How NRL and Super League could make league stronger

I think who cares is the way to look at it. Also in regards to the original article, its great to read your ideas, but I think its a pipe dream. I think the main theme of your article is correct; Rugby Leage needs to start working together on an international basis. The ARLC is doing a great job so far. Even if you just look at their standardised branding accross Aus it, it looks really professional. They should also assist NZRL and other national bodies in setting up strong governance.

"Killed off" from the top grade without any hope of return is what I meant. Apologies

I define the best Tv deal SportsFan,when a code has zero funds in the bank,and this has been the case since the SL war,and now has funds in the bank (in 1 year $45m to be precise). I also define the best deal for that situation is having sufficient funding,if need be too financially underpin all of the 16 clubs in the compettion,thus ensuring every fan of these club has a club to follow. To have a decent amount of funding to assist grassroots development in regional and other states,which has been seriously lacking over the years ,again since SL.The ability to return one of the original family Touch Football back in to the fold,which will further allow for NRL promotion and possible access to potential players. None of this would have ben achievab;le with a $800m deal. A minor point there has been a few Thursday night and sunday dusk games,which were not around in the past.It was not on HD in the past either. The millstone around the code;s neck were in fact two millstones ,a poorly negotiated Tv deal in the past,where one party on one side of the table was negotiating with his half owner on the other . A lay down result. You really underrate the importance of getting rid of the first and last TV rights clause in the contract(the 2nd millstone)t.This will put the code in a very strong position from 2018,and in fact I suggest by the end of 2014,there will be an additional two teams in the NRL.Millsy hit the nail on the head re that point. To suggest the bundle of cash does nothing to spread the game is to put it nicely ,bollocks.The money has paid for additional D.Os both in heartland and non heartland territories.It also helps pay or assist NRL teams who play games interstate.And junior teams playing interstate and overseas.WA has more registered players now than they did at the time of the Reds,according to the WARL. Rugby league would have expanded at a far greater rate internationally,if they had the funding. And without a load of loot GWS and the Suns would be left high and dry. Live FTA AFL has been on in Sydney for ages ,the ratings are static and this applies also for Qld .And this with all the millions of dollars Vlad and co have thrown around the Nthn States. TV Exposure helps agreed, but it is part of the mix..Promotions,marketing,schools,clubs,charity initiatives are also very important,as well as NRL trials and matches . "So enamoured with the AFL deal".Seeing as the code(rl) had dominated Pay TV ratings ,Friday night in the northern states,SOO,All Stars,Test matches as their offering, including a very large regional following in Qld and NSW,people like Harold Mitchell the TV adviser also maintained the code would get $1bn,and he was hardly on the rl bandwagon.Think you were reading too much into Roy Master's offerings.The fact that many AFL people suggested rl would be lucky to get $800m suggest a little unease on their part,then as well as now. Whilst all rl fans would like all games on FTA,the prior Gallop decisions ,have meant that long term planning by the ARLC ,is justifiably more important than short term gains via more FTA and little spare cash. No more running code on the smell of an oil rag. Increase grants.increased memberships(Penrith already well up on 2013).Clubs including the Sharks are not getting the poker machine monies that were around in the past.The well is drying up.Just ask St George. I would be very careful re the poker machines, after reading about the number of Vic AFL clubs that use them to help with funding.Gets very little publicity in the Northern states.In fact Costello of World Vision,has brought the issue up on occasions.

The NRL/ARL would be better served focusing on the Pacific and SE Asian regions. Areas in close geographical proximity, large growth potential and in the case of the Pacific region (islands) an understanding of the game. Stronger lower tier competitions, pathways to professional league (NRL) and annual scheduled internationals. The ESL and RFL are big boys and need to sort out their own backyard, if they feel looking further a field into Europe will help their cause then good luck to them. As for the USA, well perhaps better pathways could be set up for their talented players to progress to the professional leagues? Better still talented players could make their way to Australia, NZ etc and play their way to a contract. The US could have a very competitive semi-pro competition if they can set aside their current issues. Lets grow and then consolidate RL in our own region first.

Crosscoder - It depends on what you define as the best TV deal? On the one hand they accepted a ton of money to stick with the status quo - 1 live game on FTA, 1 replayed game on FTA and 1 delayed game on FTA with Fox Sports covering Saturday and Monday. Extremely poor negotiating from the NRL exec's at the time, which has left the game in the hands of Channel 9 and their favoured teams. They were so enamored with the AFL's deal they didn't look past the $$ sign to see what the deal actually constituted. Eg. The AFL ensures that Friday night is televised across the country either on 7 or 7Mate. In QLD as an example in addition to the Friday night game we get every Lions and Suns game on FTA and this goes the same for WA, SA and NSW. In some sceanrios you may see up to 4 games live on FTA with a minimum of 2 every weekend. Further to this if you get Foxtel you can watch all 9 games every weekend or year. The deal that the NRL accepted, while supplying them with a nice bundle of cash, does nothing to spread the game and gain new supporters. I do however commend Dave Smith for looking at the pokies issue, however would like to see some further details as to how he is going to convince some clubs ie Panthers, Wests to give up pokies revenue entirely.

I know as a fact that both channel 7 and 10 had deals better than the one they (the NRL) recieved, not having to deal with tv's last rights will have a huge impact next time the sponsorship comes around. So looking good for the future i think.

Cheers Von ;) Great post and thanks for going into much more detail than i did!

Not quite SportsFan the NRL didn't exactly sell out its soul(slight exaggeration) to channel 9,For a start there was another media outlet involved.They got the best deal they could ,under the negotiations of the guy who helped secure the prior AFL deal. I will back $45m put away into a future fund,the securing of touch football under the NRL wing,the underpinning of the financials of the 16 NRL clubs as being of prime importance,as poker machines are becoming less of an underpinner and making up for the previous pathetic negotiations under Gallop's watch,and more money available for grassroots anytime. Anycase the biggest plus for the NRL ,was removing the biggest impediment to the prior Tv deals,the first and last rights clause.From 2018 the code will be unshackled,and as Smith is currently aiming to reduce the dependency on TV rights. The NRL will not be spending money on supporting other overseas comps.That is the remit of the RLIF and RLEF and indeed the Govts in some countires who are providing grants. FYI in the USA the USARL ahs now expanded its clubs with 3 new teams in the South East USA. www. jaxaxe.com

So far since the RLWC GI,Ireland rugby league has now been officially recognised by their Govts Sporting Council.entitling the code to cash grants.The Fijian RL has secured a F$4m sponsorship deal from Vodafone,to be used for the Bati and local development. Spain has now become an official observer, due to work being done behind the scenes and clubs being formed,and this has nothing to do what happened in the past.. All on RLEF website. The profits from this tournament whilst no doubt small in the scheme of things ,will assist and does assist fledgling rl countries. And out of left field because of the RLWC,South Afircan is going to bid (no chance IMO) for the 2017 tournament. Of course Soccer will be forever the worlds biggest sport,so what.Every sport is entitiled to show and grow its"product" to as big an audience as possible,and not worry about another being mega large.If you value and believe in your sport,you "flaunt" I and you "flog"it.

If 60% of tickets were purchesed by Southerners,one suggests that there would be a fair smattering of Londoners involved. But of course the cynics here(the regular same old ones),know more than the RLWC organiser,who were in regular contact with the ticket sellers. The very thought that some Londoners have attended.has got their jellies going. Grassroots rl in London is doing a whole lot better in number terms than some of the Nthn heartland towns.

60% of tickets were purchased by Southerners,that is according to the organisers. I guess London is not part of the south based ,on the above theories Frank S.

I very much doubt much will come out of the World Cup it is a bit like the Olympics for a couple of weeks evert four years people watch all these minor boutique sports (if they have a countrymen who is a medal chance) then the carnival is over and everyone forgets they even exist. People on this site seem to be unable to grasp how dominiate soccer really is in England - the English sporting scene is not League vs Union (that is our provincial view of a nation that cares little for either form of Rugby) both games are piddling in comparison with Soccer.

Marldon - Rubbish, when I lived in England in the late seventies Rugby League was Live on the BBC every weekend.Before that back in the sixties there was a knockout comp live on bbc2. The truth is the BBC have always been pretty generous in the coverage they have given the sport.Maybe we just have to except that for whatever reason the vasy majority in England much prefer soccer - it is not like they have not had a chance to look at Rugby League. Marldon- Rugby League was not frozen out of TV in England that is complete rubbish,When i

Give renegade a break. This will get back on topic really quickly, but for now adressing the state of english rugby league. Here you will see the RFL trying different things, because the RLWC 2013 was one heck of a tournament and its achieved a lot. Lets not belittle it by suggesting that no one wants to watch, and london is not interested. The WHOLE country heard about the RLWC or had a chance to, and rl was on tv shows not normally involved, and it was on the BBC to millions - sure none of these were massive number 1 WOW factors (each point), but it was new territory for rl these past 10 years, because you have to go back about 15 years before any attention like this has occured to the game. You must give a well done to the RLWC organizers, and also, you must stop selling rugby league short, stop putting it down. The sport is capable of more, and I am not talking world domination, I am saying its capable of reaching more people -- and up until now no one has tried in the right ways. Its really been a new era for the game. Hope it gets capitalized upon, between the RLWC, and the ARLC and the european rugby league, its looking up. The game is GOVT funded, and its obtaining commonwealth games status --- the game is being noticed, and I am tired of all the "blockers" out there talking it down. Do you people know how to sell something? How do you make people want something? Not what you're doing. Its like you have a flashy car, but all you do is claim its in the workshop and even when it does run well you think its junk, when its actually not. I applaud the quest for truth. Yep on assumption one would think the northerners would have traveled down, but I distinctly remember articles around the time that tell a different reality. You could say, as he basically did, that many in the crowd were from London. Its got nothing to do with rugby league per`se, they were there for the event, and to watch and english national team. I know thats surprising and even a little shocking to you, but thats it. 1 The double header was contracted out for promotion by a London Advertising Agency. And many in the crowd were from London/South england, because thats who were targeted. There were articles about it. The same company also promoted the Cardiff games, so combined they may have gotten the 70% figure I remember for southern-sold tickets. 2 People in the North would have went to the Northern Games, and they also had the Old Trafford Final to attend. Trust me, the majority of the ticket sales for Wembly/Cardiff were from Cardiff and London/south england respectively. Also, the other game or two in the mid west was attended by exclusively, locals. 3. Across the entire tournament, about 30% of the people who attended had never been to a rugby league match before. So there you have it. And off topic too. We're doing well :) ____ So as to the article in general, I just dont see it working. The distance is phenomenal -England is perhaps the furtherest away you can get. I think the best thing that can happen, is whats already happening. Not too much else can be done, there is no desire for major growth in this area, though I suspect some growth will happen as the two get closer. What they really need is the world club challenge extended to involve perhaps 4 teams, and an extra international. We already play 1 extra against NZ each year, I think the aussies should take on the english side in "trophy" match before the 4 nations.

You really need to give renegade a break, he's spot on.

Really !!, you are wrong .. again, .... Fitzroy Football club still exists, the amatuer club is a direct continuation of the VFL FFC. Australia just does not have the population base within a small enough area to use a European style P and R system. http://www.fitzroyfc.com.au/index.htm

Relegation is a great system and always creates interest. It is very backwards that in Australia we don't try it. In Australia teams are just killed off like it doesn't matter- Fitzroy Lions, North Sydney Bears, etc. It is pathetic, really.

Clipper, Well considering you always go on about how League has no presence in England.... i think you are contradicting yourself by now suggesting that 70,000 people travelled down south for a game?? Seriously... like all your other comments, it doesn't make sense?! WTF does an FA cup final have to do with this?! Your comparison again is just plain silly.

It does Marldon – but can you honestly see the NRL backing something like this? More importantly can you see the players agreeing to be transferred around and across the world into second tier comps when they all want to play in the NRL? The most important question is always about money. Where is the money coming from to fund this set up? The NRL sold itself and its soul to Channel 9 for a big pay day but probably the worst coverage of the football codes in Australia. You think they will want to start handing out money to prop up a comp in the USA or teams across Europe? Like AR said above its a “nice in theory” point of view but has little basis in reality.

Renegade - the WTF moment is that you definately assume the majority at that match were Londoners - do you honestly think the majority at Wembley for the Wigan / Man City FA cup final were Londoners? If the Broncos could muster more than 2k a match, then you might have a point.