New Era For Australian Rugby League

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Tiger_Watto

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**<big>New era for Australian rugby league</big>**
Updated February 09, 2012 19:32:41

After more than three years of speculation, hand-wringing and boardroom wranglings, the long-awaited Australian Rugby League Commission will finally see the light of day on Friday.

New chairman, Queenslander John Grant, a member of the 1972 Kangaroos World Cup team, will launch the commission at the code's new Moore Park headquarters on a historic day for rugby league in Australia.

NRL chief executive David Gallop will continue in a similar role alongside Grant, with seven other commission members made up of heavyweights from the world of business, education and advertising.

The new commission will see the dissolution of the current ARL and officially mark the end of News Limited's involvement in the running of the game.

The ARL will hold its final meeting at 8.30 (AEST) on Friday morning to officially dissolve the body.

The new commission will be unveiled at a media conference fronted by Grant 11.30am (AEST) - just under three weeks' before the start of the 2012 NRL season.

It will take control of the game at a critical time, with television, internet and sponsorship deals all expiring at the end of the season.

Gary Pemberton, the man widely credited with securing record broadcasting rights for the Sydney Olympics, is on the new board and likely to be entrusted with securing a new lucrative TV deal.

He will be pushing to secure an agreement that is close to the $1.25 billion pocketed by the AFL last year.

However, that task will be severely tested in the wake of last week's High Court decision to allow Optus to show delayed AFL highlights on their handsets, which is in direct competition to Telstra's exclusive contract worth $153m over five years.

The NRL were looking for a similar deal and there are now concerns they could be sold short again.

Pemberton will be joined on the commission by Harris Farm founder and chairwoman Catherine Harris; brand strategist Ian Elliot and business heavyweights Peter Gregg and Jeremy Sutcliffe.

Highly-respected indigenous educationalist Dr Chris Sarra - Queensland's Australian of the Year in 2009 and a key figure in the Indigenous All Stars concept - is also on board along with former NSW skipper Wayne Pearce.

The end of the current ARL will not affect the NSWRL and QRL, who will continue to oversee representative sides in their respective states.

The Country Rugby League will merge with the NSWRL and be based at the new HQ in Sydney.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-09/nrl-ushers-in-a-new-era/3821328?section=sport
 
@Spartan117 said:
Hallelujah - Great day for the Game.
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Absolutely. It's refreshing to have an outside influence on the day to day running of the game, considering the boys club has done nothing but shoot itself in the foot for years. We shouldn't expect change overnight, but with such a marketable product and some people on board with reputable business acumen, there's no reason why this game cannot grow exponentially from here on in.

Glad to see News and the ARL finally out of the game.
 
@Cultured Bogan said:
@Spartan117 said:
Hallelujah - Great day for the Game.

Absolutely. It's refreshing to have an outside influence on the day to day running of the game, considering the boys club has done nothing but shoot itself in the foot for years. We shouldn't expect change overnight, but with such a marketable product and some people on board with reputable business acumen, there's no reason why this game cannot grow exponentially from here on in.

Glad to see News and the ARL finally out of the game.
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Lets hope the NRL clubs stand back and let the IC run this comp fairly and not let itself be controlled by clubs who only really care about their own interests and not the interests of the most important thing ,the game itself
 
Well that's it isn't it Happy. They've voted for this, now they're at their mercy… I just hope that they have a five year plan and that the likes of Manly and Cronulla aren't holding the league back in a decades time because they're a bloody fiscal basketcase.
 
Hopefully the ARLC can fix the issues in the macarthur area and viability of cronulla. They should go to perth
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Congratulations to those who have made this a reality… Lets hope we see some much needed funding to Regional Areas and Junior Leagues, plus a more realistic Business Management approach to how the game operates.

Finally a Queenslander is the Head of Rugby League again!
 
@Tiger Watto said:
Congratulations to those who have made this a reality… Lets hope we see some much needed funding to Regional Areas and Junior Leagues, plus a more realistic Business Management approach to how the game operates.

Finally a Queenslander is the Head of Rugby League again!
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Yeah but he is a mate of Bennett's Watto 😱pen_mouth🙁According to my old man)
 
Nothing wrong with that HT… Both Bob and Wayne have a wealth of knowledge and over the years have been great managers with empecable vision.
 
finally, its here.

to the arl and news: that was the longest goodbye ive ever been a part of (closely followed by darren lockyers farewell)
 
Reserve judgement, seen nothing yet, no plan, no Pay/FTA negotiations, no info on pathways, development, or competition tiers. So far it's nothing more than Michael Searle's vision reaching reality in the comfortable confines of a sexy new building.
 
@Citizen Tiger said:
Reserve judgement, seen nothing yet, no plan, no Pay/FTA negotiations, no info on pathways, development, or competition tiers. So far it's nothing more than Michael Searle's vision reaching reality in the comfortable confines of a sexy new building.
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i was about to write the same thing, but you already have, so what he said.
Hopefully the game will be less hamstrung by all the different boards and so forth, but at this stage it remains to be seen.

Michael Searle has left his mark on the game, I know the All star game was Prestons vision, but he played a huge part in making it a reality, now the IC, his brain child.
 
Hopefully things will move forward in a very positive way for the game now, bit concerned with this Optus thing though, hopefully they can still get a decent amount of money out of any deal they make.
 
The Fox arrangement has been under-valued for a few years now due to the dual ownership situation. With this now changed, the Fox deal should see a major increase in revenue on 2 fronts. No more golden handshakes, and Pay TV will be more exclusive now Optus can simply steal the FTA coverage.

Anything over $850M will be a bonus!
 
Hard to judge the commission but they are certainly making all the right noises. It is very exciting to think that rugby league could start reaching its real potential after so many years of wandering. If they can get the tv rights deal we need, get all the clubs running professionally, expand to new regions, double the players pay packets, and develop the kids and the bush…

I'm not asking too much, am I?
 
@Cultured Bogan said:
Well that's it isn't it Happy. They've voted for this, now they're at their mercy… I just hope that they have a five year plan and that the likes of Manly and Cronulla aren't holding the league back in a decades time because they're a bloody fiscal basketcase.
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Clubs like Manly and Cronulla are praying they can hold on long enough to make the next TV deal because it will apparently solve all their financial woes. They forget to realise that players wages will just rise and the players association is already rattling the cage:

**Players get in for chop of broadcast bonanza**
Brad Walter
February 17, 2012

_NRL players will seek a significant salary cap rise next year followed by progressive increases for the next four seasons after that.\
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The NRL and the Rugby League Players' Association are in the process of finalising a new collective bargaining agreement for the upcoming season, but once that is done the focus will almost immediately turn to the next deal.\
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With negotiations in progress for television and new media rights deals as well as the naming rights to the NRL premiership, much more money is set to flow into the game from next year and the players expect a **substantial** increase in payments.\
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It is expected the new broadcast deal will be worth $1 billion over five years, and the association's chief executive, David Garnsey, said the formation of the ARL Commission last week should result in revenue increases across the board.\
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''As the game grows, the players are obviously entitled to share in that growth," Garnsey said.\
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"Nobody is certain at present of what the value of rugby league's new media rights agreement will be, but we have all seen the projections and there is every indication that it will be a major improvement on the current deal.\
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''We will be seeking a substantial increase in the salary cap for 2013 but we want progressive increases every year of the agreement as well. We see no point in having a big jump next year and then going nowhere after that.''\
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However, Garnsey said the salary cap was only one area of concern for the players, adding they would also be seeking an increase in the minimum wage, greater income protection and improvements to the current superannuation scheme.\
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Garnsey is waiting for a response from the players before telling the NRL if he can agree to the terms of a new agreement for this season.\
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''There is some prospect that we will get a deal done for this year on limited issues but we are not across the line yet,'' he said.\
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Among the issues being discussed are:\
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* image rights;
* memorabilia;
* a mandatory day off each week during the season;
* an increase in welfare and education grants;
* the right of players to wear boots of their own choice;
* extending the life insurance policy to cover players outside the top 25 at each club;
* ticketing for players' families; and
* parking.\
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''They are important issues and all things that the players have raised with us, but they are conspicuously things that aren't going to cost a lot of money because there is a recognition that there is no money to be had this year,'' Garnsey said._
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/players-get-in-for-chop-of-broadcast-bonanza-20120216-1tbwz.html#ixzz1maGjqVhQ
 
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