NRL NRL Expansion

[juju]

A South Island team bassed in Christchurch would get season ticket holders willing to travel from as far as Dunedin, the West Coast and points in between.
It can definitely work, but the right person needs to be in charge and both the recently rejected bids looked clumsy from the outside

The $15m licence fee & corporate support might be the hardest thing to make this possible.

They have the stadium near completion which will be a bit of a white elephant with out a second or third code down there.

Theres rumours the A League will give a franchise support.

I agree both SI bid's didnt seem to be a pro as the Dolphins bid was.

 

[Teets]

I agree both SI bid's didnt seem to be a pro as the Dolphins bid was.

That Dolphins doco was an eye opener as to how on point an expansion bid needs to be to even get a sniff.

 

[hornbybrown]

That Dolphins doco was an eye opener as to how on point an expansion bid needs to be to even get a sniff.

Yep, it really needs a smart business person at the helm who then gets the right football people involved rather than a football person in charge trying to figure out the business side of it.
I had hopes initially for the bid lead bye the Moffet (spelling) with his background but those hopes quickly faded

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Canterbury population half a million, SI total 1.2 million. What's the pop of Cronulla/Sutherland shire or Canterbury Bankstown for comparison?

9 teams in a state of 8.3mil. Bordered by 2 other states of 5 & 7m. It’s not comparable. Not yet anyway.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Yep, it really needs a smart business person at the helm who then gets the right football people involved rather than a football person in charge trying to figure out the business side of it.
I had hopes initially for the bid lead bye the Moffet (spelling) with his background but those hopes quickly faded

Dolphins have be also been a part of the Queensland Rugby League since 1947.

 

[mrblonde]

That Dolphins doco was an eye opener as to how on point an expansion bid needs to be to even get a sniff.

And you can't underestimate how much an advantage the Dolphins had, having the infrastructure they had in place even before they put their bid in (ie being part of the QRL, with teams in various levels of competition since 1947!)
Ignoring the politics side of it, PNG having the Hunters in the QRL since 2013 would have helped things a bit.
Christchurch should be looking at the NSWRL, maybe...

 

[John Nick]

Dolphins have be also been a part of the Queensland Rugby League since 1947.

Seagulls RL has origins going back as far and took about 3 attempts to become established.
Too many other entertainment options for the locals.
Beaches Nightclubs Theme parks etc.

 

[3rdstriker]

End of the day if the south island are serious about an Nrl squad. The 1st thing they should do is put a nswrl team or queensland cup team in.

 

[Wrighty]

End of the day if the south island are serious about an Nrl squad. The 1st thing they should do is put a nswrl team or queensland cup team in.

The whole South Island bid is probably really well thought through and has years of planning behind it. But the timing of it that it appeared publicly when the NRL and the Warriors were riding a high in NZ reeks of this being an ill thought through jump on the momentum idea. I am sure it is not like that. But it sounds like that. Hence all the skepticism by some fane on this site. Yes if they are serious they should be prepared to wait 6 -7 years to get a team and to put in a cup team first.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

You also need the population. Chch = Tasmania. And Tas is only just getting its AFL team in 2028 in an AFL mad country of 26mil.

City vs city, Hobart’s is small compared to Christchurch with only 220k people.

Canberra 478k; Newcastle 482,000 and Townsville 200k are all less than Christchurch.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

City vs city, Hobart’s is small compared to Christchurch with only 220k people.

Canberra 478k; Newcastle 482,000 and Townsville 200k are all less than Christchurch.

I used Tassie cos there’s nothing around it. Just like Chch. Newy has the entire Central Coast, Canberra has surrounding states and Townsville has the entire FNQLD.

All three of those places have a rich history of rugby league going back over half century each.

It’s not an outsiders opinion. I spent 25years living all around the South Island. And now 15 around Aus and I think Christchurch is a decade off shit they haven’t even finished rebuilding the place.

 

[Matiunz]

City vs city, Hobart’s is small compared to Christchurch with only 220k people.

Canberra 478k; Newcastle 482,000 and Townsville 200k are all less than Christchurch.

Big thing with these Aus cities is even if Christchurch may have a larger population from a city POV the examples you listed there have a bit of a halo effect with the surrounding 50-100k cities that up the populations pretty quick.
Canberra is only about 2 hours south of Wollongong so have some of the Southern Illawarra catchment as well as the likes of Queanbeyan, Waggawagga and border towns like Woodonga and Albury etc.
Newcastle has the central coast which is around a million people, plus even though it’s 2 hours from Sydney is still in the commuter circle.
TAS is relatively small and you have Launceston and Devenport within about 2hours of Hobart adding an extra 200k
FNQ is pretty spread out but there is stories of people driving 5 hours to games on a regular basis.
Christchurch is a bit of a big fish in a small pond comparatively

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Big thing with these Aus cuties is even if Christchurch may have a larger population from a city POV the examples you listed there have a bit of a halo effect with the surrounding 50-100k cities that up the populations pretty quick.
Canberra is only about 2 hours south of Wollongong so have some of the Southern Illawarra catchment as well as the likes of Queanbeyan, Waggawagga and border towns like Woodonga and Albury etc.
Newcastle has the central coast which is around a million people, plus even though it’s 2 hours from Sydney is still in the commuter circle.
TAS is relatively small and you have Launceston and Devenport within about 2hours of Hobart adding an extra 200k
FNQ is pretty spread out but there is stories of people driving 5 hours to games on a regular basis.
Christchurch is a bit of a big fish in a small pond comparatively

Originally someone compared Christchurch to the Tasmanian state (city vs catchment), so I compared cities to cities directly.

If we’re talking catchments, the South Islands entire population is 1.2m (with Dunedin not too far away).

You could also include Wellingtons half million as a fan base as well.

 

[John Nick]

Originally someone compared Christchurch to the Tasmanian state (city vs catchment), so I compared cities to cities directly.

If we’re talking catchments, the South Islands entire population is 1.2m (with Dunedin not too far away).

You could also include Wellingtons half million as a fan base as well.

The fan base is not always aligned with population.
I.e the Gold Coast. Had several failed ventures before the Titans and had a long history of league in the area.
Too many other options for entertainment

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Originally someone compared Christchurch to the Tasmanian state (city vs catchment), so I compared cities to cities directly.

If we’re talking catchments, the South Islands entire population is 1.2m (with Dunedin not too far away).

You could also include Wellingtons half million as a fan base as well.

Lol mate RU is still considered the "dominant sport" and the majority of the supportive population will be Warriors fans

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

Lol mate RU is still considered the "dominant sport" and the majority of the supportive population will be Warriors fans

Not that I would be one of them but if Christchurch got its own RL team a vast majority of Cantab Warriors supporters would switch. They would also make the Warriors their most hated team since they are from Auckland. Very one-eyed in Canterbury.

 

[Matiunz]

Originally someone compared Christchurch to the Tasmanian state (city vs catchment), so I compared cities to cities directly.

If we’re talking catchments, the South Islands entire population is 1.2m (with Dunedin not too far away).

You could also include Wellingtons half million as a fan base as well.

TAS, NT and even to an extent SA are the ‘forgotten states’ by a lot of Aus and TAS in particular gets left off the majority of the national sports bar Cricket and until recently basketball.
There was a lot of controversy with TAS getting an AFL team due to government backing- many would say the reason the NRL got the funds for PNG was balancing those books.
If NZ 2 labels itself as ‘South Island’ I don’t see too many Wellingtonians dropping the Warriors- there’s not a lot of love for Canterbury centric teams in Wellington, best you’d hope for is some ‘second team’ support

 

[Lord Gnome of Waiheke]

Big thing with these Aus cities is even if Christchurch may have a larger population from a city POV the examples you listed there have a bit of a halo effect with the surrounding 50-100k cities that up the populations pretty quick.
Canberra is only about 2 hours south of Wollongong so have some of the Southern Illawarra catchment as well as the likes of Queanbeyan, Waggawagga and border towns like Woodonga and Albury etc.
Newcastle has the central coast which is around a million people, plus even though it’s 2 hours from Sydney is still in the commuter circle.
TAS is relatively small and you have Launceston and Devenport within about 2hours of Hobart adding an extra 200k
FNQ is pretty spread out but there is stories of people driving 5 hours to games on a regular basis.
Christchurch is a bit of a big fish in a small pond comparatively

More like the biggest turd floating.

 

[WahsaurusRex]

RL Commission boss Peter V’landys has warned expansion hopefuls to lift their games after Queensland’s hopes of winning a fifth NRL licence suffered a crippling blow.

V’landys insists fresh expansion is not dead but the ARLC chief has put prospective consortiums on notice after eight proposals - including three from Queensland - were formally rejected by the NRL.

Breaking his silence on the slew of bid rejections, V’landys lashed the consortia for taking the expansion process for granted, declaring the prospective NRL hopefuls had arrived at the last-chance saloon.

The Brisbane Tigers and a Central Queensland consortium had tabled bids, while Ipswich’s western corridor joined forces with Newtown to form a Jets alliance in the hope of winning a licence.

The NRL has devised a masterplan to expand to a 20-team league, with the Western Bears and Papua New Guinea initially slated as the 18th and 19th franchises to enter the big league in 2027 and 2028 respectively.

But after rejecting a host of bids, including a Perth consortium behind the Western Bears and a trio of Christchurch-based New Zealand teams, the NRL’s expansion process is at a crossroads.

Papua New Guinea’s $600 million bid, backed by Australia’s Federal government, is the only palatable proposal thus far and V’landys made it clear the NRL hopefuls must shape up - or ship out.

“They all just took it for granted,” V’landys said. “We asked for a business case from each of the interested bid teams and quite simply, they don’t stack up.

“At the moment, their bids aren’t good enough. “The PNG bid is going well, but it is still to be finalised and the next step is to go to the (existing NRL) clubs for consultation.

“The other bids now realise they haven’t gone far enough. “They (the rejected bids) want a chance to review their bids and we’re happy to consider that - but they need to do more.”

The NRL’s decision will come as a particular shock for the Brisbane Tigers, who were unsuccessful during the code’s most recent expansion foray three years ago, when their Firebirds bid lost out to the Redcliffe Dolphins for the 17th licence.

The Easts Leagues-backed operation is a financial juggernaut with cash reserves of $25 million, total assets of $57.4m and equity of $52.4m.

Meanwhile, the Ipswich Jets, who have struck an agreement with Newtown, are adamant the NRL cannot ignore Brisbane’s booming western corridor region, including Toowoomba, which is being targeted by the AFL.

But unless the Brisbane Tigers and Jets make urgent improvements to their bids, the door will shut on a fifth Queensland NRL club.

“We haven’t ruled out another team in Queensland but the Brisbane bids failed as well,” V’landys said.

“We want those consortiums to show us where a new fan base is and that they won’t be stealing fans from the Broncos, Titans or Dolphins.

“One of the reasons the Dolphins were admitted to the NRL in the last process was because they were able to demonstrate how they would bring a new fanbase to rugby league. “And they have done that.”

V’landys will arrive in New Zealand on Sunday for Australia’s Pacific Championships clash against the Kiwis in Christchurch.

The ARLC boss will use the trip as a part fact-finding mission on Christchurch’s suitability for an NRL team and he is adamant expansion is not dead at this stage.

“Expansion isn’t off at all,” he said. “Things are still looking positive, but we have major expectations around what a bid must deliver. “We’re not just going to give away licences and accept any bid because we have an interest in expanding.

“Our discussions with PNG have gone well and we will now take it to the clubs as part of the consultation process. “We’re not dealing with the Perth consortium but I’ve had talks with the Western Australian premier (Roger Cook) and he is just as committed as he always was to an NRL team.

“A second New Zealand team is absolutely still an option. I am going over there on Sunday for the Test match so I will have a good look at the region.

“These consortiums need to have a strong business case that shows how coming into the competition is going to bring a lot of benefits to the game of rugby league.

“If those benefits aren’t there and the investment isn’t there, well, we won’t go ahead with expansion.

“But the initial plan (for 19 teams in 2028) is still possible depending on how discussions go with the clubs and the WA government.”

Former NRL boss David Moffett was disappointed his Christchurch-based bid was shunned, but vowed to press ahead with plans for the South Island Kea to be part of an expanded competition.

“We are really disappointed to get the notification that our bid had been rejected,” Moffett said.

“We are reviewing it and we will be attempting to address the issues in respect to our bid and we will go back to the NRL and see whether we can provide another bid which meets their requirements.”

The Kea are one of three bids from New Zealand’s south island and Moffett said he was happy to continue working with the NRL.

“We’ve always taken the view especially with my experience in sports administration that it’s entirely within the rights of the NRL to decide when, if and who they are going to choose for an expansion team,” Moffett said.

“We actually respect that.

“We are fully supportive of their decision to go to Perth, PNG and whoever in New Zealand. We will continue to put our best foot forward and try to work out exactly where our bid fell down and address their issues.”

 

[MrFrankWhite]

trio of Christchurch-based New Zealand teams, the NRL’s expansion process is at a crossroads.

3 bids?