren't?

 

[bobmar28]

The last qld expansion club in south qld bombed. The titans are just breaking even and besides The broncos only the chargers ever made profits. 5 Years comes and goes very quickly. Considerig how
long us bears fans (who dwarf any fans from any other bid including nrl fan bases from sharks, raiders, storm and panters) have waited 12 years and that's with a strong case and constant growth and building within the community. Your bid has 10 official fans, no sponsors or corporate backers no equity or community plans (not even sure what community/ies you are actually representing). 2 months ago your bid didn't exist while 2 months ago my bid rounded up another sponsor and its 1800th member. We've had 12 years to prepare a business plan with self sustainability and grow our foundations. You have had 2 weeks and still no physical action. If march is seriously the deadline for bids then HTF will your bid manage to get resources? Especially when 0 planning has been done?

I am sure some Sydney teams are not even breaking even now.

My bid? Can you read? You will see in the top right corner of the page that I don't live in Ipswich. I just think the heartland of rugby league (QLD) should get the next available franchise.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

I am sure some Sydney teams are not even breaking even now.

My bid? Can you read? You will see in the top right corner of the page that I don't live in Ipswich. I just think the heartland of rugby league (QLD) should get the next available franchise.

Exactly. CC is also a rugby league heartland

 

[bobmar28]

Exactly. CC is also a rugby league heartland

But NSW already has 10 teams. Are we going around in circles here?

I would be happy to support a merged Bulldogs. That would free up a franchise.

 

[Red Bear]

So so far there is just a little bit of talk about a west brisbane/Ipswich bid?

Meanwhile the Bears have millions of dollars of sponsorship, over 2000 paid up members and about 11 years of hard work behind them

Open and shut case

 

[adamkungl]

If the NRL has any brains or integrity, Perth and CC will be playing in the NRL in 2013.

 

[bobmar28]

No sh*t. But this isn't a Brisbane team. It's an Ipswich team.

Even better.

 

[bobmar28]

So so far there is just a little bit of talk about a west brisbane/Ipswich bid?

Meanwhile the Bears have millions of dollars of sponsorship, over 2000 paid up members and about 11 years of hard work behind them

Open and shut case

Did you ask the people of QLD if it's an open and shut case?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

It doesn't matter how much work has been done on a bid. If it's the wrong bid it's not worth doing. I could work for 20 years, sign up 10,000 members and produce merchandise for a Tamworth NRL bid but it's not going to make it a good idea to have an NRL team here, and this is an RL heartland too.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

I'm a fan of the Bears bid but I'm sick and tired of seeing people say that they deserve it more than someone else. No-one 'deserves' sh*t. The NRL is a business, not a charity.

Not to mention it's offensive to people who support the Reds (no other team in the entire state) or the Jets (only one other team serving 2+ million people).

It doesn't matter how much work has been done on a bid. If it's the wrong bid it's not worth doing. I could work for 20 years, sign up 10,000 members and produce merchandise for a Tamworth NRL bid but it's not going to make it a good idea to have an NRL team here, and this is an RL heartland too.

Yep. Just look at the Tassie AFL bid, looked very similar to the Bears bid in a lot of ways. Many members, good corporate support, goodwill from fans etc but they went for the GC and W.Sydney... The Bears need to prove that they'll be an asset to the NRL.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

Did you ask the people of QLD if it's an open and shut case?

Haha. Im a proud QUEENSLANDER! I've lived in Brisbane most of my life. Not only are there BEARS fans up here but thus far I've managed to get 20 financial members from QLD. Some now chant for the Broncs, others for Titans but they all agree, that having the BEARS back in the comp, playing out of their stadium, representing the beautiful Central Coast and North Shore is a must.

We all believe an Ipswich team is warranted. But considering all the hard work achieved by the BEARS bid, an on going case from 1998, through different sources to now Greg Florimo steering the ship with good team on his side. The Bears continue to build the important foundation with locals and the community, establishing members, corporate sponsors and equity. We already have a stadium in our heartland area of CC. The Reds are doing the same with their bid with stadium too, while Central QLD are getting a petition of 30,000 signatures and are backed predominately by private investors and mining companies. No stadium yet but one maybe in the pipelines. Would it be ready by 2013?

For Ipswich to step up from Q'Cup to the NRL as an organization in 2 and a bit years is a bit of a stretch. Most agree that John Ribot's involvement must be kept minimal to none but I'm not sure on the locals stance on the man. They have no stadium in their heartland and again to build a stadium for the projected time frame of 2013 would be a stretch but Suncorp is 45 mins away. Unless you drive which would mean massacre on the neglected Ipswich Motorway. They have trains though.

I think if they start working next year towards a 2015/2017 entry they'd have tremendous corporate, membership and sponsor support. That's how the Titans did it and how the Bears & Reds set their bid moulds. I hope all the best for Ippy and hope the NRL at the very least project a goal of where they want the comp to be by 2020.

 

[Perth Red]

I agree, the two bids that have worked the hardest and offer the most as of now should be getting the green light and that means Bears and Reds. It is obvious that another Brisbane team is inevitable and if RL has any sense at all another NZ team has to be planned for.

Reds and Bears 2013 , Jets and Orcas 2018
That just about sews things up for the following 25+ years unless teams go bust or decide to merge in the future and even then aside from Adelaide I don't really see any other massive potential cities to go to and the expansion cities in no way will be ready for another team.

If a 20 team league is too big financially and player pool is the only consideration.

 

[Red Bear]

I think 18 teams is ideal. Perth and Bears and wait for Cronulla to fall over and you have your second Brisbane team.

 

[ashton]

NRL should remain 16 team competition because there is not enough money or quality players for an 18 team comp. And if cronulla or any other side falls over, there should be a second Queensland side followed by a Perth side.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

NRL should remain 16 team competition because there is not enough money or quality players for an 18 team comp. And if cronulla or any other side falls over, there should be a second Queensland side followed by a Perth side.

I think if you add up the players currently in the ESL, especially the ones whom are flourishing and found themselves overseas due to salary cap restrictions and/or other players ahead of them in an nrl squad. There's decent players also finding it hard to break into first grade here at home because their either too old for u20s or haven't found the right environment to really stand out and showcase their talents.

Additional money, enough to both elevate the existing salary cap and to prop up a new franchise in an alien place should come from the tv rights deal. WA provides us a great time frame for tv viewing. Whilst a second team in rl heartland should hold their own weight via sponsors and memberships. I believe the opportunity to expand into wa, re establish the bears on the cc and eventually bringing in another qld team is productive, proactive and forward planning by the code. We are popular enough to accomplish alot as a code. Embracing new fans, welcoming back old fans and building a bright future for the game.

 

[Loudstrat]

But NSW already has 10 teams. Are we going around in circles here?

With you, yes. You simply will never realise that regardless of where they live, it's the amount of people willing to fork out $ that is important. You cannot get past the postcode.

Of course, the bid that guarantees the best result for League should win - and if that doesn't include the bears - so be it. Still, the clubs admitted will say a lot about the governing body.

Personally I think Ipswich will be a failure - clubs in poor areas rarely do well without a big local corporate sector. Done correctly, the next SEQ side will be a raging sucess. The discussions here show just how a fine line that will be - and just plonking a team anywhere in SEQ won't necessarily work, as the Crushers, Giants, Seagulls and Chargers have shown.

Meanwhile, the bids from Gosford and Perth are very encouraging. This CC bid is far better than their last.

The SEQ bid has a lot of ground work to do, and a lot of ground to make up.

 

[jim_57]

I agree, the two bids that have worked the hardest and offer the most as of now should be getting the green light and that means Bears and Reds. It is obvious that another Brisbane team is inevitable and if RL has any sense at all another NZ team has to be planned for.

Reds and Bears 2013 , Jets and Orcas 2018
That just about sews things up for the following 25+ years unless teams go bust or decide to merge in the future and even then aside from Adelaide I don't really see any other massive potential cities to go to and the expansion cities in no way will be ready for another team.

If a 20 team league is too big financially and player pool is the only consideration.

Hopefully that's what will happen, once those are out of the way we are sitting pretty for a while. Adelaide, Sunshine Coast, CQ and PNG may be well worth looking at at some point and the first three should be priority for any relcoation clubs. If the sharks can't survive in Cronulla then you'd hope they'd try their hand in Adelaide, same with Sea Eagles and Sunshine Coast.

Hopefully by 2018 we will have something like this:

• Current 16 teams + WA Reds, Central Coast Bears, Southern Orcas and second Brisbane/SEQ side in the NRL.
• Some NRL presence in Adelaide (2games+), PNG (1 game if decent stadium can be built), Sunshine Coast (1-2 games), Cairns (2-3 Cowboys games) and CQ (1-2games, although a stadium will be a big problem), whether they be clubs taking games there or relocations.
• PNG and Darwin teams in Queensland Cup with links to the Cowboys.
• Possible Adelaide team in NSW Cup.
• NRL clubs looking abroad for juniors, main priorities PNG (why this isn't being done already I'll never know!), South Africa (RU juniors) and Pacific Islands (RU & RL Juniors).

If all that can happen we're in an ideal position for many years IMO. All heartlands are relitively satisfied, "expansion" areas are being looked after and player depth is being looked after with extra juniors coming from Perth, Melbourne, South NZ and maybe/hopefully the odd few from Adelaide (this all seriosuly needs to be heavily assisted by the NRL). Also extra's coming from overseas with PNG, South Africa and the best from the Pacific, this will all take some initiative from NRL clubs, hopefully they can because those areas are really untapped areas for RL and why it hasn't been looked at before is beyond me.

 

[Bro Bear]

I agree, the two bids that have worked the hardest and offer the most as of now should be getting the green light and that means Bears and Reds.

It is obvious that another Brisbane team is inevitable and if RL has any sense at all another NZ team has to be planned for.

Reds and Bears 2013 , Jets and Orcas 2018

Agree with the above comment.

 

[Perth Red]

I think there are around 6 first teamers in the NRL/SL that have come through the WARL junior system at the moment. With the Reds being owned and run by the WARL I would expect a big emphasis will be on dramatically increasing that so that we have a strong WA player development system producing our own players. Unlike the Storm, who have largely neglected the VRL and jnr development in Vic until the last couple of years, we have been building this for the last 3 years and by 2013 and beyond should be producing more WA players to supplement those we attract from elsewhere.

Indeed one of our jnrs has just made his debut for the Roosters Toyota cup team, he amongst others should be developing nicely ready to return home in 2013.

 

[bobmar28]

Haha. Im a proud QUEENSLANDER! I've lived in Brisbane most of my life. Not only are there BEARS fans up here but thus far I've managed to get 20 financial members from QLD. Some now chant for the Broncs, others for Titans but they all agree, that having the BEARS back in the comp, playing out of their stadium, representing the beautiful Central Coast and North Shore is a must.

We all believe an Ipswich team is warranted. But considering all the hard work achieved by the BEARS bid, an on going case from 1998, through different sources to now Greg Florimo steering the ship with good team on his side. The Bears continue to build the important foundation with locals and the community, establishing members, corporate sponsors and equity. We already have a stadium in our heartland area of CC. The Reds are doing the same with their bid with stadium too, while Central QLD are getting a petition of 30,000 signatures and are backed predominately by private investors and mining companies. No stadium yet but one maybe in the pipelines. Would it be ready by 2013?

For Ipswich to step up from Q'Cup to the NRL as an organization in 2 and a bit years is a bit of a stretch. Most agree that John Ribot's involvement must be kept minimal to none but I'm not sure on the locals stance on the man. They have no stadium in their heartland and again to build a stadium for the projected time frame of 2013 would be a stretch but Suncorp is 45 mins away. Unless you drive which would mean massacre on the neglected Ipswich Motorway. They have trains though.

I think if they start working next year towards a 2015/2017 entry they'd have tremendous corporate, membership and sponsor support. That's how the Titans did it and how the Bears & Reds set their bid moulds. I hope all the best for Ippy and hope the NRL at the very least project a goal of where they want the comp to be by 2020.

QLD has only 3 teams to NSW 10 yet you expect me to believe that Queenslanders would rather see NSW get an 11th team and leave QLD with just 3?