How long until the NRL should be expanded?

T

Theknightsrule7

Matthew Gidley
I will say maybe 2010

They really need a team in Perth & Adelaide

there is 1 thing i hate about the nrl these days, all teams miss out on playing 3 teams at home each season, i mean last year Parra, Manly & Gold coast didnt come to EAS???


hmb all
 
Mackay, Lockyer's choice
By Peter Badel
February 03, 2008

TEST skipper Darren Lockyer says Mackay should be the base for a fourth NRL franchise in Queensland as part of another expansion of the code in 2012.

Lockyer was among the headline acts at the NRL fan day extravaganza at Homebush.

It saw 15,000 fans mingle with more than 400 first-grade stars to celebrate the game's centenary year.

NRL chief executive David Gallop revealed last season that plans to introduce a fourth Queensland team - possibly at Ipswich - could be in place within a decade.

Gallop has an ally in Lockyer. But the Brisbane skipper believes the thriving sugarcane town of Mackay should be next on the list.

The Maroons maestro said the inclusion of the Mackay Cutters in this year's Queensland Cup is proof the region had the ingredients to warrant an NRL licence. Lockyer said Redcliffe and Ipswich were other expansion areas to consider.

"At this point in time, we're probably not ready (for expansion) but maybe in another four years we can introduce a team somewhere on the central coast of Queensland," Lockyer said.

"League is very popular in the Mackay area. They've just put a team in the Queensland Cup, so they would be received as well as the Cowboys.

"People in that area love rugby league and all those from Mackay travel to the Cowboys games. If the Mackay people had a team a bit closer to them, it would stack up.

"It's a growing city and the population could certainly justify a team there.

"I think down the track it (a fourth Queensland team) can work. Obviously we need to learn from previous experiences and make sure that all the criteria stacks up before you bring in a fourth team.

"But I think with the population growth and the popularity of rugby league growing, it's inevitable there will be another team in Queensland."



The Sunday Mail
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Perth and Adelaide

see the simple thing is that you can't have sporting teams in places where there isn't the requisite support.

there probably is enough fans to keep a club alive JUST, but its probably better if they moved a Sydney team. I know, I know, but there's way too many teams based in Sydney. And the Roosters, Balmain, St. George, Souths, Norths support base is all extremly compact, and there's only 2 teams representing all of Western Sydney, which I think has a bigger population than inner-city Sydney.

and on top of that, most of the clubs are barely surviving as is.
 
I'm not bothered if it expands or not as long as we're there that's all that matters.
BUT if they do they should reduce the finals to top 6 if we stay with 16 teams.
 
The more teams the less chance we will make the finals (: 16 teams at the moment is actually quite good!!! Manly are playing a whole lotta games at Bluetongue Stadium next year. Most games these days get played at ANZ Stadium.
 
That's why the teams that finish in the top 6 or 8 whatever, are even more rewarded.
But for example if you compare the salary cap in the NRL to the EPL - there is no cap in the English Premier League. The 4 main glamour clubs (Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool) are all loaded with money therefore generally always finish in the top 4. We probably couldn't have something similar here, because fans would lose interest if their team didn't have the money most other teams did. And the supporter base is much younger in the NRL
 
NRL should be expanded HOWEVER.

St George & Sharks have to merge.
Penrith & Parra to merge.

Then Manly to the Central Coast.

One team in WA & one in SA. Thats my bold prediction.
 
No more merging or cutting teams. I don't mind relocations, if the club agrees. We've had enough bloodshed since the Superleague war, though, no more.
 
Frizzed said:
Why would you merge those two ? I can see AFL getting its grubby paws in Western Sydney if you did such a thing.
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To be honest, cant see Penrith surviving... theyve got the best Junior base in NSW yet cant retain them. They suck at the moment and if their really in a rout and AFL taking over could affect them.
 
Well the thing is they are one of the most financially viable teams in the competition, not sure how they wont survive tbh.

They may suck at the moment, but every team goes through a phase, If you thought every team should be kicked out of comp whenever they have a bad patch, you would end up with no teams.

And also the Bulldogs should build a stadium in Bankstown and play from there not the bloody ANZ stadium.
 
I will try to keep this as short as possible, but here is a rough summary of my expansion plan:

When the current tv rights deal comes to an end at the end of 2011 (new tv rights deal commencing in 2012), I think the first team that will definitely be admitted into the NRL (and I hope will be admitted) will be the WA Reds (they've got a plan. Starting from scratch, they are currently in the JB Cup, and will be promoted to the QLD Cup (2nd highest comp in Australia after NRL) next year in 2009. Not to mention the strong comp and local juniors over there). I'd love to see the game in Perth get back to what it was pre-SL. Since then, Union has made up a lot of ground on them. The WA Reds will definitely 100% get admitted. When they succeed, Union over there will die in a sea of red-ink (Union's already in a lot of trouble, with waning tv ratings and financial difficulties). Also, not to add, the conflict of interest part. News Limited will only choose sides in areas, which will lead to more Foxtel subscriptions. Perth, being the 4th largest city in Australia and population over 1 million, perfectly fits their plan.

Second team I'd love to see in the comp in 2012 (and the team I believe deserves a team the most) is Central Coast Bears. Won't go into the long rant on this (save that for another time), but they were definitely the most screwed over side in the post-SL aftermath. When I went to the Mariners-Jets semi final there, and there was over 19,000 ppl there, after the match I thought to myself, "Man, oh man.........League really missed out bigtime on the Central Coast". The Bears were also screwed over bigtime in the 2004 admission campaign. Gold Coast had nothing on them at the time (which is another thing I’ll get into another time), Bears had all bases covered: Great local junior program, top-class stadium etc. If Bears got admitted, it would not only heal a lot of wounds from SL, but also, they’d be very well supported, and would (like the Titans did in Carrara Stadium) have near sellouts each home game. They’d also have the largest supporter base (geographically wise - Central Coast + entire North Shore of Sydney (excluding Northern Beaches)) of all the teams in NSW, which would pose a huge threat to struggling Sydney teams (hence one of the reasons why the NRL won’t admit them).

So, Perth and Central Coast (post-SL) I would say have been the "two big MISSED OPPORTUNITIES" by the NRL.

By the end of the next tv rights deal in 2016, I'd say the next two teams admitted should be Wellington and a 2nd QLD side. With the QLD side, I’d love to see it based in Sunshine Coast. Nice area and lifestyle up there. However, the problem is: are the QLD government willing to fork out another $150 million, 25,000 seat luxury stadium like that of the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Park? If the answer is NO, then I’d have the QLD team based in North Brisbane (Redcliffe/Moreton Bay area; a very well supported area in QLD with the Redcliffe Dolphins in QLD cup), with them playing their home games out of the first-class Suncorp Stadium. Nearly every round, there’d be a game played at Suncorp (hence max crowd attendances and revenue).

The article mentioned about Darren Lockyer is a nothing but a pipe dream. Mackay would never get a side. Two words: 'commercial viability'. You have to understand that there is only 70,000 ppl in Mackay (not big enough population wise) and financial backing and sponsorship to maintain a team in the NRL would be nearly impossible. Also, playing out of suitable stadium, finding the thousands of millions of dollars to fund that ground (again, remember, only 70,000 ppl live there) up to even Brookvale Oval standard (which is crap as you guys know), is another one. Not only to mention (as I've mentioned earlier with the 'conflict of interest' point) that payTV isn't as accessible in those regional areas, added with the fact that even if it was, there wouldn't be enough payTV subscribers to keep long term, sustainable interest up there. Some of them don't even get Austar (which is regional payTV).

I'll elaborate on the remainder of the expansion plan in a future post, but I'm off to bed now.
 
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and to an earlier post, no, a team in Adelaide won't be on the cards until the tv rights deal (2016-2020) ends at the end of 2020. Adelaide is virtually 100% AFL town (with two premiership and successful sides, with them being the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power). Major Sponsorship is the major issue (which isn't such an issue in the financial booming Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth). Adelaide Crows virtually monopolise all the major sponsorship in Adelaide, which has sent a lot of local sporting sides down the drain. Even the Port Power, after winning a premiership, have struggled to stay afloat in the AFL and have struggled getting decent financial backing.

And to another poster, a team won't be in the comp in 2010. Teams only get admitted at the end of tv rights deals, as tv rights is the no.1 source of income for any sporting code. If a team got admitted before end of rights, that'd mean that all the other teams would have to take substantially large decrease to their salary cap (in order to compensate for the added team to the comp), and they would never allow that to happen in a million years (as that'd open the door for the players to go to ESL in England or to Rugby Union, where there is no salary cap and they can throw large wads of cash at league players). Already, 99.9% of teams struggle to keep all their players within the cap, if the cap were to decrease, it'd open a large can of worms that would virtually decimate all teams.
 
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jamesgould said:
No more merging or cutting teams. I don't mind relocations, if the club agrees. We've had enough bloodshed since the Superleague war, though, no more.
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I'm with you James. They've just added the Gold coast . the NRL should spend their time and effort on building up the current 16 clubs there is no reason why they all couldn't be successful without mergers.

St george Illawarra Cronulla dragons/sharks that's not gunna happen IMO..
 
NewcastleKnight1987 said:
Second team I'd love to see in the comp in 2012 (and the team I believe deserves a team the most) is Central Coast Bears. Won't go into the long rant on this (save that for another time), but they were definitely the most screwed over side in the post-SL aftermath. When I went to the Mariners-Jets semi final there, and there was over 19,000 ppl there, after the match I thought to myself, "Man, oh man.........League really missed out bigtime on the Central Coast". The Bears were also screwed over bigtime in the 2004 admission campaign. Gold Coast had nothing on them at the time (which is another thing I’ll get into another time), Bears had all bases covered: Great local junior program, top-class stadium etc. If Bears got admitted, it would not only heal a lot of wounds from SL, but also, they’d be very well supported, and would (like the Titans did in Carrara Stadium) have near sellouts each home game. They’d also have the largest supporter base (geographically wise - Central Coast + entire North Shore of Sydney (excluding Northern Beaches)) of all the teams in NSW, which would pose a huge threat to struggling Sydney teams (hence one of the reasons why the NRL won’t admit them).
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One things for sure, I know i'd support the Bears (the same amount as i support Newcastle) if they came back into the competition as well as alot of people around me would. I know alot of people who are still gutted about their departure and would love to see them back. Not sure if and when they could come back into the competition but id sure love it to be as soon as you say.
 
the broncos werent to happy about the gold coast getting admitted, not too sure they would be happy with another Brisbane team. But i dont see why Brisbane has only 1 team and Sydney has like 8. As far as rugby league goes i see brisbane as a bigger City.
 
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