New North American Competition?

[RobertAM]

On 27/03/2021 at 12:51, GeordieSaint said:

Atlanta is a long way from those other locations...

This is North America...we don't consider that a trek at all. I had to get my head around that when I moved here. We travel between Montreal and Toronto 350 miles for a Bar BQ

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

And less ridiculous rules. Though Union would give far more scope for mid-game as breaks. 

League could accommodate plenty of those breaks too by the simple means of stopping the clock in dead ball situations and restarting it when play resumes as the NRL considered doing a few years ago.

 

29 minutes ago, Jayme2020 said:

I could see the league be very appealing to some CFL players current and former.

Only until they learn how low the pay will be.  300,000 US$ in central funding won't stretch very far you know.

[RobertAM]

2 hours ago, John WP Fan said:

I don't think anyone has that fantasy. We know the calibre of talent will be quite modest at the start. I think Toronto will bring in at least a few thousand per game if they replicate the game day experience of the Wolfpack, and if the games are fairly even and fun, the crowds will return. The other cities may be uneven, depending on the existing RL fan base, and how well they do at marketing and on the field.

 

Toronto supposed to play Ottawa still in 2021. I anticipate a crowd that will dwarf L1 and some CH attendances

[Jayme2020]

9 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

League could accommodate plenty of those breaks too by the simple means of stopping the clock in dead ball situations and restarting it when play resumes as the NRL considered doing a few years ago.

 

Only until they learn how low the pay will be.  300,000 US$ in central funding won't stretch very far you know.

The avg salary in the CFL is $80,000 so if it the avg in the NARL is $300,000 the CFL could have a major issue.

[Sammo]

1 minute ago, Jayme2020 said:

The avg salary in the CFL is $80,000 so if it the avg in the NARL is $300,000 the CFL could have a major issue.

That is 300k PER TEAM, not per player...

[Big Picture]

8 minutes ago, Jayme2020 said:

The avg salary in the CFL is $80,000 so if it the avg in the NARL is $300,000 the CFL could have a major issue.

Where did you get the idea that it could be anywhere close to that?  300,000 US$ is the entire amount of central funding per club from what I've read.  If will barely be semi-pro.

To have a league capable of raiding the CFL would require a lot more money and that would require a very well thought-out plan for a very high profile league.

[Jayme2020]

12 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Where did you get the idea that it could be anywhere close to that?  300,000 US$ is the entire amount of central funding per club from what I've read.  If will barely be semi-pro.

To have a league capable of raiding the CFL would require a lot more money and that would require a very well thought-out plan for a very high profile league.

I misread it point is pay in the CFL is not great and there asking for a 20% pay cut.

[Keith989]

29 minutes ago, RobertAM said:

Toronto supposed to play Ottawa still in 2021. I anticipate a crowd that will dwarf L1 and some CH attendances

Depends on how many away fans show up 

[Jayme2020]

16 minutes ago, Sammo said:

That is 300k PER TEAM, not per player...

Yes that makes more sense but still $300,000 for 20 players is really not that bad.

[Keith989]

1 minute ago, Jayme2020 said:

I misread it point is pay in the CFL is not great and there asking for a 20% pay cut.

Even if you did misread how could you possibly imagine it was 300k per player?  I can see what people mean when they were saying the expectations for the league by some are getting out of control. 

[Big Picture]

10 minutes ago, Jayme2020 said:

I misread it point is pay in the CFL is not great and there asking for a 20% pay cut.

Even so their average player salary in normal times compares well to SL and the only SL clubs with a higher average salary are the few which pay out the full SL salary cap amount.  No RL league is ever going to raid the CFL unless its salary cap is a lot higher than the current SL cap.

[fighting irish]

2 hours ago, Copa said:

If Americans just see all forms as just “rugby”, I wonder if potential investors see it as an easier to understand rugby with a smaller (read: less expensive) playing roster?

And with the capacity to provide infinitely more entertainment value and (hence) a much higher return on their investment.

[fighting irish]

2 hours ago, Pulga said:

That one is cool but less interesting being amateur. If the two California teams are run by Doug Schoninger it adds an insane new layer to all this.

Tell me more about what you mean by that Pulga?

[TboneFromTO]

Great news!

The "magic weekend" style rounds this year will surely be a cost saver for the first year. F*** covid though. I miss normal life. 

I hope they do a festival round in year 2!

Should be having a round in Austin and try to get some fans in imo(Texas has released all Covid restrictions - today's texas rangers baseball game is expected to sell out @ 40k in attendance)

Looking forward to booing Boston!

[fighting irish]

31 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Even so their average player salary in normal times compares well to SL and the only SL clubs with a higher average salary are the few which pay out the full SL salary cap amount.  No RL league is ever going to raid the CFL unless its salary cap is a lot higher than the current SL cap.

Can't you just imagine the possibility of growth, from where they are now to where they could compete wage-wise with the CFL?

You've speculated from the start about a brand new franchise (instead of Super Leagues tired old clubs) required to establish the game world wide.

Isn't it possible this is the start of it?

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, fighting irish said:

Can't you just imagine the possibility of growth, from where they are now to where they could compete wage-wise with the CFL?

You've speculated from the start about a brand new franchise (instead of Super Leagues tired old clubs) required to establish the game world wide.

Isn't it possible this is the start of it?

Said it over a decade ago , if ever RL took off in the states it would decimate the game in the UK 

[fighting irish]

4 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Said it over a decade ago , if ever RL took off in the states it would decimate the game in the UK 

In my experience, the yanks tend to put enough fuel in the fire to get it going. Hopefully, their involvement will make the game more popular here rather than damaging it. (Decimate, sounds scary Gubrats). 

[Big Picture]

9 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

Can't you just imagine the possibility of growth, from where they are now to where they could compete wage-wise with the CFL?

You've speculated from the start about a brand new franchise (instead of Super Leagues tired old clubs) required to establish the game world wide.

Isn't it possible this is the start of it?

Remotely possible maybe, but very unlikely.  The startup leagues which successfully made a place for themselves in North America (whether that was for a few years or for longer) all started in a big way, not a small way.  The AFL, ABA and WHA all had the necessary investment to raid/compete with the NFL, NBA and NHL for players and MLS had a high profile due to following on from the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the US.  That's not remotely the same as this venture.

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Said it over a decade ago , if ever RL took off in the states it would decimate the game in the UK 

I don't think it would. At worst it would be similar to the situation we have now with the NRL. If RL ever took off in the states they would have plenty of their own athletes to choose from and would decimate Australia, NZ and the Pacific Islands long before they took a look at ours.

[ELBOWSEYE]

18 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Said it over a decade ago , if ever RL took off in the states it would decimate the game in the UK 

I think you are right, they would look for players over here and down under. Better for the game but not necessarily us. 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Jayme2020 said:

The avg salary in the CFL is $80,000 so if it the avg in the NARL is $300,000 the CFL could have a major issue.

So would super league and the NRL!

[langpark]

Oh dear, some of the comments are beyond out of control. An announcement has been made and (in some cases) a bunch of logos have been released. That is where we are at right now. The proof will be in the pudding, so why not wait until they successfully complete a season before having this "haha, I told you so!" attitude? Talk of the game in England being "decimated" is just next level fiction. 

4 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

The one thing I don't get about this is that Serbian RL is not exactly awash with money. How was the guy behind Red Star Belgrade able to put together bid £60m for the champions league rights in Australia? Seems very odd 

I too am a bit skeptical about sports flick. A 60 million deal, yet there seems to be no mention of Champions League anywhere on their site. Also, the site in geberal still looks a bit low-budget and Serbian Rigby League continues to be one of its "headline acts" on the site.

Regarding the teams, 300k budgets, do we know who the investor(s) is behind this? That is a total $4.2 million budget per season (not including travel costs apparently).

What are their expectations in terms of revenue?

How many sports flick subscribers are the expecting? 100?

A lot is not adding up. I appreciate that a lot of people are excited, but I will contain my excitement until I start seeing something a bit more tangible than logos.

Before anyone accuses me of not getting behind their efforts, I do plan to subscribe, at least for a few months. But I will not turn a blind eye to all the obvious flaws in what we are seeing so far. 

[RobertAM]

The TWP experience shows that people will rock up to support a well presented (I won't touch managed-the marketing was spot on so let's I'll leave it at that) game day experience and having an international competition with teams in close proximity like the eastern conference should ensure decent crowds.  The cross province rivalry with Ottawa will see plenty of away fans in both towns, same for Boston, New York, Cleveland etc. Speaking personally I can see myself and a solid core group following the Pack to all these towns on a regular basis - once the borders reopen that is.

 

[GUBRATS]

7 minutes ago, langpark said:

Talk of the game in England being "decimated" is just next level fiction. 

 

My actual comment was a reference to discussions on MBs a decade ago , that IF RL did become ' Large ' in the US , the money that could be invested could buy the best from the UK clubs , which could damage the profile of the sport in the Heartlands , this was long before the idea of a Transatlantic competition was even considered 

If we were to see large numbers of players from the big UK clubs moving over the pond , I'd expect to see interest in the heartlands wane , just my opinion 

[TheReaper]

3 hours ago, Jayme2020 said:

I could see the league be very appealing to some CFL players current and former.

Former, maybe. But what kind of salaries do you think NARL will be able to pay? Using the rumoured 300k as a benchmark, a squad of 30 guys is 10k. Sure your best will get more and some will get less or none. CFL minimum is 65k, that's six guy at an average of zero for one player with no RL experience. 

Maybe if the CFL doesn't actually play this, but it's still a risk guys who will be training to come back next or take their run at the NFL, and won't want to risk injury in an unknown sport.