NRL Possibly to buy the Super League

[jobo]

Super League chiefs heading to Las Vegas for NRL opener to explore opportunities

Rugby League Commercial chief Rhodri Jones and Matt Dwyer are bound for Las Vegas this weekend to strengthen ties between Super League and the NRL as they prepare for their blockbuster season-opener in the United States.

The competition will kick off its 2024 campaign with a bang, with two headline games featuring Manly Sea Eagles, Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane Broncos. And senior officials from the English game will be there on a fact-finding mission: and also to develop the relationship between the two elite competitions.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/su ... ortunities

So basically, the RFL are on a jolly to Vegas to 'strenghten ties' between the two comps, I'm sure the NRL can't wait to Strengthen with SL which has a tenth of the revenue and income than the NRL

so true.

[Mike]

Super League chiefs heading to Las Vegas for NRL opener to explore opportunities

Rugby League Commercial chief Rhodri Jones and Matt Dwyer are bound for Las Vegas this weekend to strengthen ties between Super League and the NRL as they prepare for their blockbuster season-opener in the United States.

The competition will kick off its 2024 campaign with a bang, with two headline games featuring Manly Sea Eagles, Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane Broncos. And senior officials from the English game will be there on a fact-finding mission: and also to develop the relationship between the two elite competitions.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/su ... ortunities

So basically, the RFL are on a jolly to Vegas to 'strenghten ties' between the two comps, I'm sure the NRL can't wait to Strengthen with SL which has a tenth of the revenue and income than the NRL

so true.

I mean there is talk of an ownership deal from an organization with 10x our revenue. Wouldn't it be a bit odd to not even explore that? I imagine IMG would want the SL to have representation at this event.

BTW I think average income in Aus is less than in the UK. No idea how that equates to cost of living etc. but I imagine travel expenses to a Vegas game will be somewhat similar in terms of proportion of income. Not a trip most can do every year on either side of the world I wouldn't have thought.

[WarriorWinger]

So basically, the RFL are on a jolly to Vegas to 'strenghten ties' between the two comps, I'm sure the NRL can't wait to Strengthen with SL which has a tenth of the revenue and income than the NRL

so true.

I mean there is talk of an ownership deal from an organization with 10x our revenue. Wouldn't it be a bit odd to not even explore that? I imagine IMG would want the SL to have representation at this event.

BTW I think average income in Aus is less than in the UK. No idea how that equates to cost of living etc. but I imagine travel expenses to a Vegas game will be somewhat similar in terms of proportion of income. Not a trip most can do every year on either side of the world I wouldn't have thought.

There is random talk of it yet SL have denied even knowing anything about it, it was Matty Johns I believe who first mentioned it with no substance.

Unless the NRL suddenly want to just inject loads of cash into our game for no reason in particular what would we hope to gain, we would be dictated to be the NRL, potential move to winter rugby, our players going over there and never having an off season (leading to potential burn out), all these have been mentioned, so what is our gain, we may have more cash to spend but what will we spend it on?, giving our players more money will not all of a sudden turn them into far superior players.

What do SL gain from having someone there other than to see how it should be done, but isn't that what IMG are supposed to be doing, unless I have misunderstood their involvement, but SL reps can go there and see how a showcase weekend should look, but that will probably be lost on them with the budget they have.

I actually thought the average income was higher in Aus and also the cost of living was higher but I could be wrong, I did look into it many moons ago and thought it looked a lot more expensive over there.

[josie andrews]

The NRL should run world rugby league” – Gus Gould backs NRL to buy Super League

Australian pundit and Canterbury Bulldogs General Manager Gus Gould has supported the idea of the NRL buying Super League.

Gould is one of the big personalities in the game down under and he made a major splash with UK fans when he predicted that Penrith Panthers could declare at half-time in their World Club Challenge loss to St Helens.

The Australian took plenty of pelters but his opinion is generally one that carries a lot of weight and a lot of respect, which is why his latest thoughts are so important.

Reports of Super League being bought by the NRL emerged last week as part of the fallout from the World Club Challenge and Gould has now reacted to the news via his own podcast.

Speaking on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast segment on Channel Nine in Australia, Gould has thrown his support behind a buyout.

He explained: “There was talk last week of the NRL purchasing the UK Super League, which I think is a great idea. I recommended this four or five years ago.

“It’s a perfect gap between us and the US and I have no doubt that we will see a World Club Challenge in Vegas as part of a season-opening weekend. I have no doubt that we will see a women’s game in Vegas.

That’s the organic growth, showing the US not just our product but also our inclusiveness with men and women and showing that we’re international.”

“I think we could really help the UK game” – Gould backs Super League buyout

It’s clear that the game needs to adapt and grow and after the NRL posted record profits then potentially their involvement in the English game could be a positive.

Gould continued with the train of thought surrounding taking English sides out to Las Vegas alongside the NRL teams.

“By bringing clubs from England to play against Australian clubs in the US, we could have a two-weekend thing,” the 66-year-old argued.

“We could play the World Club Challenge the weekend before, and then you could play the NRL. I don’t know about availability and all of that, but we’ve got to keep making a noise.”

Continuing, he said: “I think we could really help the UK game. I think we could then get rid of what I think is a really ineffective international rugby league board, and we could have the NRL being the EPL of world rugby league. The game should emanate here from the NRL. The NRL should run world rugby league.

“There could be development pathways between competitions, getting back to international football, international timetables that go over five years, there’s a lot of things that can help if you’ve got control of the whole thing; the international game, the UK Super League, which is the second biggest competition, and we can help New Zealand, which we’ve got to do.

There’s a real opportunity in New Zealand. We’ve got to have another team there and pathways and programmes to help them over there. The Pacific Islands—we’ve all seen the huge opportunity there too—so bring it all under one banner and have one body control the whole lot. That should be the aim.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/the-nrl- ... gue-88846/

[josie andrews]

Arrogant Aussie Arseholes Who do they think they are?

Well if it comes to this in what’s left of my lifetime that will be me giving up on Rugby Super League!

[Mike]

Sounds good to me. Getting a two weekend showcase together, expand the game, use Aussie profits to offset the RFL losses and grow the marketing budget, open new markets... What's the problem?

[josie andrews]

Sounds good to me. Getting a two weekend showcase together, expand the game, use Aussie profits to offset the RFL losses and grow the marketing budget, open new markets... What's the problem?

The problem Mike is they forget the ordinary SL supporter. They’re not bothered about making SL better they just want to rule the sport meanwhile taking the best of our talent.

They have a far bigger pool of players to choose from yet they still keep taking our players from a so called poor competition.

Keep taking games to America! Do you think poor working class Joe could afford to go to watch these special games in other countries? Do you think it’s fair? Yes alternate between England & Australia to be fair to bot competitions, but even some Aussie teams like it to be here, to give everyone a chance to see the best players. Don’t take it to America! They’re not all that interested, they want NFL, not RL or NRL!

The yanks IMO are another set of arrogant arseholes!

That’s my opinion.

The event was surprisingly not the slickest thing. High winds cancelled the outside tailgate party, the half time presentation in the first game was well done, but the build up to the first game was pretty poor and the weird audio problems where they kept micing up the ref at high volume at the wrong times was slightly embarrassing.

I was surprised that the NRL wouldn't be more professional than the overall presentation looked, especially in an NFL ground with all its audio visual potential. It's not just the RFL that messes things up.

Vegas which I find to be one of the worst places on earth!

That’s some of your opinion of the game in Vegas Mike.

I thought the presentation we put on at the DW, for a much poorer competition, was excellent

[josie andrews]

A loss-making third-rate football comp” – Aussie radio host rips into Super Leagu

SUPER LEAGUE“A loss-making third-rate football comp” – Aussie radio host rips into Super Leagueby Ollie Mitchell March 7, 2024

NRL champions Penrith Panthers will take on Wigan Warriors

The host of an Australian radio station has called the Super League a ‘third-rate’ competition while questioning the NRL’s reported interest in buying it.

Talk of this becoming a reality has been going on for a number of years, with similar reports coming in 2020.

Speaking on SENQ, host Ben Davis discussed recent reports that the top-tier of Australian rugby is interested in buying its rival competition.

Why would you buy a loss-making third-rate football comp in England? What would that achieve?”

These comments came shortly after Wigan Warriors beat NRL champions Penrith Panthers to win the World Club Challenge, and a year after St Helens beat them at Penrith Stadium to win the 2023 edition.

“Why shouldn’t it be the UK Super League? Quick Google search will answer those questions for you.

“September last year, they posted, every single club in Super League, deficits. They were making financial losses, not a single club made a profit.

Those losses totalled £12.3 million… Why would the NRL be investing in this?”

He admitted that many clubs in the NRL also fail to make a profit, but noted that the RFL, which posted losses of almost £1 million in 2022, was in stark contrast to the NRL’s £30 million operating surplus.

They’ve had to enlist IMG, the global marketing giant, to come in and run the commercial side of the game in the UK. SO why is the NRL even looking at this?”



‘NRL needs Super League to be strong’ – Journo fights back over comments

On the same show, Gary Belcher, who played over 200 games in Australia and briefly played for Castleford Tigers, had a contrasting take.

He said: “I think it’s so important to us that they make sure that the UK Super League survives. It just has to, at least we’ve got one other strong competition.

“We’ve got all these other national teams that are going well, New Zealand, and Samoa and Tonga and Papua New Guinea, but their competitions aren’t very strong.

“I think it’s super important that the NRL makes sure that the UK Super League is strong.”

He also noted that money isn’t necessarily everything, and outlined why the NRL needs Super League to keep going.

He added: “Perhaps they know more about the game at an international level than we do, it might not be as financially robust as we like to think is is.

“Maybe they need to just get involved at some level, whether it’s buying them out totally or investing in them, just to make sure it keeps going.

I can’t imagine a future, I can’t imagine how rugby league’s ever going to be strong internationally, if that competition fell over. It would be a major concern.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/a-loss-m ... gue-88822/

[Mike]

My answer to the point where the NRL don't care about the fans is that they would have to care about the fans. Yes they want media attention, but they only get that by having a large, engaged fan base and actively increasing that. If they bought into SL they would want to improve its finances, and you do that by improving the competition, growing the fanbase and increasing media coverage. If you have money in the game, you're not motivated to make it worse - you'll lose your money. You're, motivated to improve things, and that is good for fans. As for the american games thing - yes, many won't be able to go regularly, some won't be able to go ever, but its one game a year that your team is probably not even in. If they take more than one game over, it would be rotated so your team might go once every 5 years or something like that - just like the NFL do with their euro games. IMO its not too much to ask to try to expand the fanbase and financial situation of the overall game and partnering with a finanically larger organisation give more chance of success.

BTW that Aussie journo is laughable. I would have taken great pleasure in laughing in his face after the WCC!

[kitt green warriors]

On this whole topic my main take away is the international game, forget about Vegas for a moment (Yes I agree with Mike, it's the most expensive place on earth) and a bit like Blackpool on hgh, steroids and bromantane!, anyway back to topic, can anyone honestly say we've had a proper international series since 94, I loved watch Wigan v Australia at Central Park, it was on a par with Wembley for me, of course the lack of tv coverage in them days made folk like Meninga mythical. but since 94 we haven't had owt like it and to me the international game is what should be the pinnacle of your sport, at the moment it's a post season afterthought, a disgraceful way to treat the international game, now the idea of moving to winter doesn't appeal to me and we certainly won't be moving to summer over here so I don't know the solution but for my 2 bobs worth I loved rugby in winter at Central Park, the boxing day Saints clash, Wire on New year's Day, Australia in November every 4 years, there's something romantic about the smell of pies and Bovril, the owd men stood next to you with a hip flask offering it round to keep warm!. the fact we used to sell out Wembley, Old Trafford and Elland Rd for the ashes and now we could play it at Leigh says it all to me, I wouldn't be against a return to winter rugby but I also understand the product is better in the northern hemisphere summer, let me ask this question, if the rulers said, were bringing back the ashes series but it will be in June away every 4 years and home every 4 years, the competitions will continue like normal for a home series but the travelling team competition would continue without the best players for 8 weeks, but we'd get ashes series and Wigan v Australia or Brisbane v Great Britain, would you accept that for the good of the international game?, I personally would. There's no easy solution but we need to do summat to put international rugby back at the top of the tree and if that meant going to winter or whatever then I'd be 100% behind it.

I personally hope they have the WCC in Vegas next year as that's the fairest option in my opinion, the amount of Wigan and Hull fans I met in Vegas was obscene, but I saw every team including a Dewsbury fan!, I've been to magic rounds in both countries, I've been to grand finals in both countries, I've watched internationals in both countries and that fan fest in Freemont St was the best time I've had, everybody getting on with loads of banter proper good.
Anyroad I've said my piece, if they buy it all well and good and I o my see positive things, if they don't then I see improvement with IMG coming too so all good too, but improve the international game!!!!!!!!