Central Coast Bears too ambitious for their own good

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By Brett McKay, 6 Apr 2009 Brett McKay is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: Central Coast Bears, David Gallop, NRL, Rugby League

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North Sydney fans of old, and would-be fans of the club’s new alter ego, the Central Coast Bears, were possibly dancing in the street last week with NRL boss David Gallop formally putting expansion of the code back on the table.

This was the news Bears fans have been waiting to hear ever since the club was forced into an unpopular and ultimately doomed joint venture with Manly that went pear-shaped in 2002.

The Central Coast Bears entity has been in demand ever since, and after losing out to the Gold Coast Titans when the NRL added a sixteenth team for 2006, the Bears have maintained a proactive approach to readmission through former player and now CEO, Greg Florimo.

It should be said that Florimo and his team have done a great job of maintaining interest in their bid, never missing a chance for a headline.

Despite this, up until this week the NRL had maintained a “not in the foreseeable future” stance on future expansion. But a recent change of tact would seem to be in direct retaliation to the AFL’s aggressive push into so-called rugby league heartland regions of western Sydney and the Gold Coast.

With the next television deal to kick off for the 2013 season, the NRL is literally banking on new teams bringing in increased broadcast revenue.

Gallop made no secret of this ploy during the week when he said, “the next big commercial gain for the game will be around the new TV rights deal for 2013 onwards, and while the focus between now and then is on existing clubs, there is a good possibility after 2012 we would be looking at expansion.”

In framing a schedule for potential teams to lodge their bids, Gallop added: “We would start to look at that in 2011.”

Now, for the record, I’m firmly in favour of North Sydney being readmitted to the NRL as the Central Coast Bears and playing out of Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford.

It would be the easiest and most logical way for the NRL to right the wrongs caused by the ill-fated mess that was the three joint venture seasons of the Northern Eagles.

At the risk of running with a well-worn cliché, “it’s what the fans want!”

But here’s the thing.

With the Bears being so proactive and so obvious about their goal, and with their actions being rewarded by the NRL now agreeing to look into expansion, I’m wondering if the Bears’ bid team might actually have been too ambitious for their own good?

Think about this.

The NRL have now stated that the next broadcast deal would be the obvious starting point for new teams. The Bears would happily start discussions about readmission tomorrow.

The broadcasters, in turn, won’t just want one new team, though. They’ll need two new teams to get an extra game on TV each week.

But because further expansion has only ever been spoken of as “not in the foreseeable future”, no other prospective bids are any where near as advanced as the Central Coast’s quite obviously is.

Sure, Perth and Adelaide, and second teams from Brisbane and New Zealand, have been mentioned as potential candidates. But right now, they’d be no better prepared for admission into an expanded NRL comp as would the Parkes Spacemen or Wagga Magpies.

And so if other expansion bids aren’t ready for discussion in 2011, then all the Central Coast’s pro action and ambition might count for nothing if the broadcasters can’t get more content for their bucks.

It would seem to me that if the NRL is once again serious about expanding the competition from 2013, and David Gallop’s comments would suggest they are, they need to get a little proactive themselves to garner sufficient interest from potential new teams.

A failure by the NRL to guide prospective bids up to the same strength of argument that the Central Coast currently has could see broadcasters maintaining the status quo of sixteen clubs.

And if that were to happen, fans of the Bears – both old and new – would be screwed over yet again.

Follow Brett McKay on Twitter: @BMcSport

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The Crowd Says (120) | Page 1 of Comments

sheek said | April 6th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment

Brett,

I came up with a solution for the longtime 12 Sydney clubs (1947-83), based i must admit on a bit of symmetry more than anything else. Like the Wests (Balamain) Tigers amalgamation, we should have the Easts (Newtown) Jets. After all, the Jets are a feeder club for the Roosters.

What would happen is that Newtown’s royal blue would replace Easts navy blue in the jersey (red & white would remain), while the Jets would replace the Roosters as the emblem.

The north shore of Sydney ought to be represented by league clubs, so ressurrect the North Sydney Bears. Like I said, it’s symmetry – Norths Bears, Easts Jets, Wests Tigers, Souths Rabbitohs.

St.George have merged with Illawarra to become the St.George-Illawarra Dragons. The club I would send to Gosford, is Canterbury-Bankstown, becoming the Central Coast Bulldogs.

So from the Hunter to the ACT, it would look like this.

Newcastle Knights
Canterbury-Central Coast Bulldogs
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Penrith Panthers
Parramatta Eels
North Sydney Bears
East Sydney Jets
West Sydney Tigers
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
St.George-Illawarra Dragons
Canberra Raiders

Teams outside the Greater Sydney basin.

North Queensland Cowboys
Brisbane Broncos
South Queensland Crushers or Wellington (NZ) Dolphins
Gold Coast Titans
Melbourne Storm
Adelaide Rams
Perth Reds
Auckland (NZ) Warriors

A second NZ team in Wellington could replace the SQ Crushers. Until the Titans arrived, I was incredulous there was no second team from the Greater Brisbane area. However, perhaps the Titans have adequately filled that role.

That’s a 20 team comp which might be at least 2 teams too many. Frankly, I think 16 is the optimum number anyway. But I must confess, I’m a fan of symmetry!

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Brett McKay said | April 6th 2009 @ 9:10am | Report comment

Sheek, I’m in somewhat of a contradictory agreement with you. I want the Bears back in the comp (I’ll disagree with you by placing them on the CC), but I too think 16 is the right number.

However now that the NRL have admitted they’ll look at expansion for the next TV deal, the only way more revenue is going to come in is with more games per week, and as I wrote, that can only happen with at least two new teams. Logic and justice suggests one of those will be the Central Coast Bears. Team 18 is the big lottery…

Just a comment on the title too – when I posted this piece last night, I wrote the title as a question (“too ambitious for their own good?”), rather than the statement that appears. I’ve never really suffered much at the hands of the editors before, but in this case I think leaving off the ‘?’ makes the headline more critical than was ever intended. No hard feelings, Zac..

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Meni Law said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:07pm | Report comment

The Bears have waited long enough, and it has been evident for long enough that there should be a team on the Central Coast and that it should be the Bears.

So regardless of if any other teams are ready or whatever, they should now give the Bears a timeline to come back in.

Yeah sure, make it 2013 (2011 or 2012 better), in the meantime, they can move the premier league team up there and start merchandising and building a bigger groundswell etc.

If no other teams are ready by the time they need to make a call, make it a 17 team comp – So be it.

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Col the Bear said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:33pm | Report comment

Bulldogs on the CC ??? you are kidding; right.. Why would the CC want to support a team that has been just put there becasue it fills in a gap or because they are financially in strife.. it’s as if it’s a bad thing” oh lets go to the CC we are going broke we can make a quick buck there” well we are jack of it.The Bears made the decision to go to Gosford when we were one of the top rating teams in the NRL and financially stable, it was the move that sent us to the wall, the relocation the NRL endorsed whole heartedly.Believe me the Bears do have the support on the CC..Norths and the CC have been working together for some time on this..Brett, I think you’ll find that Perth have already began their push to be reinstated as well they are being promoted to the NSW cup next season after playing 2 seasons in the jim Beam cup.. yes it has to be 2 teams to make it an 18 team comp.I’m telling you now, they are not going to put the Bears back at NSO…Our only hope for reinstatment is the Central Coast and this is what everyone should be pushing for otherwise, it an’t gonna happen. and the CC and the Bears and the North Shore will miss out for all time…. we set out to go to the CC back in the 90s and this is what we will achieve..The Norths members have already voted on the name change to the Central Coast Bears.. we aren’t going to get sidetracked from that goal..The Bears will play 1 game a year at NSO against Manly to keep the historic battle alive and well..Melbourne are now pulling out of the CC next season, if the reports are correct ,over the weekend..Recently David Gallop said ‘it’ll be nice when someone from the public doesn’t come up to me in the street and say.. where’s the BEARS”

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oikee said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:50pm | Report comment

Bears and Perth, end of story, if this doesn’t happen i am going to get 200 thousand of my mates and support netball.

2020 papua and wellington. Thats it, 20 teams unless any team folds. Aderlaide if any sydney team wishes to move.

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Brett McKay said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:51pm | Report comment

Col, I’m glad you’ve commented here, yours was one opinion I was hoping to hear..

You are of course right about Perth doing their bit, but my point about Gallop’s comments was that even they would have been surprised to here that expansion is once again a topic for discussion. Good on Gallop and the NRL for even saying the “e” word in a positive note again, but they now have to quickly work with potential bid teams to garner support. Of course, these talks should probably include the broadcasters too, ‘cos after all, it’ll be their money that makes expansion a reality.

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oikee said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:51pm | Report comment

Papua can play out of the sunshine coast.

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Brett McKay said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:53pm | Report comment

btw Oikee, hope you appreciated the mention of the Parkes Spacemen again – I know you’re a fan!!

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oikee said | April 6th 2009 @ 3:53pm | Report comment

Perth is a must, they will grow into a real force over there, forget the pun.

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Col the Bear said | April 6th 2009 @ 4:12pm | Report comment

we weren’t surprised..we have been waiting for it..2012 would be nicer for all us diehard supporters hell 2010 would be great for me,I think the AFL GC 17th licence may have been the catalyst..I don’t think DG would have come out with expansion unless he was solely endorsed by the powers that be who run the game..History does repeat..if you recall the same happened with the 16th licence.. no expansion was the call for all and sundry, then Titans were in after Wellington and Singo pulled out..mind you a year later from when we pushed for reinstatment.. admitedly that did leave a huge hole in us..but we just kept at it, what we were doing for the push for the Bears was the right thing to do..you can’t just let a century of history go by the wayside, it was never an option to give up..you owed something to all those players and staff over the years and supporters who aren’t here anymore and you had to think of the future Bears as well..but we have a long way to go … and Flo and Perry Lopez are well advanced with their bid, and have been working on this full time now since at least midway through last year..We did learn from our mistakes last time, and we’ll make sure we get it 100% right this time…Oh and the J/V only lasted 1.5 years the Bears were removed half way through 2001…and Flo has already stated that they will be going to broadcasters, as I said it is well advanced, we have waited 10 years for this,so i guess you could say we have had some time to prepare….

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