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Twitter Q and A with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg: Big answers to big questions
Jarrod McGrouther
Roar Guru
19th May, 2016
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(NRL.com)
Jarrod McGrouther
Roar Guru
19th May, 2016
7

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg headed into Twitter’s Sydney headquarters on Thursday to answer hard-hitting questions from NRL fans.

As always, his responses were honest, open, and at times lengthy, but all in all he represented the brand extremely well and had some fun in the process.

Have a read below about some of the big questions surrounding the game, there are more tweets online too, go to @NRL on Twitter to find more.

Thanks for the question @martynlawrence2 around any plans to expand the number of teams in @NRL? #AskTodd https://t.co/XJySs8lZVO

It’s a good question Martyn, something I get regularly in my travels, but the simple and short answer is there are no plans to expand the NRL competition, and the reason for that is a simple one. That our 16 clubs and the security and stability of those clubs is first and foremost in our decision making, but we are considering expansion across the broader section of the game through platinum leagues and tier two competitions in NSW and QLD.

So what we will be hoping for is teams in rural NSW through the bush, and particularly through our friends in the pacific with teams life Fiji. That’s where we see true expansion, but in the NRL premiership alone it’s the 16 clubs that have our viable opportunities in the next phase.

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Well bookers your question comes regularly to us also about Under 20s. What I can tell you categorically is that the National Youth Competition (the 20’s) in its current format will be there again in 2017. But in 2018 and beyond we will change the format of our U20s program, and you will see those competitions become state based.

What that means is they will be run by the NSWRL and QRL and what we’re doing at the moment is working through those concepts and working through with those states on how those competition pathways will work. Ultimately its about keeping kids at home for longer, and giving them the opportunity to be their best self both on the field and off the field, before they start playing in the NRL competition.

We think that’s the best structured pathway and at the moment we are working through that with our clubs and our states to make sure the pathway is strong not just for today but for the next generation.

Well it’s great to get questions from our friends in New Zealand. To all of the people in New Zealand you are a significant part of our supporter base and also our talent pathway and we never take that for granted.

Clearly there is a great appetite for a lot of different parts of this country and New Zealand about playing State of Origin. It is the most successful sporting event in this country and we are again looking forward to another massive series in 2016, which will start shortly. In simple terms, we will now need to look at where we will play our Origin content in the next five to ten years are we are looking at a range of different markets, and I can assure you New Zealand will be one of those.

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Rural and country areas are absolutely fundamental to us and we will never ever take for granted the quality of the talent that comes through our regional centres, but equally the depth and the breadth of support that we have in regional NSW and QLD in particular. So we’ve seen games this year already being played in the bush, I attended the recent City-Country game in Tamworth, nothing short of phenomenal the support we received there.

Panthers had great support in Bathurst; we’ll shortly go to some regional centres in Queensland including places like Cairns. We will continue to try to play more games in regional centres. The reason why is because it’s the right thing to do and it’s a great opportunity for rugby league to give back to our bush communities.

Qn from @aussieblackwell about whether the #NRL is looking at having a double header in Sydney. #AskTodd https://t.co/CYJMMxub87

Well you’re right Chris the double header was absolutely fantastic last weekend in Brisbane, the support we had for the double header and the four teams that played at Suncorp last weekend was phenomenal. So we’ve clearly looked at that with great interest, and where we can see possibilities to do that in Sydney, or other markets, we will certainly look at it.

Double headers have been around for a long time, I have vivid memories of the 1999 double header back at what was then the Olympic Stadium, and I think we had nearly 100,000 people that night, so clearly if you get the right teams, in the right location, with the right scheduling it can work. It was a great success in Brisbane and we’ll certainly look to expand on that in the coming seasons.

Qn from ‪@lukeamac – how can Parra keep their F&A when the points from their games have been taken? ‪#AskTodd ‪#NRL

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Well I can give you that answer. The first answer I’ll say to you is remember that where we are at the moment is preliminary, so we are still to make some final determination, and that is to give Parramatta as a club the right of reply, and that’s the phase we’re in now. But ultimately for and against points will remain, there is some precedent around that, it’s not a perfect system, but that’s the system we’re working under and so those points will remain

What is ‪#NRL doing to keep food and beverage prices down, asks ‪@Ali_Chahrour94 ‪#AskTodd

Well Ali it’s a good question and we are passionate here at the NRL about making sure that the live experience inside stadia is still good, and gets better year on year. But what I would say to you is it’s very affordable to go to any club rugby league game across a weekend, through our Telstra Premiership. We have effectively tickets for $40 for families, that means mum and dad and two kids can go out to the football and enjoy a day out and I think in any person’s language that’s pretty good value.

In saying that though we are very conscious of the prices of food and beverage, and a lot of the times we don’t set those prices, we work with partners and stadiums and venues across the country in order to make sure we find affordable opportunities for our fans. That’s a challenge for us going forward, the experience of getting from door to door, the cost of transport, the cost of parking, the cost of your food and beverage, but ultimately we understand what industry we’re in, we’re in the entertainment industry, so we want to give you a great experience so you will choose to come and watch rugby league consistently.

We’ll continue to work with fans and we’ll continue to listen to fans, because all of that feedback comes through and we’ll try to package up a day at the football, which is always affordable. That’s a very very fundamental part of our strategy.

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Todd then answered a few questions about his cricketing career, and declined what sounded like a lovely dinner offer. He left it at that point, so I’ll leave it at that point also.

What questions would you have asked the NRL CEO?

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