Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:08 pm  

Only Rugby League fans in Britain would be able to turn one of the worlds largest TV Sports broadcasting deals into a bad news story.

This deal has the potential to propel the NRL over the next decade into becoming a global sporting mega brand, like The Premier League, NBA or NFL.

The contract pretty much cements Rugby league as by far the most dominant code of Rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.

I can see the potential that over the next decade, getting a contract to play in the NRL, will be something that many rugby players of both codes will aspire too.
You are a nobody in Basketball unless you play in the NBA, going forward you wont be anyone in Rugby unless you have played NRL.

What of the impact to British RL.
Well many of our best players will naturally gravitate down there as the money on offer, a bog standard NRL player will soon be earning £200k while the superstars will be earning close to £1million a season in the NRL.

This will naturally lower the standard of the British competition, however it may make it more exciting.
I'll explain. With fewer stars at the top teams. The difference in quality between the Saints and Wigans of this world compared to the Salfords and Castlefords will be less. This will make for more unpredictable results and a more closely fought league.

Some people have also suggested that with fewer stars on show that fans will turn away from the sport. This is debatable as it can be argued that there are few genuine star turns in the SL at this moment in time, yet gates are at historically high levels.
The last time Britain had a raft of genuine world class players was the early 1970's, when the likes of St.Helens and Wigan only averaged 3000 to 4000 a match.
The late 1980's early 1990's also saw genuine stars like Andy Gregory, Gary Schofield, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Jonathon Davies. Yet gates were less than in the current SL era.

This to me shows that getting people to games is about more than the perceived quality on the pitch.

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:16 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

Snip

Great post and I agree with all of it.

Also, let's not forget the impact it could have on the England team. Not only would it have our superstars improve by playing in the best competition in the world, but such players won't suffer from the inferiority complex that our players undoubtedly suffer from when playing the Australians. They will have seen it for themselves.

The success of Ellis, Graham and the Burgess brothers has proved that our top forwards are some of the best in the world. If this deal ends up sending a few backs over such as Tomkins, Hall and Briscoe and the like, then I can see only good things to come on that front.

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:15 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

Only Rugby League fans in Britain would be able to turn one of the worlds largest TV Sports broadcasting deals into a bad news story.

This deal has the potential to propel the NRL over the next decade into becoming a global sporting mega brand, like The Premier League, NBA or NFL.

The contract pretty much cements Rugby league as by far the most dominant code of Rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.

I can see the potential that over the next decade, getting a contract to play in the NRL, will be something that many rugby players of both codes will aspire too.
You are a nobody in Basketball unless you play in the NBA, going forward you wont be anyone in Rugby unless you have played NRL.

What of the impact to British RL.
Well many of our best players will naturally gravitate down there as the money on offer, a bog standard NRL player will soon be earning £200k while the superstars will be earning close to £1million a season in the NRL.

This will naturally lower the standard of the British competition, however it may make it more exciting.
I'll explain. With fewer stars at the top teams. The difference in quality between the Saints and Wigans of this world compared to the Salfords and Castlefords will be less. This will make for more unpredictable results and a more closely fought league.

Some people have also suggested that with fewer stars on show that fans will turn away from the sport. This is debatable as it can be argued that there are few genuine star turns in the SL at this moment in time, yet gates are at historically high levels.
The last time Britain had a raft of genuine world class players was the early 1970's, when the likes of St.Helens and Wigan only averaged 3000 to 4000 a match.
The late 1980's early 1990's also saw genuine stars like Andy Gregory, Gary Schofield, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Jonathon Davies. Yet gates were less than in the current SL era.

This to me shows that getting people to games is about more than the perceived quality on the pitch.

Agree with all that. It's great news for the sport of RL in general and may start to turn the RU/RL talent drain back the other way which can only be a good thing. It does inevitably mean an ever decreasing standard of player available to SL clubs going forward however. Some day we'll all look back on the likes of Gardner, Shenton, Flannery, Foster etc. and feel a golden glow over the golden age of on-field quality that they represented...

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:06 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Some day we'll all look back on the likes of Gardner, Shenton, Flannery, Foster etc. and feel a golden glow over the golden age of on-field quality that they represented...

Change those names to Simon Booth, Tony Kaye, Mark Elia, Steve Bayliss for me will you so I can mourn too.

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:56 am  

This Quality arguement is very dubious, it just does not add up to me. I have always got frustrated at the arguement of we need less teams to improve quality.

I think it's more down to a lack of effort by clubs to go find people to play RL at the top level and a lack of training. Seriously we have a population of over 60 million people for the current super league thats 420 top class players. If RL in the UK can't find 1000 top class atheletes then thats just not good enough. I imagine Asda saying we can't find 1000 top class people to run our stores as Tescos has them all. It would not be acceptable.

Sure there will always be a few talented individuals who stand out above the rest, but a pro sportsperson can be created too. If you don't beleive it look at the Olympics and you will see Sir Ste Redgrave who recognised the small pool rowing and the likes where fishing in, and so spread the net further and just went looking for big tall athletic people. Got them involved and some have those have gone on to be the best in the world at their sport in less than 4-5 years.

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:03 pm  

The drain of our 'top' players is looking set to start already: http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... sport.html

The drain of our 'top' players is looking set to start already: http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... sport.html

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:02 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote: The drain of our 'top' players is looking set to start already: http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... sport.html

BackrowSaint wrote: The drain of our 'top' players is looking set to start already: http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/ar ... sport.html

Re: NRL signs $1 billion broadcast deal : Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:58 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

I think it's more down to a lack of effort by clubs to go find people to play RL at the top level and a lack of training. Seriously we have a population of over 60 million people for the current super league thats 420 top class players. If RL in the UK can't find 1000 top class atheletes then thats just not good enough. I imagine Asda saying we can't find 1000 top class people to run our stores as Tescos has them all. It would not be acceptable.

I think the unstoppable rise of the football monster cannot be overlooked in this. How many talented teenagers are there currently plying their trade in Liverpool's or Man. Utd.'s academies and never touching a rugby ball that once upon a time would have been on Saints' or Wigan's books instead? A great many I'd be prepared to wager... British RL is losing most of it's top talent to football years before it is ever even seen on a professional RL field - the days of the likes of Alex Murphy and Denis Betts turning down promising football careers for RL instead are gone forever.

bewareshadows wrote:

Sure there will always be a few talented individuals who stand out above the rest, but a pro sportsperson can be created too. If you don't beleive it look at the Olympics and you will see Sir Ste Redgrave who recognised the small pool rowing and the likes where fishing in, and so spread the net further and just went looking for big tall athletic people. Got them involved and some have those have gone on to be the best in the world at their sport in less than 4-5 years.

A fair point, but that success in finding talent has come in sports with comparatively little international competition and in athletic disciplines requiring physical talents and builds that wouldn't suceed in football, and unfortunately RL (at least as far as backs go) is competing directly with football for it's talent. And simply huge amounts of money has been spent on finding and developing those Olympic athletes don't forget (5 million quid per gold medal I think on average) and that money simply just doesn't exist in RL.