We must expand the NRL to a 28-team competition

I would love to see The NRL setup as follows:- Northern Conference:- 1. Auckland Warriors 2. Brisbane Broncos 3. Central Coast Seagulls 4. Central Queensland Capris 5. Darwin Reds 6. Gold Coast Titans 7. Hunter Mariners 8. Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 9. Newcastle Knights 10. North Queensland Cowboys 11. North Sydney Bears 12. Parramatta Eels 13. Penrith Panthers 14. South Queensland Crushers Southern Conference:- 1. Adelaide Rams 2. Balmain Tigers 3. Canberra Raiders 4. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 5. Christchurch Bulls 6. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 7. Hobart Giants 8. Illawarra Steelers 9. Melbourne Storm 10. St. George Dragons 11. South Sydney Rabbitohs 12. Sydney Roosters 13. West Coast Pirates 14. Western Suburbs Magpies

Jay C are you saying attend a Bears game at North Sydney when their home will be at Gosford and they already proved over the last 10 years that they will get 14K per NRL match to that ground no matter what NRL team is playing? Are you serious with their own local team that figure will increase and then the real issue will be how to make the 20k seat stadium larger. To say their are to many Sydney teams shows that you are not aware that the Bears were granted regional status by the NRL in 1998 before they started work on Bluetongue and it was in fact building this stadium that made them financially unstable, the Gallop revoked that status, the board panicked & sent them into voluntary administration (which they traded their way out of easily due to the inflated costs that had been assumed by certain vested interests) since demonstrated to be an unfounded financial decision. Therefore you are wrong on 2 fronts the Central Coast is not considered Sydney & the Bears have been financially viable for almost 120 years no matter what competition you put them in.

Not sure if I am in favor of a 28 team competition but, as Freddy told us there are 2 extra teams that will qualify and we do not have to worry about how they are funded (do not know how he goth their but, he did). However I can tell you how the 3rd team will be funded, they will be funded by 2 Leagues clubs that generate $80m in revenue, a purpose built stadium already in existence that needs no modifications and attracts an average of 14K attendance per NRL game played their by teams not associated with the area. It has an existing membership of 8k without actually having a team, it's junior ranks number the same. With existing local rivalries alredy established an experinced board & management in place the Central Coast Bears are your 3rd franchise. For what it is worth you could get your 4th from Koukash and your 5th by allowing NEWS another franchise (it has a track record of success in the area). There Freddy I got you to 21 but, someone else is going to have to take over from this point to get you to 28.

and how will a 28 team comp be funded?? 28 x 25 players minimum of 700 players at NRL standard required plus others to fill a reserve grade side plus under 20's. I can see the comp being expanded to 18 in the next few years - a second brisbane team and a team from either central qld/nz or perth - 2 groups of 9 - 26 games though??? - either a top 5 in each group with the two group winners playing off or top 4 from each group playing off

you better go and surrender tackle to wada ... you are on drugs...

It would be great to see a team from PNG but, there are to many set backs and it would lose millions every year without ever being able to finance itself. However if you could get either governments on board in a really big way it would be cool. I would love to take the family to watch my team play PNG but, can you think of the commitment it would take from everyone involved to convince a Sydney Northshore Mum (who is a converted AFL fan after Norths were booted) to take the family to PNG to watch Parra play the local side. This would be great and one day I would like to see PNG but, it is a dream that could realistically only exist on forums like this.

What if 14,000 people had shown up to 40 games over the last ten years and they did not even have a team. The reality is if they got their own team then their crowds would in fact lift, if you factor in local derby's then crowds for those local teams would also lift. You might have guessed where I am talking about and that is Gosford. A team there would build local rivals of Manly, Parra, Souths, the Tigers, Newcastle, Cantebury (15% of their NSW supporters live on the NSW Central Coast) and the Roosters. If supporting the Bears model then an extra game for heritage round would be played at North Sydney against the likes of Cronulla or the Dragon. Therefore based on the figures we have we could see a modest estimate of 17 to 18,000 fans per game at least. The stadium paid Manly $350k for 2 poorly attended. A local team would get $3m from the gate alone, with a major sponsor they are at $4m, Leagues clubs that support the areas already give $1m to rugby League, we can assume they will match it. With Merchandise, membership & 2nd sponsor support you soon get the idea that this team has at a conservative estimate $8m before they get any grant from the NRL. It also lifts crowds at surrounding clubs when it plays them so everybody wins. It does not exist cause TV subscriptions don't go up, Manly don't get their much needed $350k per/a & the people in QLD would complain.

That is a problem when last years premiers and the team they played get poor crowds the year after they played in the Grand Final, that surely cannot help the situation.

Where do we suddenly get enough players of first grade quality to sustain 28 teams. We will have 60 point blowouts every week.

The first thing to do in expansion is 1] a team on the central coast 2] the state Gov to over rule the greenies and the useless councils and allow the tigers to develop and let them develop and both Govs to give the moneys to them and not to Manly. 3] the sharks to become part of ST.GEORGE develop shark park as the home ground, to known as the DRAGONS and the jumper to white with the big V. No other club to at any time to have white as the mayor colour of their jumper [it is a insult to see the likes of manly and easts with mostly white jumpers] Do what you like with the rest.

I think the idea has merit, maybe not 28 teams, but I think that all the current bids if good enough, could be let in. And I really believe that more teams with BRL identity could be brought in too.

The problem with this argument Knightblues is that the best players will walk for the money, and an already low quality competition gets worse. Just out of interest, did you see what Matt Giteau was reportedly offered this week? Think a low quality, cash strapped NRL will hold onto its stars with that sort of money being offered offshore in union? Now, if you'd argued for two fourteen team competitions with promotion and relegation - you'd get back all the teams you seem to be missing, and they would find their own level. The third division could be the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions, along with the domestic NZ league. Add a knock out cup competition between teams like the FFA Cup and all of a sudden you've integrated old and new, rich and poor, plus some new markets.

Not exactly a local derby but Marshmallows vs Sherbets sounds awesome lol

It's a law of nature Knightblues. For sure, make it all amateur again. Have 28 teams the way you suggest. Do it exactly the way you suggest. It may even last a season, who knows? What we do know, however, is that one team, sooner or later, is going to want to be better than the others by going 'professional'. Once that process starts, it will be the end of your idea. The weaker will be preyed upon by the stronger, players will want more for providing more, and so on and so on. The only way your idea could be anywhere near viable if it were the second tier competition, sponsored in part, by the first tier league as a breeding ground for future professional players with professional clubs given jurisdiction over the various areas represented by the teams or groups of teams in the second tier. Sponsorship support for this second tier would drop, the moment clubs went professional. Sorry Knightblues, but as it stands, your idea would not work simply because it ignores how nature operates.

That's a very loose interpretation and could then be applied to just about every country or product. Most agree that exponential growth starts slow then follows a steep upward curve, most cities would follow a linear growth.

A growth rate at a certain percentage that will compound each year is exponential.