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https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/relocation-expansion-new-teams-phil-gould-benji-marshall-speak-out/a2c18041-829e-45d9-9bdd-9bff38820c17
The NRL should have a second club in Brisbane and a team in Perth before the next broadcast rights deal, Phil Gould says.
The Penrith Panthers football boss and Channel Nine commentator believes that the NRL should then create a second team in Auckland. That would mean the NRL could play games in Brisbane and Auckland every weekend. You can't relocate. It's not going to work," Gould said.
I think we've had this conversation many, many times. I don't think relocation is ever going to work.
"Not just for the club that is going to be relocated; they're going to resist. But for the area they're going to, they're not going to accept that. 'We don't want that team from Sydney, we want our own team. Gould said that the NRL should be able to offer broadcasters an additional game, via an 18-team competition, when the next broadcast rights deal begins in 2023.
I would like to think that our game, we have more to offer the broadcasters the next time the rights deals are negotiated. At least one extra game a week, anyway," he said.
"I don't think relocation is the key. If it's expansion that we need to get a greater footprint, I think we need another team in Brisbane, a team in Perth, which is an ideal sort of timeslot for television and broadcasters as well.
"And if we were going to have another team, I'd have it in Auckland, if we were going to have another team in New Zealand. They'd be the three key areas that I'd be looking at.
"The second New Zealand team needs to be in Auckland, not anywhere else. Auckland is the only place in NZ that can sustain another NRL franchise, in my opinion.
"It's a game in Auckland every weekend, the same as a game in Brisbane every weekend. They're playing home and away, and the local derby becomes a big event every season
Gould said that a second Brisbane team was "absolutely inevitable". He recalled that the South Queensland Crushers, founded in 1994 and ended off in 1997, were only killed off due to rugby league politics.
"There should be a game in Brisbane every weekend," Gould said.
"There was no failing [with the Crushers]. They were actually kicked out of the competition with money in the bank.
"They were financially viable, that was just political. That was the fact that the Brisbane Broncos were owned primarily by the media company
just flushed them out of town, they didn't want them there as competition.
"Which was a very short-sighted decision, but that was the climate at the time, that's the way the game was. Brisbane should have had two teams for a long time, for a long time. And it would have been good for the Broncos, because they need the competition up there as well. It would have helped in a lot of ways."
The only way you're going to lose a Sydney team is if a Sydney team goes broke. But if the Sydney teams keep paying their bills, they've got no reason to kick them out," he said.
"Remember: the clubs own the game. The clubs are the shareholders in the game. People keep missing that point. The NRL doesn't own the game; there's no such thing as the NRL owning the game.
"The clubs own the game; they're the stakeholders in the game. The commission manages the game on behalf of the clubs. Don't ever lose that point."
The NRL should have a second club in Brisbane and a team in Perth before the next broadcast rights deal, Phil Gould says.
The Penrith Panthers football boss and Channel Nine commentator believes that the NRL should then create a second team in Auckland. That would mean the NRL could play games in Brisbane and Auckland every weekend. You can't relocate. It's not going to work," Gould said.
I think we've had this conversation many, many times. I don't think relocation is ever going to work.
"Not just for the club that is going to be relocated; they're going to resist. But for the area they're going to, they're not going to accept that. 'We don't want that team from Sydney, we want our own team. Gould said that the NRL should be able to offer broadcasters an additional game, via an 18-team competition, when the next broadcast rights deal begins in 2023.
I would like to think that our game, we have more to offer the broadcasters the next time the rights deals are negotiated. At least one extra game a week, anyway," he said.
"I don't think relocation is the key. If it's expansion that we need to get a greater footprint, I think we need another team in Brisbane, a team in Perth, which is an ideal sort of timeslot for television and broadcasters as well.
"And if we were going to have another team, I'd have it in Auckland, if we were going to have another team in New Zealand. They'd be the three key areas that I'd be looking at.
"The second New Zealand team needs to be in Auckland, not anywhere else. Auckland is the only place in NZ that can sustain another NRL franchise, in my opinion.
"It's a game in Auckland every weekend, the same as a game in Brisbane every weekend. They're playing home and away, and the local derby becomes a big event every season
Gould said that a second Brisbane team was "absolutely inevitable". He recalled that the South Queensland Crushers, founded in 1994 and ended off in 1997, were only killed off due to rugby league politics.
"There should be a game in Brisbane every weekend," Gould said.
"There was no failing [with the Crushers]. They were actually kicked out of the competition with money in the bank.
"They were financially viable, that was just political. That was the fact that the Brisbane Broncos were owned primarily by the media company
just flushed them out of town, they didn't want them there as competition.
"Which was a very short-sighted decision, but that was the climate at the time, that's the way the game was. Brisbane should have had two teams for a long time, for a long time. And it would have been good for the Broncos, because they need the competition up there as well. It would have helped in a lot of ways."
The only way you're going to lose a Sydney team is if a Sydney team goes broke. But if the Sydney teams keep paying their bills, they've got no reason to kick them out," he said.
"Remember: the clubs own the game. The clubs are the shareholders in the game. People keep missing that point. The NRL doesn't own the game; there's no such thing as the NRL owning the game.
"The clubs own the game; they're the stakeholders in the game. The commission manages the game on behalf of the clubs. Don't ever lose that point."
