The SMH has good coverage of yesterday’s summit involved involving the 16 NRL clubs and their proposal for an independent commission to take over the game.
There is also an interview with Titans’ CEO Michael Searle who has been the driving force behind bringing the clubs together.
There are two answers from Searle that I’d like to highlight.
Q Why do this now?
”We’re in a situation where the game has been challenged by rival codes in our core market. We’ve got a taxation regime on some of the licensed clubs that support our Sydney clubs that is quite expensive and putting them in a perilous situation, so we need to start to plan for life after poker-machine revenue. The global economic crisis certainly created some fear amongst the clubs that we need to be well prepared and well structured to maximise our revenue. They’re the downsides. The upside is that we’re on a surging wave where the game continues to get back to its pre-1995 support in its core markets. The fact that we’re now dominating some of our competitors means that we probably need the best possible structure to maximise it as well. We shouldn’t just rely on the fact that we’re going well, we should make sure that we maximise it.”
And…
Q What’s in this for the fans?”They get the game back. The game of rugby league gets to retain all the profits, and the fan will see a voice via their clubs. At the moment, the clubs are clearly reliant on the fans providing them feedback, and it’s their job to try and provide the best possible product. This gives the game back to the people. We’re no longer shifting revenue out of the game, we’re maximising revenue, and from the fans’ perspective, they’ll have an independent group of business people that can take the game to another level. The fans can feel comfortable in the knowledge that this model will make their team economically more stable. This gives long-term security to the clubs, and ultimately to the fans of those clubs.”
While there may be issues and egos to overcome, I don’t see any reason why the ARL and News Ltd will block any move. Whether it is up an running by the start of the season is another story but a minor issue compared to the greater scheme.
The response from News Ltd and the ARL will be interesting.
Meanwhile over at News, well they miss the point and the story become another sad excuse for a News journo to indulge in a petty display of ego. Phil, it doesn’t always need to be about you.
