The NRL is on track to expand to 17 teams, with the addition of another Brisbane club looking probable by 2023.
While the ARLC seems intent on this course and could make a decision as early as June this year, there is a better option for expansion: a second division.
I propose a fully professional second division, called the ARL Championship, consisting of the following ten clubs.
ARL Championship
PNG Hunters
Redcliffe Dolphins
Brisbane Tigers or Firehawks
Ipswich Jets
Sunshine Coast Falcons
North Sydney Bears
Newtown Jets
Western Suburbs Magpies
Illawarra Steelers
Perth
The Newtown Jets have a place in this proposed competition. (Photo: Kris Swales)
While the exact make-up of the league could be up for debate, the broad idea is to include clubs who either have ambitions of playing in the NRL or have a history in the top flight, as well as clubs from areas not currently represented in the NRL.
To keep start-up costs low, priority should be given to existing clubs, with Perth the only brand new side involved. In order to capture the imagination of the broader rugby league public it would be important to have decent representation from the two main rugby league cities of Sydney and Brisbane.
In time the league could look to expand to places like Fiji, Wellington, Adelaide, Central Queensland and country NSW.
The obvious question is: would the Championship be feasible? Let’s look at the numbers.
The league would have a salary cap of $1.5 million, with annual operating costs of around $2.5-3 million per club. To put these numbers into perspective, the semi-professional Intrust Super Queensland Cup has a salary cap of $500,000 with clubs spending up to $1 million per year to run a side.
At the other end of the scale, the NRL has a $9 million salary cap with annual operating costs somewhere in the range of $15-25 million per club. In the English Super League the salary cap is £2.1 million ($3.8 million). Given that the Championship would sit in quality somewhere between the existing semi-professional state leagues and the Super League, a salary cap of $1.5 million seems realistic.
Where would the money come from? The ARLC would need to provide a club grant to cover some of the costs, ideally $1.5 million annually to match the salary cap. At the moment the ARLC pays state league clubs $500,000, so it’s not a huge stretch to imagine a payment of that size. Clubs would need to raise the additional $1-1.5 million required through match-day earnings, sponsorships, membership dues, leagues club support and benefactors.
Travel costs would also need to be considered, which would amount to something like $150,000 per year for each club or $1.5 million for the whole league. In 2019, travel costs for the NRL competition amounted to $2.8 million, which was paid centrally to remove any financial disadvantage to clubs who travel more. The same idea should apply to the Championship.
Could we see a PNG team in an NRL second division? (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
If the NRL is stumping up around $11-12 million per year in new costs for the Championship, they are going to want something for it. In time, the Championship would prove to be a valuable product in and of itself.
Television ratings could well be comparable to the A-League or Super Rugby. Viewership figures for the A-League this season have seen national audiences in the region of 40,000-50,000 for free-to-air matches on the ABC and 15,000 for matches on Foxtel. While those numbers pale in comparison to ratings for the NRL and AFL, the A-League still managed to recently sign a $40 million per year television deal.
There is evidence that the Championship could generate respectable television ratings. In 2019 when Channel 9 broadcast the NSW and Queensland Cup games on Sunday afternoons, average ratings across the season were 25,000 viewers per game in Sydney and 17,000 viewers per game in Brisbane.
With a step up in professionalism and quality, a stable broadcast schedule and greater promotion, the Championship could well achieve national ratings of 50,000-100,000 in a similar time slot. With multiple streaming services now competing with free-to-air and pay TV for viewers and content, the Championship could secure a broadcast deal to pay for itself.
The ARL Championship would provide a proving ground for teams who aspire to join the NRL. The perfect way to determine which new Brisbane side should get the nod is to see how they perform in the Championship. How many supporters are they getting through the gate, and what sort of community support have they generated? How have they performed on the field?
It would breathe life into foundation clubs like Newtown and the Bears, who claim to have hundreds of thousands of supporters still nursing the wounds of their demise in 1999. It would give the PNG Hunters – who have the support of an entire league-mad country behind them and have home crowds bigger than some NRL clubs – a bigger and better platform.
The Championship would be a great way to expand the NRL. I’m not sure how likely it is to happen, but it would be feasible and I’d certainly love to see it.
Heyou
Roar Rookie
Your article caught my interest and impressed me with its beautiful simplicity, until I read all the comments... now I have one big headache. It could become so complicated devising a two tiered competition. So many things to be considered, not in the least of which is filthy lucre and profit margins. Do we have enough sponsors to go around? So many things to change and adapt. My head is now sounding warning bells - changers clanging between my ears, where what’s left of my brain resides, and my heart jumped a few ominous beats when I read that word ‘relegation.’ I’m going to pretend I didn’t read any of these great ideas from the ideas guys. Just hold off on two tiers or two conferences or two anything’s until I fall of my perch please. I’m not coping well with change as it is!( take the bunker away get rid of tackle restarts replacing penalties). No harm discussing it but the reality? I suggest putting in the TOO HARD BADKET until I pop me clogs. PLEASE?!
Heyou
Roar Rookie
:silly: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
James
Roar Rookie
Perhaps instead of a full second division competition there could be a knockout. A four week carnival pitting 16 wannabes against each other. Week 1 - 16 teams = 8 games. Week 2- 8 teams = 4 games Week 3 - 4 teams = 2 games. In Week 4 the remaining two teams play the bottom 2 NRL teams for the right to play in the NRL the following year. Imagine it! A bit like the old Amco Cup! Cinderella stories! TV Ted! Redcliffe v Perth, Adelaide v Wellington NZ, Newtown v North Sydney, Firehawks v PNG, Central Coast v Wollongong, Western Division v Ipswich, Mackay v Toowoomba, Mt Isa v Darwin I've solved it!!!!!! Time for another drink!...damn it's empty
DG87
Guest
Maybe a 2nd division with a promotion/relegation system. Keep the NRL at 16 teams with the bottom 2 dropping to 2nd division. It works in European football and there are enough rugby league clubs in Australia to make it work.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Dump the bunker and you have up near 5-10 million extra$$ to help fund it. Tony's with me on that. Don't chase stupid ball directional technology, use touchies to rule on forward passes and save another mill$$ on R&D. have states bid for the third SOO game and raise an extra 5 Mill$$ a year. There's 12$ mill+ a year, does that help?
bear54
How surprising? The Australian arguing Super Rugby leaving Foxtel was a bad decision?????? I'm stunned. Nothing written in The Australian should be accepted as truth..... I wouldn't even trust the page numbers.
Karl Juhnke
Guest
V'landy's has done a great job. It is a shame so many players tackle around the head and it ain't rocket science to go lower. Some of the Magic Round decisions were an overreaction. That happens EVERY time there is a rule change. Last weekend there were far less issues. Keep your tackles down. It is really simple and a five minute warning should have been enough.
The Doc
Guest
Perth has a team already, the West Coast Pirates who compete in the NSW competition. A lot would need to be discussed for this to happen but it is a good blueprint for what a future second division would look like
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
The Bears play out of Pizzey Park at Burleigh, Gold Coast, Qld
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Nat, if the NRL were serious about expansion into a second tier competition it's very obvious it would have to be a mix of NSWRL and QRL teams plus 1 from NZ and also 1 from WA and one from PNG and possibly Fiji. Also these teams could not be aligned to NRL clubs. As far as promotion and relegation is concerned it's not on the horizon . Getting a national 2 nd tier is a great idea but it would need a few years to consolidate before any idea of promotion is on the agenda. One of the big problem would be deciding who gets a team would be a nightmare for the ego's at NSWRL and QRL who only think about what goes on in their state instead of thinking about the game on a national basis.
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
25000 viewers per game is laughable. Another nonsense article proposing a second tier comp using fantasy numbers and ignoring facts. Make it stop
Mooty
Roar Rookie
The AFL now has its division two league that covers teams from Victoria, NSW, ACT, Queensland and the NT. I think it’s called the Eastern States Football League. They have used existing clubs and created new ones. I believe it is basically funded by the AFL and works as a feeder comp. A similar set up would work for League, but the main problem I see with this proposed nrl plan is promotion/relegation. Who is going to vote for that.
J.Hoppa
Guest
Alot more around the world than Nrl Max
LT80
Roar Pro
Hi Nat, I agree that the state cups are doing a good job, but there is a real desire for a number of those clubs to be playing at an even higher level. In the QLD at a minimum we have Redcliffe, Ipswich, Easts and the Hunters all putting themselves forward to step up a notch. I'm not suggesting that these games would be played as NRL curtain raisers, they would still be played at the local grounds, many of which are great boutique stadiums. Ultimately it would be about raising the profile of the lower tier and providing a focus and opportunity for the ambitious clubs.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Yeah I think the bears are still waiting to jump on the central coast chance.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
Mate I love the idea of a 2nd division, I'm just struggling to see how they'd afford it. I used to enjoy the old Amco Cup from the 70's where a few teams that couldn't afford to play a season could nevertheless afford the knock out Comp that it was. But exotic sides ran into first division teams in that old competition.
Great Idea!
Guest
The concept has worked in the UK for 150 years and would allow a lot of towns that would never be on the map for the 'member's only NRL'. You could see places like Toowomba, Sunshine Coast, Bathurst, Wollongong(a stand alone team not being hijacked by Sydney), Albury etc.. have a chance to find their place. Even playing in a 2nd division could be great for those places.
Nat
Roar Guru
Thank you for the article LT80, I can see you've put some thought into it. My question is why? We have 2 state comps that are doing what you are asking with established sponsors, support and brand recognition. Further, under the current structure, there are a lot more pathways to the NRL, thus more opportunities to cast a wider net to attract players from union (as an example). My fear with this (as Matth alluded too) is the diminishing of the strong, large state comp for the benefit of an NRL pregame that no one will attend and may only attract minimal extra eyeballs. I'm not dismissing the concept, every idea can be built upon. My initial thought is that we would lose more than we would gain.
Nat
Roar Guru
Good ppst BD. The level of self interest at all levels is staggering at times. Not that I believe that all clubs should be aiming for an NRL licence but they are very happy occupying their own little patch but don't dare change the status quo for the sake of change.
Nat
Roar Guru
Isn't that the challenge of SR AU, to put a salable product on the field? Using your numbers, even at the slump 50k viewers is better than the current 25k for state cup league games. Mind you, Saturday night is a hard market to capture a sustained audience but I guess it depends where the $ break even is for Ch9. With all due respect to the code, if it falls behind a 2nd tier NRL game on a national basis the game is in bigger trouble than they thought.