What if there was no NRL?

[Jakeeboy]

What if there was no NRL or Rugby League?

This question has been on my mind for a few weeks now and I really want to hear other peoples views on this...

Based on the assumption Sydney and Brisbane develop in a similiar way to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth the conclusions I have come to are...


Team Layout:

I think the competition would be either a 22 or 24 team league.

7 NSW teams:
Five in Sydney
One in Newcastle
One in Wollongong/ Central Coast


6 Victorian teams:
Five in Melbourne
One in Geelong

5 Queensland teams:
Three in Brisbane
One on the Gold Coast
One in Nth. Queensland

2 WA teams:
Two Perth teams

2 SA teams:
Two Adelaide teams

1 ACT team:
One in Canberra

1 Tasmanian team:
Hobart/ Launceston

Possible additions:
7th Vic team
Darwin team
3rd Perth team
Central Coast team
2nd Nth Qld team (Sunshine Coast)
New Zealand team

League layout:

I think that league would be put into divisions if the competitions was 22 teams the divisions would be:

Division North:
Newcastle team
Five Qld teams

Division South:
All Melbourne teams
Tasmanian team

Division East:
All Sydney teams
Wollongong team

Division West:
Two Perth teams
Two Adelaide teams
ACT team
Geelong team

Each team in the same division would play each other twice and the rest of the competition once. For this to work the season would have to be extended to a 24 game regular season so that everything would go to plan. This mean there would be more cross town derbies and therefore much greater revenue for each club.

The biggest losers for a system like this would be Geelong and Canberra who have to travel to Adelaide and Perth twice each. This could be combated by playing the two games in Perth one week after the other.

Money:

I think the Salary cap for the AFL teams would be closer to 13mil per club. With much larger crowds and increased advertising and media deals the money would definitely be available to raise the salary cap considerably. Also having fewer teams in Melbourne would mean there are fewer struggling clubs that need handouts. (And more to give to smaller clubs like Geelong or Newcastle).

I think that the recent media deal would have gone for about $2.5-3 billion instead of $1.25 billion, I think that is because Sydney and Brisbane would no longer be divided markets and there would probably be an added 200,000 viewers to each game with fewer teams in each city e.g Melbourne.

I predict that each city would have/ need to have stadiums approx. this size.
Sydney: 85k seats, 60k seats, 50k seats
Melbourne: 100k seats, 60k seats, 40k seats
Brisbane: 80k seats, 45k seats
Perth: 75k seats, 55k seats
Adelaide: 60k seats, 35k seats
Gold Coast: 65k seats
New Castle: 55k seats
Central Coast: 50k seats
Tasmania: 45k seats, 30k seats
Canberra: 50k seats
Geelong: 40k seats

The AFL would be able to pay for most of these stadiums because of the increased revenue from NSW and QLD. The stadiums would need to be larger to accommodate the increased crowds in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

With no NRL, AFL players will become huge stars particularly when the stars could be making about 1.5mil a year, not to mention advertisement deals which could see it increased to 2mil a year.

Personally I would prefer if this were the case in Australia, if the AFL were as strong as this then I could it being recognized far more internationally as well.

P.S My thoughts are extremely muddled and I basically just blurted it all out without much... nit picking I guess...

Anyone I hope you enjoy! Please post a comment if you see anything you don't agree with

 

[blaze036]

Victoria is far more sport loving than NSW despite having a slightly smaller population, there would still be more vic teams than NSW teams

 

[Pykie]

This essentially won't be a hypothetical question in about 30 years

 

[AllFooty4]

This essentially won't be a hypothetical question in about 30 years.

God you people frustrate me, and some people wonder why NRL fans will get so piped up about AFL.....

 

[Pykie]

God you people frustrate me, and some people wonder why NRL fans will get so piped up about AFL.....

It's not a cynical view at all, I actually like league in some respects.


You think the AFL has corporate muscle now?


Wait until it takes ownership of the Docklands........


I didn't mean it in a finite quantity, rather in the scheme of $$$ in the Australian sporting landscape, NRL will be as relevant as the NBL is now.......

 

[Jakeeboy]

Victoria is far more sport loving than NSW despite having a slightly smaller population, there would still be more vic teams than NSW teams

There are 10 teams in Sydney and 11 in NSW altogether and 12 combined AFL and NRL.

There are 9 teams in Melbourne and 10 teams in Vic, with 11 combined (and practically no support for the NRL team). I see no reason why NSW couldn't have that many teams... Not to mention there is 1.5mil more people in NSW, I also considered giving the Central Coast a team till I realized that Brisbane needed a third.

This essentially won't be a hypothetical question in about 30 years.

Possibly We will have to wait and see.

 

[Jakeeboy]

I didn't mean it in a finite quantity, rather in the scheme of $$$ in the Australian sporting landscape, NRL will be as relevant as the NBL is now.......

Honestly I see Soccer being the main competitor of AFL in about... 50 years.

But no doubt on $$$ alone AFL is making millions upon millions more than the NRL.

 

[blaze036]

God you people frustrate me, and some people wonder why NRL fans will get so piped up about AFL.....

NRL clubs are in a lot more financial trouble than AFL clubs, and have a lot less back up cash to bail em out. The pokie reform will also hit NRL much harder. The introduction of GWS just shows the its a war of the codes and the bigger code (AFL) will likely win in 50 or so years.

Once people realize AFL is better though noone will care

 

[AllFooty4]

It's not a cynical view at all, I actually like league in some respects.


You think the AFL has corporate muscle now?


Wait until it takes ownership of the Docklands........


I didn't mean it in a finite quantity, rather in the scheme of $$$ in the Australian sporting landscape, NRL will be as relevant as the NBL is now.......

Oh, sorry about that. I just think that yeah with the introduction of new teams it's going to sway people's opinion, however there's a shitload of stubborn people that refuse to enjoy AFL because basically, it's AFL.

 

[blaze036]

Oh, sorry about that. I just think that yeah with the introduction of new teams it's going to sway people's opinion, however there's a shitload of stubborn people that refuse to enjoy AFL because basically, it's AFL.

Yes and people like that arnt going to change, which is why gws have been targetting schooles and stuff to get the next generations to grow up liking AFL, their not gonna take over west sydney in 5 years

 

[Jakeeboy]

Yes and people like that arnt going to change, which is why gws have been targetting schooles and stuff to get the next generations to grow up liking AFL, their not gonna take over west sydney in 5 years

Exactly, but I am not so sure it will be in our lifetime that NRL will be gone, it takes a long time to breed our a sport that is so main stream.

 

[le dominateur]

Ha, ha, as much as I hate RL, it ain't going nowhere, if anything it will get stronger in the next few years. A stronger RL could help the AFL in the long run by keeping soccer a distant 3rd or 4th of the football codes.

 

[AllSport]

RL ain't going anywhere once it's get it's house in order you see RL has been through alot of pain the past 15 years with incompetent administration, Super League War, Storm salary cap breach, etc it suffer alot of pains the AFL never had to endure. Throughout this time some critics predicted it the death of the NRL eg John O Neil of the Australian Rugby Union but it didn't happen back then so it wouldn't happen now.

Both codes will co-exist somehow and grow together one way or another and will go there own individual ways.

 

[Jakeeboy]

RL ain't going anywhere once it's get it's house in order you see RL has been through alot of pain the past 15 years with incompetent administration, Super League War, Storm salary cap breach, etc it suffer alot of pains the AFL never had to endure. Throughout this time some critics predicted it the death of the NRL eg John O Neil of the Australian Rugby Union but it didn't happen back then so it wouldn't happen now.

Both codes will co-exist somehow and grow together one way or another and will go there own individual ways.

This is not a question IF the NRL goes away, but IF it never existed what would the Australian sporting landscape look like?

And if we could please talk about that topic that would be great

 

[Aucklander]

You'd have the greatest Rugby Union team in the world.

 

[blaze036]

RL doesnt need to be gone... ill be thrilled if AFL becomes the number 1 sport in all states of Australia, that would be the main aim. It could never fully disappear

 

[The_Reaper]

You'd have the greatest Rugby Union team in the world.

Pretty much.

If rugby league didn't exist it would just mean that Union became professional about 8 decades ahead of time.

 

[sighclone]

Pretty much.

If rugby league didn't exist it would just mean that Union became professional about 8 decades ahead of time.

And would really be rugby league in all but name. The British class system divided rugby. The British class system determined the course of football in Australasia.

 

[Super sub]

NRL clubs are in a lot more financial trouble than AFL clubs, and have a lot less back up cash to bail em out. The pokie reform will also hit NRL much harder. The introduction of GWS just shows the its a war of the codes and the bigger code (AFL) will likely win in 50 or so years.

Once people realize AFL is better though noone will care

I came to live in NSW 30 years ago and my friends from Victoria told me then that rugby league was going to die. As a mad afl fan that scenario suited me.

In that time rugby league has gone national and expanded into Victoria. It's tv ratings have increased massively to the point where they are likely to get a similar deal to the afl for tv rights.

What is likely to happen in the next 50 years is that GWS and the suns will suck the afl dry, a couple of Melbourne teams will go to the wall because the afl has given all the cash to GWS and the suns. Then the AFL will finally give up on GWS and we will have a 14 or 15 team comp.

But in that 50 years people like you will not have changed your bigoted attitudes.

I live with people who are as bigoted about their nrl as you are about the afl. And I have learnt that you will not change attitudes easily. NRL is here to stay. These people will never follow afl, ever. In the same way you probably will never follow nrl.

I have found that the best thing to do is to accept each for what they are and enjoy which ever one you like.

PS: The nrl grand final out rated the afl on tv.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Would have been a bitter rivalry between the NSWFL and the VFL, akin to the NFL v AFL rivalry in the States during the 60s.

 

[harmesy 37]

I came to live in NSW 30 years ago and my friends from Victoria told me then that rugby league was going to die. As a mad afl fan that scenario suited me.


PS: The nrl grand final out rated the afl on tv.

The NRL g/f outrated the AFL g/f in New Zealand.

The Australian game outrated the pommy game in Australia though. Good try though. But I agree with your general point that NRL does rate enormously well....which for some is baffling seeing they see the game as being highly repetitive.


Yes...and before you give me all that "southern game" drivel- Melbourne, Wagga, Adelaide, Cairns, Darwin and Sydney all are locations in Australia. Leeds and Bradford aren't in Australia.

 

[Super sub]

The NRL g/f outrated the AFL g/f in New Zealand.

The Australian game outrated the pommy game in Australia though. Good try though. But I agree with your general point that NRL does rate enormously well....which for some is baffling seeing they see the game as being highly repetitive.

Was probably a bit naughty of me. But even in the Australian capitals the afl rated 2,595,000 to the league 2,030,000 hardly a thrashing. And the 690,000 who watched in NZ do count as far as selling tv rights.

Just sick and tired of people posting rubbish about league dying. I am a passionate Aussie rules man, but we are not exactly winning the war here.

What has not been reported strongly down south is that when the super league war happened the tv companies got the rights for next to nothing. That is all about to change an the league teams are going to be much stronger because of it.

AD will want to have a lot of money for GWS because he will have a fight on his hands.

 

[harmesy 37]

Was probably a bit naughty of me. But even in the Australian capitals the afl rated 2,595,000 to the league 2,030,000 hardly a thrashing. And the 690,000 who watched in NZ do count as far as selling tv rights.

Just sick and tired of people posting rubbish about league dying. I am a passionate Aussie rules man, but we are not exactly winning the war here.

What has not been reported strongly down south is that when the super league war happened the tv companies got the rights for next to nothing. That is all about to change an the league teams are going to be much stronger because of it.

AD will want to have a lot of money for GWS because he will have a fight on his hands.

Fair points..

I don't think league is anywhere near dying. As you mentioned the tv ratings for the game are enormous.
I do think GWS should be aiming for a different market though. There is room for hockey, baseball, basketball and american football in America...there should be room for the Australian game in the west of Sydney.

 

[nko11]

This is not a question IF the NRL goes away, but IF it never existed what would the Australian sporting landscape look like?

And if we could please talk about that topic that would be great

History lesson... Rugby Football League was created in 1895 in Huddersfield, England. It had split from Rugby Union due to player pay disputes. It spread to Sydney in 1908, Where Rugby Union was the main sport. Easts bought Dally Messenger and he brought the crowds and the rest is history. If there was no NRL, you would find that RU would be bigger and Soccer growing faster than ever. You should thank Rugby League if your that scared of Soccer

 

[Jakeeboy]

History lesson... Rugby Football League was created in 1895 in Huddersfield, England. It had split from Rugby Union due to player pay disputes. It spread to Sydney in 1908, Where Rugby Union was the main sport. Easts bought Dally Messenger and he brought the crowds and the rest is history. If there was no NRL, you would find that RU would be bigger and Soccer growing faster than ever. You should thank Rugby League if your that scared of Soccer

I made the assumption that Sydney developed in a similar way as Melbourne. I do think that without NRL Soccer and Union would be bigger, but... Union is a bit scrappy to say the least and to the untrained eye just seems very unstructured. Soccer is basically a none contact sport so there isn't any reason that soccer and AFL couldn't co-exist easily.