The billion dollar NRL deal should represent the start of a new era for Rugby League and our club.
We've already seen the level of professionalism in Rugby League increase dramatically with clubs listing on the stock exchange and some clubs employing executives at the highest echelons of our business community.
With the increased in funding from the latest rights deals, that is set to increase again as clubs should finally be approaching a position to run autonomously, free from the need to be propped up by Leagues clubs.
At this stage, indications are that clubs will get an increase in their annual grant from $4.3 million to $5.05 million. This is significant because for the first time it is greater than the salary cap. However, the clubs should absolutely argue for a bigger share of the pie. The NRL is picking up an extra $100 million a year from this deal, which would equate to over $6 million per club if the money was directed solely that way. One would hope that the sustainability of Rugby League's clubs, at a time when many clubs are truly battling to stay afloat because of financial problems within their Leagues clubs, should be the first priority.
Club administrators should be arguing that the NRL should first and foremost be aiming to make each of them independently sustainable. Money currently given by Leagues clubs to sustain NRL franchises could then be directed into local junior development (and their should be a NRL-requirement in place for that to happen).
Additionally, one would hope that this bounty will also help the game grow and increase its audience, and that together with the opportunities for every Rugby League club to become a marketing platform via digital mediums, represents huge opportunities for significant increases in revenue.
For our club, I think the deal again shows us why we should be looking to separate the Leagues Club from the NRL franchise. I want our NRL franchise to be a professional, sustainable business operation, rather than the current state of affairs which I think pretty much every Parramatta fan understands is simply not satisfactory. I'm sick of seeing decisions made about the NRL franchise, that are influenced or swayed by Leagues Club political shenanigans.
I'm quite sure that a professionally managed Parramatta Eels should now be within sight of running as a sustainable, autonomous business. At the very least, that should be our goal. We want to be in a position where Leagues Club money should be the cream on the pie and as I've said preferably directed towards areas like junior development.
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Apart from money n a higher amount coming to the clubs which everybody knew was going to happen, there in not one iota of change in this TV deal, imo its a total disgrace n slap in the face to fans, Chalk has let ch9 walk over him n run the show, i thought Mutt outlines it well in another blog, to me this deal signifies nothing at all, certainly not change other than dollar figures, imo its been a step backward for a game that has the power to to a big degree take hold of its future i thing its an EPIC FAIL.
I'm not debating the ins and outs of the deal here Snake, what I'm saying is that more than DOUBLING the primary income source of the game SHOULD result in a fundamental structural change to how the clubs (who lets face it are the game) are run. That's really, really important. If you've ever been or seen a business that has been running hand-to-mouth and then you suddenly get a little boost in income that means you can start investing in growth, you'll know what I mean. That's what this deal should do for the game if the money is managed well, and for me that's the most important thing now.
(I will say briefly again I don't want to take this off-topic but the business reality is that the NRL was never going to be able to usher in massive changes and get the big boost in revenue. They will be in a very strong position come the next deal to make larger changes particular as I say if within that 5 year window, they manage to have all clubs strong and sustainable. At that point, you wield power and you can make calls whereby you say we're willing to take a hit on revenue if you make these concessions.)
For sure mutt, this is an almost tragic epic fail of a deal, theres no point even having an independant commision, just let Gyngel and ch9 run the show, and they do..
This is where the NRL need to show a bit of backbone. Strong sustainable clubs with professional management will generate more money and then your in a better position to start paying players more on the back of additional income sources that would then be able to be developed like membership and marketing.
You only have to look at our club to see what happens when for whatever reason, administrators make the decision to slash costs. You end up with businesses that don't properly service their customers and when your not doing that you lose business.
A) Get clubs running professionally and financially sustainable
B) When clubs start generating revenue over and above what they need to sustain that's where salary cap increases kick in
C) Leagues clubs focus on local competitions and junior development
Crow im not sure how this deal will make the club into a community with well managed prioroties, 1 million is actually a small amount of extra funding the way thing are going these days, i think this money will just be eaten up with bigger salaries, look at the money we n every other club is paying for top line players, there salaries are only going to get bigger n clubs will pay more cause they have to compete n are looking for the edge, whilst everything else will remain the same.
nothing will change as long ch9 has the game in its hands which it does
Fair enough Phil, i understand what your saying, but im just so dissapointed that ch9 have the fans and the game at their mercy, i know you wernt really talking about that in the blog and you were looking at it in a business sense but im just so upset that we had the power to really make a stand to ch9 over so many issues that directly change the game and we didnt, cheers
its a good n nice idea bongo, but i dont think its going to happen, the clubs are just to greedy these days, the chance of memberships, tickets and merchandise coming down due to this deal is 0%
LOL, you got me there bongo VOTE BONGO 'FANS FIRST' ANSTEE
Money should be put into junior development, especially our club if we can continue along the right path our club should be full of Parra juniors in 10-15 years time and we should be consistently competing for the premiership instead of looking at big-name players for a short-term fix
I say no more
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