Rumours that the Norths Group is willing to partner stakeholders and rescue the Gold Coast Titans solve many headaches for the NRL.
Since the failed Northern Eagles forced merger, the Bears have been trying to re-enter the competition as a Central Coast entity.
However, the parlous financial state of most NRL clubs appears likely to forestall any expansion within the NRL for the short-medium term, despite broadcaster desire for more games.
The Bears bid addresses many key concerns for the NRL as it tries to limit the advances of AFL and football into traditional markets.
1. Expansion into South East Queensland, so desired by broadcasters, will not take place while a crippled entity exists in the form of the Gold Coast Titans.
2. The NRL would love to provide grassroots communities in the Central Coast with more NRL games, without having to expand into the region with a new team.
3. The reintroduction of the iconic Bears brand will reconnect with tens of thousands of fans in not just the North Sydney and Central Coast region, but throughout South East Queensland and even New Zealand, instantly expanding the game’s supporter base and viewership.
The Bears provide the NRL with a golden opportunity to disentangle itself from the Titans and grow the game.
Financial stability and football club managerial experience
With 108 years’ experience in running professional rugby league teams, multi-generational support, major sponsors committed and enormous marketing potential leveraging off the decade’s best news story, the NRL can relinquish the current $3 million leakage per year the Titans cost the game that could otherwise be directed to junior and country development.
Expansion and TV rights
A financially stabilised Gold Coast with a nationally recognised brand allows the NRL to proceed with confidence in expanding into Brisbane with a second NRL team. It would be logical to include an 18th team for an extra game to satiate broadcaster demand; hence Perth could be added sooner than currently envisaged.
Heartland reconnection
The loss of the Bears cost the game 40,000 spectators according to David Gallop. With most supporters residing on the north shore of Sydney and expanding naturally onto the Central Coast, the efforts of the North Sydney Bears and then Central Coast Bears to provide a team for both regions means their brand offers the most natural vehicle to increase NRL presence in the region. It would provide two more games a year, in the stadium the Bears helped create (similar to St George-Illawarra synergies).
Increased away game attendances
Teams play half their games away from home. A Gold Coast Bears team could rightly claim that away crowds will be larger than a Titan’s one for away games at all NSW and ACT venues, Auckland (player connections in the 1970s and ’80s) and even Brisbane (player connections in the ’80s and ’90s).
Increased gate receipts alleviate financial pressures for existing clubs. Self-interest should ensure their support for a Bears brand, meaning the NRL can reduce subsiding these clubs also.
A Bears brand on the Coast helps the marketing effort of the aptly named Burleigh Bears, whose logo remarkably resembles the North Sydney Bear’s one… how visionary!
One-hundred-and-eight years of working in partnership with local junior clubs will result in a strengthening of all clubs in the local Gold Coast competition, to everyone’s benefit.
Polls nationwide consistently over 10 years indicate that fans want the Bears brand returned to the NRL. They were one of the most watched teams of the ’90s and would again become many fans’ second team.
If ever there was a proposal that is a win for all parties, it’s this one. The Bears’ brand and its loyal fans return and the Gold Coast finally have a financially secure and experienced ownership structure. The NRL can reduce subsidies to the Gold Coast and existing NRL teams, the game can expand and broadcasters get an extra game sooner (thus ensuring an increased TV rights deal), and the Central Coast gets two extra NRL games.
The Titans have been irrevocably damaged over the past four years. The brand is tarnished and would soon be as forgotten as previous iterations – Giants, Seagulls, Giants.
Yet the NRL desperately wants a team to thrive on the Gold Coast. The Titans understandably want a local owner and the NRL want long-term stability. Who better than the Seagulls Club, one of the richest in the Gold Coast area and part of the profitable Norths Group, whose primary team the Bears has 108 years of experience running a professional rugby league team?
They have never received a cent from the governing body in 108 years and have never gone broke in 108 years. How many existing NRL club, or potential other bidding franchises, can make those claims?
The Bears have been unflinching in their desire and efforts to return to the top flight. If the NRL want a committed partner in for the long haul, they should look no further.
Birdy
Guest
Alex, Your opening sentence sums up the whole problem. None of you even try to understand that we have a border up here. If, and I say if the titans fail this time and either the diehards or brothers come on board the local derbeys up here would be massive , as will a successful titans. Nostalgia is a quick money spinner that only lasts in short spurts ! My memory of North Sydney crowds is they are worse than manly fans for not crossing the bridge.
Birdy
Guest
Todd, Please think about what you just wrote! If there are no fans why do the bears want to gate crash?
alexspeirs
Roar Rookie
The Sydney NRL clubs would never prefer Brothers or the Diehards. Neither of those teams would generate the gate takings in Sydney that the Bears would. The first season alone would probably spike Bears away matches in Sydney by 7k-10k as Bears fans who have been without their team for 16 years show up en masse. The NRL are not interested in expansion right now (due to the NSW clubs), and it is becoming quite obvious that the Titans are slowly going the way of their predecessors. The Bears would provide an instant lift to the Sydney clubs' bottom line in terms of gate takings, and crucially, I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this yet by the way, they would be far, far more attractive for Fox and Nine, as there is no question that the Bears would rate significantly higher than the Titans. I agree the Bears would have work to do in order to build up a fanbase on the GC, and if they took games away there would likely engender some resentment, but the Titans are a toxic brand that nobody on the GC really cares about anyway. The Bears are more financially stable, and they do have a link to the GC area in the form of Seagulls. Time to give them a crack at it.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Beowulf in response: 1. The NRL do currently hold the Titans licence but why would they offload it to another team in NSW? How does this benefit the game? 2. The NRL do need a strong Gold Coast entity. They will not achieve this aim if the Bears come in and rebrand and change everything and to cap it off remove 3-4 games a season to play them in Gosford. This will in fact make the GC entity the weakest of all NRL teams by a long way. 3. Good for the Central Coast if they will support a Bears team. The Gold Coast won’t. 4. So what you are saying is that presently although Sydney fans don’t appear to make the effort to watch strong brands like the Rabbitohs, Bulldogs, Eels, Manly etc in big numbers, should the Bears come back in after a 20 year hiatus and a history of failure the fans will start traveling around Sydney to watch games? 5. Maybe you can contact ASIC with regard to this issue. The Burleigh Bears are against the Titans being rebranded the Bears and have already publicly stated this. The Burleigh Bears will look to block efforts by North Sydney, who have nothing to do with the GC, to register this name. 6. This one is arguably the weakest of all your arguments. How will the Bears, who do not currently run an NRL Club (and have not in 20 years) provide professional sports management? The Titans fans will walk away from a team that is owned by a NSW Leagues Club based 1000Km away. Yes they may own Tweed Heads Seagulls but to suggest it is a strong link to QLD is farcical. It is a small insignificant link to the QLD Cup through a NSW BASED CLUB. Only desperate Bears fans clinging to hope they will be readmitted to the NRL think this proposal is a good idea. Only NSW based people who want the NSWRL to return think this is a good ide. Only fools forget that when the Titans were formed and playing in finals, particularly through 2010, they were getting 20K through the gates and that type of engagement is possible again now that structures are being put in place off-field for the future of the Titans.
KiwiBear
Guest
Agree with you on that front. The Bears should be careful not to get dragged down if, and I say if, the Titans franchise fails as many predict
fiddlesticks
Guest
written like a true queenslander
Ron Swanson
Roar Guru
Souths, Sharks, Roosters, Dogs, Dragons all made the 8. Where did your mob finish again??
Ron Swanson
Roar Guru
The NRL bailed you out, your argument is as thin as Annesleys hair. What mess, NRL never bailed us out. Are you Ms Frizelle by any chance??
Todd Nelson
Guest
I could name how many Sydney side are flourishing more than the Gold Coast are.
Wow
Guest
He just explained to you how twice the GC had a flourishing side before being derailed. Name 2 NSW sides that are successful right now. I can only come up with 1.
Wow
Guest
It's the North Sydney Bears wise guy who happen to be in cahoots with CC. Us Neanderthals seem to have evolved a lot further than you dinosaurs. Don't drag us into your mess. The Titans are one team no worse than of your sides. If the people you mentioned were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts your house would be in order. So either their getting something out of it or there doing a horrible job.
Ron Swanson
Roar Guru
Central Coast not Sydney. Done listening to you Neanderthals up north who fail to recognise this geographical fact. Another point, how many more millions should the NRL, Dennis Kelly, Geoff Muller, some car dealer mob etc cough up with zero return??
Todd Nelson
Guest
You are talking about Gold Coast fans not embracing the Bears....what fans ?. Name one successful sporting organisation on the Gold Coast ? If there is to be one organisation who may be able to help the Gold Coast area it would be the Bears
Birdy
Guest
Beowulf , If a merger is forced on the GC the fans will walk away. The so called GC Bears would play a few seasons at robina then move back to Gosford leaving the GC to the other codes. Look at the facts. , the history of the GC is one of bad planning and miss management by the NRL and the franchises themselves not to add a successful Charges falling victim to super league. In every case the fans paid the price!! All the fans want is stability , knowing they will keep their team and it's identity. Having said that I think their patience and loyalty has been stretched to the limit , even the most loyal fan would have them on their last chance. The NRL, financially have them on their last chance. They must perform , and they will . If this time around they fail the NRL will not give up the GC . If a merger is to be considered , only a fool would not also consider the diehards and brothers , both Qld clubs. The bears have their own problem. The only way they can re enter the NRL is by a Sydney club relocating , folding or relocating themselves. A Perth or Adelaide bears would still give Sydney 9 bears games a season. Can someone please point out the problem there. I'm also sure a few Sydney games could be played in Gosford . Chooks and manly come to mind for packed houses.
Todd Nelson
Guest
Maybe the NRL are opening the Gold Coast franchise for the Bears because they know it is doomed to failure. The area is the grave yard for all sporting sides, how many rugby league incarnations have there been the Giants, the Seagulls, the Chargers and now the Titans, their A league team failed. Now people are saying "what about the fans ?", the NRL yesterday released their official membership numbers, the Gold Coast were just above the Tigers in 15th place with just over 6,000 paid members....honestly what fans ? People are only using the Gold Coast Suns as an excuse, honestly another doomed Gold Coast sporting venture in the works. If the Bears are happy to take over the Titans the NRL are probably rubbing their hands together in anticipation as the Gold Coast area may finally achieve what the NRL has failed to do....the demise of the Bears
Roosters16
Guest
The whole loss making clubs statement is a bit misleading. The leagues clubs are integral parts of the football club and the losses mentioned in annual reports of NRL clubs footy spending are for the most part covered by non-refundable loans from leagues clubs. The AFL teams in melbourne count their poker machine and club revenue in their annual report and without that we would be showing larger losses than many report now. So why then should nrl teams in sydney not be able to submit finances that would in fact show the club at worst breaking even in most cases. If its to be gold coast bears then keep it 100% on the GC. I see no point in splitting games to the central coast or NSO and then alienating SEQ. But If opposition teams choose to move games to gosford against the GC bears for $ then so be it. I say this as a coastie and proponent of the CC bears. The biggest problem the nrl has is its lopsided between being a club league and a franchise league. We have 3 capital city teams brisbane, melbourne and warriors who are really constrained by the salary cap and have those regions to themselves. Then we have the regional and sydney sides which i identify as clubs and have to strive to keep up with thr franchises off the field. Imo to solve this at the very least brisbane should be chopped into 3 to give the comp a more club feel. The likes of redcliffe and ipswich are similar or bigger LGA's than what many sydney sides resiaade in and they have strong regional identities to draw on. Expand incrementally to 22 teams, then split the nrl into a 12 team premier league and 10 team championship both with full home & away and promotion/relegation annually. Make up the shortfall in home games in the championship with a round robin into knockout cup competition that starts in pre-season and finishes in a mid season window where origin should be played. That would be a true club competition where teams play in the elite league by merit and consistently poor results are punished. Instead of booting out and merging teams post super league this is what should have happened.
Wow
Guest
In that whole spiel you didn't make one valid point for why it will be good. I will tell you how this will play out. GC will have no support for the Bears and crowds at GC games will be 95% away fans. This gives the Bears their own side and the GC is abandoned. The side will consistently be in the bottom 3 but have the increased NRL contributions to stick around a few years too long whilst the CC Bears are still asking for more cash. Fans will be around 5000 to a match but at least a region of 300,000 got another shot after their neighbour shafted them. The funds the Bears take from the NRL will cost more than initially helping the Titans would have. The bottom of QLD and NNSW will be without an NRL side that was taken from them by a previously failing and smaller region who produce less players. AFL, rugby and soccer will pick up the slack while the reintroduction of the Bears gained junior participation levels nothing. The NRL loses again because some NRL power brokers from Sydney think the big picture is a self portrait. All expansion is put back a further 10-20 years and when it comes RL in Sydney is in no better shape. I think the time has come for the NRL to split into a conference system like the NFL. I never thought it was a good idea but NSWRL are just pathetic and never going to amount to anything. If NSW has a conference and the clubs outside NSW align the game actually has chance of improving and growing.
Chris
Guest
NRL and SANZAR Rugby is in such a mess.
Wow
Guest
I respect your loyalty to your team but surely you're a rugby league fan and not just a fan of your side? If the NRL want the best possible for Rugby league they need the GC, they dont need the Bears. Case closed. If the AFL maintain a side there (playing all home games at home) and the NRL doesn't it's all over the fat lady has sung. There's nothing to be gained in Sydney the game has already been there 100 years. Strengthen NZ, GC, Perth, Pacificic Islands, Canberra and Melbourne as the main priorities and the external interest will create more interest in Sydney. It's like when you see a kid put down a toy but once another kid picks it up they suddenly can't do without their favourite toy. Adults are no different and the all Qld gf showed Sydney didn't need a side in the game to Support and appreciate the game.
Todd Nelson
Guest
When I first heard of this a few months back I wasn't to keen on the idea, I've been behind the idea of a Central Coast Bears side ever since the NRL controversiously denied the John Singleton backed Bears bid in favour of Michael Searles Gold Coast Titans despite this being the Gold Coasts fourth official name change in the NRL competition. I just hope the isn't the NRL's way to finally end the Bears brand ?. I'm all for the Bears going to the Gold Coast as long as they don't ignore the Central Coast, even two games a season would be more than we are currently getting at Central Coast Stadium from the NRL. .