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A lot of articles published in the media, both amateur and professional, proclaim to have the answers to rugby league’s woes.
Some journalists in particular would have you believe they could walk into the CEO’s vacant office tomorrow and be the savior the NRL needs.
But the reality is that it is not so much as a hit-list of actions that the NRL needs to employ – from bringing back the shoulder charge and the biff to match scheduling and officials – but rather it is someone who will consider what the fans want.
It is more about a cultural shift that centres around the fans.
If the fans are happy then the game will grow. If the fans are happy they will buy merchandise, tickets, take their kids to play, attend in greater numbers and watch in greater numbers.
If more people are coming or watching then the sponsorship and advertising space is worth more and the game has more to reinvest.
It is not a simple process, it is not something you can sit down and just nut out in an afternoon. It is a holistic shift.
It means getting new staff, cutting out the deadwood and increasing money committed to research to find out what necessary to achieve targets.
But the reality is that the NRL have $2 billion from their next TV deal. It is an eye-watering amount of cash and the plans need to be drawn up about how that is going to be spent.
The KPIs for the NRL needs to include: increasing crowd numbers, investing in juniors and increasing participation rates, increasing social media interaction and increasing community engagement through all NRL players.
How they do that is the crux of it all. It is not as simple as reading fan articles, but it is as simple as asking the fans.
The most frustrating thing for fans is that their complaints are not heard. Businesses make decisions all the time but the most successful tend to ask their consumers what they want on a regular basis.
Have you ever been surveyed at an NRL game?
Fans of the NRL feel ignored and neglected. Yes, the NRL have to make some unpopular decisions like banning the biff and the shoulder charge for some very good reasons. But other decisions are made with consideration to only the media or sponsors because they bring in the bulk of the cash.
It is a hard line. It is between a business that needs to make money and a game that once belonged to the fans. The sponsors and media bring the money, but they only bring it because of the audience that engage.
Maybe clubs wouldn’t be funded by the NRL if they weren’t forced to play on Monday nights, or if they were on free-to-air TV and received exposure to impartial fans. The money would be reduced in the TV deal but clubs would find it easier to self-fund and save the NRL money.
There are plenty of questions and demons for the NRL to deal with. They need rejuvenation, innovation and clarity over where they are going and what they want to look like in ten years.
If they keep going the way they are, making it more and more difficult for fans to come to live matches and catering to sponsors and media first and foremost, then they are selling their soul.
It may be great to have $2 billion coming in, but is that what the NRL wants to stand for? It’s about that balance between the stakeholders and considering how the decisions are going affect the fans.
Because if no one comes to the game, will it all have been worth it?
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