A chat with Central Coast Bears CEO and former North Sydney star Greg Florimo reveals the importance of the Bears’ bid in taking the ‘expansion’ fight to the AFL, the preparations underway in league-mad Gosford, and his passion for seeing the red and black of North Sydney back in the top flight in new and improved form.
It also speaks to something else which may ultimately be even more revealing: Florimo’s willingness to promote his team by engaging even with the fringe rugby league blogosphere – and to respond directly to some of the criticisms levelled at the notion of a Central Coast team – emphasises the professionalism which underpins not only the CEO’s work but the entire bid itself.
It is this professionalism which will stand the Bears in excellent stead when the NRL delivers its verdict on expansion of the competition from 2013.
“We need to make sure that we have absolutely every box ticked,” said Florimo. More than anything, he said, this meant sustainability – convincing the NRL that the Central Coast Bears would be around not just for two or three seasons, but “for the next 100 years.”
For the NRL – still scarred by ill-fated expansion attempts during the Super League war which claimed the previous incarnation of the Bears – a safe pair of hands might be exactly what is needed to compliment more ambitious new ventures in Perth, Wellington or elsewhere.
The foundations are already in place for the Central Coast Bears, not least in the state-of-the-art Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford. As Florimo points out, as well as the purpose-built stadium, the Bears have assembled a six-person board of directors, an official bid team and a range of corporate partners, including major sponsors Mortgage House.
Throw in a large and rapidly growing local community which in Florimo’s words is “crying out for a rugby league team to follow”, and you have a compelling case for the inclusion of a Central Coast club, particularly as the game strives for a bigger TV broadcast deal in 2013.
Perversely, one of the problems for Florimo and his team may be that on one level, the case for a Central Coast team is a little too easy to make.
Critics of the bid — and those critically assessing its merits — have pointed out that establishing a team in what is demonstrably already a rugby league town and state may signal a lack of expansionary ambition for a code still battling to shrug off its east-coast-only image.
On this front, the contrast between an AFL’s expansion into the huge (and hugely challenging) Western Sydney market and the NRL’s prospective hop up the F3 to Gosford is stark.
Florimo’s counter, though, is that the Bears would provide a unique opportunity for the NRL to re-engage with the “core group of supporters” it lost when North Sydney were excluded, and to finally heal old Super League wounds.
This in and of itself would be an immensely positive development in the ‘code wars’, given the AFL’s specific marketing strategy of recruiting disillusioned rugby league fans in the aftermath of the 1990’s ructions, and the gaping strategic hole left on economically-lucrative North Shore area of Sydney when the Bears departed.
And while the new incarnation of the Bears would emphatically be a Central Coast team, ties with the old North Sydney market form a crucial part of the bid’s emotional and financial foundations.
On a personal level, it’s clear exactly what the re-admission of the Bears, in Central Coast form, would mean to Florimo – who played almost 300 first grade games for, and represented the Kangaroos from, the old North Sydney.
“I think that there is so much history and tradition that has gone into the club over the last 102 years that you just can’t turn up your toes and say “that’s it, it’s too hard, it’s all over,” said Florimo.
“You’ve got to fight for it, and that’s what I’m doing.
“It’s for all those players, fans, supporters and families that have been touched by the Bears over the last 102 years, and about bringing some happiness back to them,” he added.
Old North Sydney fans – and the next generation of Bears fans awaiting the verdict on the Central Coast bid – can rest assured that when the NRL formally comes knocking, Florimo and his team will have done everything in their power to make this ambition a reality.
Col the Bear
Guest
Central Coast Bears bid in Rugby League week today.. 2 page spread...
Beowulf
Guest
And in the same breath he says 'fish where the fish are'....ie Central Coast! Perth and Central Coast for 2013.
Beowulf
Guest
Because News wanted Melbourne in and the Bears were sacrificed. THe NRL has taken 10 years to stagger off its knees to the point it can look at fixing the wrongs of the past. The Bears knew the potential and were trying to move there since 1991, but the local clubs on the coast were scared of losing their identity to an NRL team. The Northern Eagles was the attempt to ensure a team existed on the Coast after the League refused to help the Bears through a manageable cash flow problem. Due to the strong influence of Manly with the administrators at the time, they were handed the licence when the franchise failed, not the Bears playing out of Gosford, which in the long term would have been better....no disrespect to Manly, they were just looking after their own.
Beowulf
Guest
CC bring to the table all the disillusioned fans (Gallop estimates 400K) lost to the game when the Bears were shafted, most from affluent areas in the north of Sydney that sponsors would just love to engage. Illawarra, Wests, Tigers on their own don't have the home market sufficient to survive these days - however the Bears are a unique case as its a two-for-one package, not just Norths or Central Coast.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
so why didn't it work? If the CC was such a vital rugby league heartland... why hasn't a team been able to stick? why aren't you celebrating 10 years of gosford rugby league? if it really was the pot of gold that everybody was claiming it to be, there would have been a side there long ago. The super league fiasco was just a cash grab by both sides, and if either though that there was a significant amount of money to be made there, they would have insisted that there was a CC team.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
"we know this product we’ve tested would do really well, but we have plenty of products on the market so we don’t have room" The market is finite. who new can CC bring to the table? who is going to provide the "additional revenue offsets" that arent already generating income in the form of advertising and sponsorship. I'm just getting this sinking feeling that the NRL is going to end up right back where they started, too many clubs not generating a large enough pie for there to be enough slices to go around. How long before Illawarra decide they want the steelers back? or wests and balmain want to split? or Newtown want back in? why not, we let souths back, and it looks like they want to bring back North Syd... its not progress if we end up right back were we were in 1998. and when the next TV deal isn't worth the amount that everybody thinks it will be because it isn't actually a more valueable product, then what? all those grand plans will have to be shelved, while all the other games around us move forward.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
Yeah but the absolute worst crowds are around 20k, whereas the very best sydney NRL crowds are around that mark.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
Yeah but but the money is in the west... read between the lines with what gallop is saying (and in some cases he's been more obvious than that) WA IS ECONOMICALLY VERY STRONG! new frontiers = new money...
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
You just don't get it do you. Modern, professional sport is based on advertising and sponsorship revenue. if you restrict yourself to a very narrow market, the game just isnt valuable. Why whould CH9/FoxSports pay top dollar when they will never get a return on their investment. they pay top dollar because they make bucket loads of cash in avertising due to the fact that they have a captivated audience, which to companies and advertisers, is priceless. Many years ago, when there was paper talk of re-locating the storm to brisbane, Gallop spoke to a storm members Q&A session assuring them that they had a future in the game and that Telstra, who had recently extended their naming rights contract with the NRL, had explicitly stipulated that they requried a team in melbourne or they would be able to withdraw their sponsorship. How is less money in the game a good thing? you want the players working part time? bring back the good old days of semi-professionals? you think you're losing players now? you just wont have the players to lose if you go down that path...
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
Um, no. An operating profit is making a profit out of the operation of the club. IE the cost of operating the club is less than the money the club generates. This doesn't include expendature that go towards developing the game in melbourne that the club has to foot, as it is seen as beyond the scope of the club and really should be paid for by the NRL or ARL or whoever is responsible for developing the game. the "10m a year" is a greatly exaggerated figure. News have covered the losses over the club's existance, which have been up to 10m in a year. this number has decreased steadilly over the last 5 years, to the point that this year it would have made a small (but no less significant) operational profit for the FY 2010-11. Having a presence in Melbourne is worth far more to the NRL/Rugby League than up to 10m a year. the bigger issue is why the NRL have done nothing to grow the game down there. the AFL are spending 20m a year for the next 5 years (and who knows how much after that) on GWS. With enough glue you can make anything stick...
Beowulf
Guest
The Nth Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup are the feeder team for South Sydney. The Central Coast Centurions in the NSW Cup represent Newcastle. When the name Centurions was chosen, a Central Coast poll found overwhelming support for the name 'Cubs', which would have been the logical name, given the NRL bid. For political reasons (the local CRL chief being resistant to an NRL team coming to the Coast - he's ex Newcastle!) they chose for the moment to associate with Newcastle. Once granted a license, all would logically fall into place - the NS Bears would be the NSW Cup representatives, the U-20 Toyota Cup would of course be the CC Bears, hence both ends of the territory get represented. Similar to how almost all the Sydney NRL teams handle NSW Cup/Toyota Cup setups. The Bears need some representation at NS Oval, even if it is just NSW Cup plus 1 NRL game a year.
JVGO
Guest
As a Sharks supporter oikee if we cannot hang on reamalgamation with the Dragons with some games at Shark park would make better sense than relocation. The Shire has strong juniors and Shark park is an asset that could be developed. If there are games at Shark Park the Shire would be relatively quickly won over and you would imagine the Dragons could draw 25,000 to 30,000 regularly to an upgraded ground. Sharks could survive in NSW cup as you say. New Dragons would be a complete juggernaut of course.
LT80
Roar Pro
Why are the Bears still playing out of North Sydney oval? Why don't they actually go and play out of Gosford next year? If the Central Coast Bears were getting decent crowds of a few thousand through the gate every week in the NSW Cup that would be something that would be pretty hard to ignore.
Corey
Guest
Huge games, like the Saints v Roosters? The roosters are lucky to get what can be called a crowd. They need away games to make it look like they have supporters (the ones without jerseys they say are all theirs). I honestly believe it won't take long for the Perth Reds to overtake the Roosters in members and average crowds. Growth is done by retention and expansion, if you lose one area but gain another it's no use, but if you strengthen your own and do not claim another you have not grown at all.
Babybear
Guest
As for Newcastle the NORTHS Sydney bears district went to wyong the boundary were changed when manly came in. The central coast bears have already set up their offices at erina and have been working in both the local community on the central coast and on the north shore. For information on membership go to www. Centralcoastbears. Com. Au
Beowulf
Guest
I agree a team will be added from SEQ, but as D.Gallop has stated, there is no pecking order for the bidding regions - its going to be who has the most comprehensive bid on the table come expansion time. The only bids are coming from C.Coast, Perth, CQLD and a very preliminary attempt from Logan. Wellington may bid late, and PNG have pulled out for 2013, putting their support behind the CC Bears. Looking at the bid status, the CC Bears are in the final stages of putting the strongest possible bid on the table, Perth will have a decent bid ready by next year, CQLD won't be far behind Perth and the others will take years to get to presentation stage. Given Gallop said they want to have one heartland and one expansion target, it would seem a logical conclusion it would be CC Bears and Perth for 2013. There would be no expansion bids/talk at all if it wasn't for the CC Bears and all their hard work over the past 6 or 7 years.
Ted Skinner
Guest
There are 8 NRL clubs in& around Sydney with a population of 4.5 to 5 million. Over 100 games are played there each season. South-East Queensland has a population approaching 3.5 million with two NRL clubs & they play 24 games at home duringthe season. Brisbane has a magnificent stadium that is only used once a fortnight. If a new team is to be introduced logically it has got to be somewhere in SE Queensland.
Hansie
Guest
Best post of the day. Right on the money.
Sam H
Guest
I disagree on the importance of crowds - apart from anything else they make TV broadcasts much more appealing, something TV execs realise. Nobody is going to get excited about vision of a match played infront of 5000 people. By contrast games in front of big crowds are often compelling viewing simply because of the atmoshpere. Sydney crowds are getting better though, at least at the bottom end. Are any teams actually averaging under 10,000 this year? Cronulla maybe? With the Bears you'd probably be aiming for the topper echelon of Sydney teams crowd wise - somewhere in the 16,000 - 19,000 bracket on average, like the Tigers or the Dogs.
The Link
Guest
Sydney RL crowds aren't mindblowing, but they're not sub 10k either. Current average is around 15k, which aint so bad i'd say.