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NRL talk has been dominated lately with the topic of expansion. Let me start by stating that I am in favour of the Central Coast Bears being admitted. I am not ashamed to say I have been a Bears fan for life.
However, everyone seems to have an opinion on this subject and many are passionate about particular bids. Some are in favour of a fourth Queensland team, others are for Perth, Second NZ, or even Adelaide or PNG.
Some have discussed other alternatives such as killing off weak teams (In this writer’s opinion, NEVER a good idea), relocation or partial relocation or a second division comp involving relegation.
I believe the NRL could benefit from a radical new type of team in its expansion plans. Maybe not for 2013, but certainly for any future expansion of the NRL. Now this is just an idea, I’m not saying it should be implemented immediately, but something that could be tweaked, reformatted and considered.
Introducing: The Nomads.
The name is merely a working title but the premise behind them is simple: The Nomads represent no specified region and play at no specified home ground. I know what you are probably thinking- how could this possibly be funded, but I will get to that later.
One of the characteristics of modern Australia is that its population is very city-centric, which means that having professional sports teams in regional areas is extremely difficult, despite major support for the greatest game of all in these areas.
However if one team could represent the whole of regional Australia (and beyond?), it would provide a means for these communities to connect with the NRL.
How would this work you ask? Round one, for example, the Nomads are playing against the Knights at Tamworth, where plans have been made to build a 7000 seat stadium for all codes.
An event like this would certainly draw a capacity crowd (last years crowd for the city country match at Port Macquarie – another potential venue for a Nomads game – drew just over 7000), especially if the team lives and trains in the community in the lead up. Next Home game is at Rockhampton against the Broncos, then off to Darwin, then Adelaide, then Mackay, then Welington, then Orange, then Port Moresby and so on and so forth (These are all examples of course).
The advantages of this type of club include:
-Providing heartland areas with live footy and a team that represents them
-Allows for slow and steady incursions into non-heartland territory
-Tests the water for possible permanent expansion
-Potential for games in different timezones to be an advantage for viewership.
Disadvantages:
-Lack of stability for Nomads players, being on the road would be hard for players particularly those with families, but with almost every second game played in Sydney, this would allow them to create a more permanent home.
-Membership and merchandise sales would be hard to predict with a team like this, however this may correlate directly with the teams on field performance. People are more than happy to get behind a team thats successful onfield. While this may be a positive, its a shaky ground on which to found a club
-Funding. The new club would have to rely heavily on sponsorship dollars (which would receive huge amounts of exposure) and possibly NRL subsidies to make ends meet.
However, there may be other ways to keep the team in the black. It may be possible for some communities to bid for games, particularly wealthy resource rich communities (this is just one example).
The government may even be willing to support it as it brings major events to regional areas, especially if the club gets involved with communities.
While this idea isn’t perfect, it does give the NRL something to think about.
The Nomads may well prove to be a successful addition to the NRL ladder.
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