The current plight facing professional sports poses many questions.
However, the one with the highest priority for fans is: will my club survive? For fans of the National Rugby League, the answer may not be a happy one. In fact, losing a team is rugby league’s greatest fear.
The NRL does not have the financial resources to bail out any club that falls over. They have tried to support the clubs until November, but it may not be enough, especially if the shutdown continues for longer than expected. Obviously, the NRL is not alone with this issue. Sports around the world are facing financial shortfalls.
Rugby union in Australia looks like it might fall into an incredible black hole that may see the sport suffer insolvency.
Meanwhile, the Australian Football League resorted to taking a bank loan to get through the troubles. However, the AFL had a sound economic footing with assets that allowed this to take place. Their aim is to have 18 teams once this shocking event concludes, but even still, fans are questioning the worth of the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney Giants and inquiring about the possible relocation of a Melbourne team to Tasmania.
The point is no sport is immune to the possibility of a reduction of their professional franchises. Unfortunately for the NRL, they require 16 teams to maintain their value. Also, there is still enough memory in the game to recognise the undeniable truth: you get rid of clubs, you get rid of fans.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The Super League War provided a harsh lesson for the code. South Sydney fans rebelled and came through victorious, but there are still North Sydney fans that struggle to watch a game they use to enjoy. Their passion has been tampered by the fact they do not have a team to support, love and cherish. This has an effect. Losing the Bears meant losing a generation of fans.
Fair enough, the Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra mergers present a different viewpoint. However, there are still some Tigers and Magpies fans that did not take to the joint venture. It definitely took the media years before they stopped referring to the Wests Tigers as Balmain.
The reality of losing a team goes far beyond an economic downturn. Supporting a team that no longer competes is an empty feeling. I still vividly remember the two seasons (2000 and 2001) when South Sydney did not compete. Did my interest in the sport drop? Absolutely!
Furthermore, I have found it concerning to hear or read about people calling for clubs to be axed in such times to save others. The New Zealand Warriors cater to the Kiwi market, North Queensland cater to anyone north of the Capricorn Highway, while Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Newcastle are all one-city teams. We can not and must not lose them. Moreover, the St George Illawarra Dragons cater to an entire region (the Illawarra and South Coast) in New South Wales. So that leaves the Sydney clubs.
This is where people start to get a little agitated and rightly so. Therefore, I go back to the North Sydney Bears point. When the Bears were not included post-2000, interest in their district for the sport of rugby league declined. The neutrals may call for a Souths and East merger, despite the fact that the two clubs hate each other. As a Souths fan I would never entertain supporting such a team, nor would Roosters fans.
Yes, I could jokingly say that out of all the Sydney teams the Roosters should be the one to go. Apart from a wealthy backer, who cares, right? Yet this neglect would be ignoring the history of the club, ignoring the fact that it is an extremely professional organisation. Personally, I like the rivalry they add to the Bunnies – they are my Manly, the team I love to hate.
Unfortunately, the choice is out of the control of fans. Any club in the coming year may not make it to the 2021 season. I pray that it is not South Sydney, though money will be the determining factor. All I can say, as a fan who did not have a team to support for two seasons, or for the Bears fans that I know, not having a team to follow is brutal.
I do not wish the experience on anybody.
baldie
Guest
No one is paying a billion bucks for marvel these days. More likely to go the way of the old Detroit stadium which sold for half a mil. Marvel is a liability not an asset.
Walter White
Guest
Not at all Mushi, I am advocating for the NRL to expand. Leaving potenial clubs and areas out in the cold is a bad idea but you cannot have 40 teams in the NRL nor would you want to. There is also need to be recognition that teams don't become world champions over night and that world champion teams go through bad patches so we need a structure that is flexible enough to let teams come and go as they evolve without all the anguish we see now about clubs getting kicked out or relocated. This needs to happen naturally and organically hence the two tier system. At the same time, Clubs need to become more accountable and not so dependent on a nanny NRL. The NRL needs to be a central organisation focused on developing the business end of the game ultimately for the benefit of all clubs, players and fans. Doubling of the comp (as you put it) isn't quite correct because it is structured differently. Similarly, you aren't fragmenting the value per club as much as expanding your base which should ultimately draw more fans into the game. In other words it is trying to create a more flexible structure that allows clubs to come and go whilst trying to grow the pie. There is a cohesive plan here but many may not wish to see it.
Stormy
Roar Rookie
While we League & most other sports fans, are suffering withdrawal & wondering if our Clubs, Sports will survive, could someone out there, anyone, tell me how horse racing is allowed to continue. There is definitely not the required distance between jockeys in the starting gate, or when they come out, or when horses come together battling for positions. Add to that strappers, trainer's, officials, etc., required to run a race meeting - who are they trying to kid? Old saying "racing the sport of Kings", is this money talking? Personally, I have no other answer.
mushi
Roar Guru
Well many are not for profit. It's a really odd model you're suggesting. For the clubs to be more responsible individually but then doubling the competition and fragmenting the value per club. Digital rights etc has far more value monetised as a group. Whilst it is the way forward it's a leap to think this shifts your sponsor base 100 fold overnight. I'm just struggling to see a cohesive plan here, seems contradictory to me and more a rambling opus on extreme capitalism with little thought as to how that potentially plays out.
Big Daddy
Guest
Peter, if the salary cap falls which it may salaries will also drop unless the squads get reduced from 30 to say 25. 2nd tier will also be affected and some clubs may discard feeder clubs.
peter ostle
Guest
Whatever comes after COVID-19 will be different. The players, coaches, admin etc at every club, and within the AFL will be on less money. For some players on the fringes of a team it may mean part time salaries. What has to be remembered is that the broadcasters and sponsors will face an audience that has lost jobs, or savings, or wealth tied up in a house. This will lead to subscriptions falling, or the price of subscriptions being cut. Clubs revenue from fans buying merchandise etc will fall. The NRL will aim to keep all the teams running in this new era that may last a few years in the hope that the wider economy recovers such that teams become all professional, however the COVID-19 memory will live on in how the league, players and clubs organise the finances of the game.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I don't think its a matter of contraction. As Mark pointed out, the NRL does not have the funds to bail any teams out if they fall over. Possibly some re-organising as we have seven team in close proximity in Sydney, Easts, Souths, St G/Ill, Canterbury, Cronulla and West Tigers. Teams need to be more out of the Sydney area, move the Dragons to Wollongong, West Tigers to play out of Campelltown. I think the Gold Coast could go but none of the teams we have had there have done well, also the Gold Coast A league side went under and the Suns are there only because the AFL keeps them above water. Love to see the Bears back but at the moment I can't see this happening and if it did it couldn't be out of Bear Park.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Redcliffe, The Ipswich Jets and Brothers all have lots of history and have been putting in bid feelers. Any of those three are better choices that a bland corporate franchise. They all already have pathways in which teams can be born, progress, succeed, wither and start again
Walter White
Guest
GEE the crystal balls must be working overtime right now. Let me ask you this, how does a team gain history in the game since by definition every new team must start out without any history. What we need is pathways in which teams can be born, progress, succeed, wither and die. If we had such pathways then any generic franchise Corporate backed team could come along and chance their arm and if you are right then bye bye, but if you are wrong .....
Big Daddy
Guest
Because of social distancing we could play tag football with no tackles and no scrums.
Walter White
Guest
It would be a respected International Sport and there would be money if it was managed properly. It wouldn't take much either but it does need some hard headed business investment of the kind we are seeing in North America right now. It needs some thinkers who can think outside of the box not well we have always done it this way. Keep thinking that there is no money in Rugby League is the surest way of making sure that there never is any. Two of the unlikeliest sports in the UK that in the 70s had even less money than Rugby League, a lot less money became massive money spinners within a few years because someone came in and changed the business model. Those two sports had far less going for them than Rugby League, had a lot smaller following and yet they soon resulted in people glued to their telivision sets year after year. Those two sports were Snooker and Darts. Don't tell me there is no money in Rugby League.
Nico
Roar Rookie
Shame that, the Aztec and navy was a classic, wouldn't be cheap to get one these days
elvis
Roar Rookie
The shelves are fine where I am thankfully, but some football would really bring a bit a cheer back into my and I suspect quite a few others lives. I really don't care if they are first class, being stuck in any hotel gets old pretty fast.
elvis
Roar Rookie
Yeah, all the people giving the NRL heaps because it didn't own a stadium might want to think again now that an empty stadium is costing a fortune to keep up. If your business model is any good, you are better off investing money back into the business than becoming a landlord to yourself.
Rellum
Roar Guru
You mean like the Crushers? Any new NRL team in Brisbane needs to have a history in the game. Any Generic franchise Corporate backed team will fail. One positive of the virus is we should have seen the last of the Brisbane Bombers.
elvis
Roar Rookie
What will happen is the top 10 clubs who bring in 95% of the money will go WSC, Superleague or similar.
elvis
Roar Rookie
The mighty Souths!
James
Guest
So true.
AR
Guest
This shutdown of sports will be brutal for everyone. The effects will last for years. But the AFL is the only sporting body that has guaranteed survival. It owns Marvel Stadium outright - an asset valued well over a billion dollars. It can borrow against this asset. It can schedule it’s matches there in a ‘contained’ environment. It can sell this asset. The journey of the VFL/AFL owning its own stadium began as far back as the late 50s. By 1970 the VFL had opened Waverley Park, with the initial plans for it to be a 150k seater. By 2000 the AFL had sold Waverley and done a deal to move away from the suburbs and back into the city to Docklands Stadium. Under that deal, the AFL could have ‘bought’ Docklands Stadium in 2025 for $1. Instead, the AFL (led by McLaughlin) decided to buy it early in 2017 for $200M. That decision is the probably the most consequential in the history of the game, because it’ll end up saving the game.
Big Daddy
Guest
The NRL have announced in the last 10 minutes that the comp will be up and running by June or latest July 1 means only one thing -- they have borrowed some money or some benefactor is baling them out. With all the borders closing and isolation periods in place it will be interesting to see where it will be. Wayne Pearce and V'Landys are making these announcements so Todd Greenberg may as well clean his desk out if V'Landys is pulling the strings and bypassing him.