PARRAMATTA have devised a provocative sales pitch in their drive to find a major sponsor, declaring: “We are the strongest professional sports organisation in Western Sydney.”
Their boast was met with some resistance yesterday from rival clubs but the Eels are bullish and reinvigorated in their intense search for a heavyweight corporate partner.
Parramatta released graphics and research yesterday showing why they can claim to be the number one club in Western Sydney.
Penrith and Canterbury last night questioned Parramatta’s claim, while the GWS Giants claimed: “We have established a deep connection with the Western Sydney community.”
Respected Eels chief executive Bernie Gurr outlined to The Daily Telegraph his club’s sales pitch as the 2017 season edges closer with Parramatta joining Cronulla as clubs still without a major sponsor.
Parramatta Eels CEO Bernie Gurr is selling his club as the best in the west. Picture. Phil Hillyard“By any metric, we are the strongest professional sports organisation in Western Sydney,” Gurr said. “We are the top, not only among NRL clubs but across GWS and the Western Sydney Wanderers. We think we’ve got the best marketing proposition of any other NRL club.
“Number one, the governance issues around the club are being repaired.
“Number two, we will have a new management team which is committed to acting professionally and acting with integrity.
“Number three, our football program is very, very solid and I am really happy with the program under Brad (Arthur, coach).
“Number four, if you look at any metrics, whether it’s free to-air TV viewership, pay-TV viewership, the amount of space we get in publications, such as The Daily Telegraph, if you look at social media, if you look at the number of female fans that support NRL clubs in Western Sydney, we are the top.
Parramatta are popular on television. Pic Mark Evans“All those metrics should appeal to a corporate partner to link with us. We think we’re on the ‘up’ and that we will repair the club and run the club properly.”
Across NSW and Queensland, club research shows Parramatta’s TV audience is seven times more than GWS and about 14 times more than the Wanderers.
Parramatta also claim to be the most supported NRL club in western Sydney, with 27 per cent of all fans following the Eels, according to a Neilson survey.
But is Parramatta the “strongest” club in the highly competitive Western Sydney market?
“He (Gurr) could be right but he wouldn’t want slip-up because we’ll overtake him,” Panthers group and football CEO, Brian Fletcher.
Penrith will keep an eye on Parramatta’s claims. Picture: Gregg Porteous“We have 128,000 members in our group, 98,000 at Panthers. We have 8500 juniors, I don’t know how many they have got. I think you see Oak (Penrith’s major sponsor) in the Telegraph more than any other sponsor. Plus Gus (Phil Gould) is with Channel Nine.”
A Wests Tigers spokesman said the club’s focus was on genuine engagement with their communities.
“We are the most progressive club in Western Sydney that reflects the ever-changing region. We pride ourselves on being innovative and strive to be relevant with everything we do.
“We have the fastest growing membership among Western Sydney NRL clubs (2016) and our geographical footprint represents enormous opportunity for a brand that has over 300,000 fans.”
Canterbury also lay claim to being Western Sydney’s number one club with CEO Raelene Castle saying: “A strong Parramatta is good for the NRL and is necessary to continue growing rugby league in Western Sydney but currently the Bulldogs are the highest-watched team in NSW over the past five years an also have the highest average crowd attendances in NSW.”
Wanderers have built a strong stable of sponsors in a short period of time.A GWS spokesman said: “As the youngest elite level sporting organisation in Western Sydney, the Giants continue to experience unprecedented growth across all key areas.
“We have established a deep connection with the Western Sydney community — we are on track to sign up 20,000 members in 2017, just our sixth year in existence — and we expect this to grow rapidly in the coming years.”
Wanderers CEO John Tsatsimas joined the debate, saying: “If you compare what we have achieved in under five years with any team in Australia our position stacks up favourably.
“We have created a strong and sustainable partner category, many of whom have been with us since our inception, our digital growth is astonishing and we have excellent diversity in our demographics, including a massive youth audience.”
Replies
What a load of shit, we havnt won anything in 30 years and have gone through some serious drama, all this is fluff and talk from Bernie until we prove it, the organisations been a shamble for years, we dont even have a board announced, this is all wishful thinking from Bern, ive heard all the shit before from every CEO weve had.
No doubt Bern is doing his job and talking us up but fuck me ive heard all this BS before, time to prove it, we have the potential to be the club Bernie is talking about but its time for action..
* We are fixing our rubbish up
* we have new management
* our football program is strong
Hmm , ok . So wouldn't a club that
* hasn't been in the papers for all the wrong reasons
* already has long term successfull governance in place
* made the finals
Be a better opportunity than us ? Other than Parra having a great supporter base of loyal and suffering fans , I can't see how Bernie comes to the conclusions he's stated above .
I think this guy needs to take it down a peg and realise he may just have to take what he can get on a short term agreement and then prove ourselves to the bigger fish before they invest in a club that just can't seem to live up to their big talk .
If I was running a high profile company I wouldn't touch Parra with your dickk
Agree wiz and how many CEOs and board members have we heard the exact same shit from before?
Its like groundhog day at our club, a shit load of big talk from everybody who gets in, and plenty of big talk before any runs are on the board, and our fans buy it every time.
I like the motto of 'fake it till you make it', clearly thats what Berns up to in regards to how the club is viewed but its like groundhog day, lets hope it works.
Reality is we cant even attract sponsors from the 2nd biggest business district in NSW, we arnt just struggling for a major sponsor either.
I agree with his 3 and 4th points but as for crowing about governance and management being the best in the west, thats a bit rich by anybodies standards
I agree Wiz and Snake but why not talk us up? He may fool a big sponsor into taking us on.
Bernie knows what he's doing. He's got to continue making these pitches otherwise we'll never attract a sponsor. Would you rather he sit there and do nothing about it?
First thing Bernie needs to do is stop stuffing around and announce this board, that will show some stability for potential sponsors, with no board in place whos going to want to get on board as a major sponsor? For all they know Roy or one of his cronies could walk through the door, this isnt rocket science.
How can he be claiming how great our new governance and structure is if we dont have anything to show for it?
Announce the new board Bernie, youve already chosen them, THEN you might stand a chance of getting somebody on board as a sponsor, you are putting the cart before the horse with all this big talk.
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