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Andrew Abdo on the NRL’s relationship with SL


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Interesting comments 


https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/nrl-hunts-for-more-revenue-and-assets-but-will-expansion-fees-be-part-of-the-financial-mix/news-story/e78fc3a0497ea184babed0da91e86629?amp&nk=e53de0d40b602c122c335e9cc39e18d7-1728164198
 

Meanwhile, the NRL – which had $250m in net assets a year ago – is strengthening its balance sheet by buying assets such as the three hotels it now owns and keeping some of its holding in cash and other liquid investments.

“We want to get to $300m assets at the end of the [broadcast] cycle [in 2027],” Abdo says. “That means commercial assets, cash and deposits that we make good returns from on fairly low risk strategies.”

Abdo says the NRL’s revenue this year will be between the $700m it achieved last year and $750m.

Additional revenue will come from the income-generating assets, the expansion of the women’s side of the game and then overseas from the US, where the NRL will host two matches in Las Vegas again next March, and the UK.

When asked if the ARLC would consider buying the mostly UK-based Super League, Abdo says: “We will work with them to promote the growth of the game, potentially we might look at NRL playing matches in the UK or something more formal.”

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5 hours ago, Copa said:

Interesting comments 


https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/nrl-hunts-for-more-revenue-and-assets-but-will-expansion-fees-be-part-of-the-financial-mix/news-story/e78fc3a0497ea184babed0da91e86629?amp&nk=e53de0d40b602c122c335e9cc39e18d7-1728164198
 

Meanwhile, the NRL – which had $250m in net assets a year ago – is strengthening its balance sheet by buying assets such as the three hotels it now owns and keeping some of its holding in cash and other liquid investments.

“We want to get to $300m assets at the end of the [broadcast] cycle [in 2027],” Abdo says. “That means commercial assets, cash and deposits that we make good returns from on fairly low risk strategies.”

Abdo says the NRL’s revenue this year will be between the $700m it achieved last year and $750m.

Additional revenue will come from the income-generating assets, the expansion of the women’s side of the game and then overseas from the US, where the NRL will host two matches in Las Vegas again next March, and the UK.

When asked if the ARLC would consider buying the mostly UK-based Super League, Abdo says: “We will work with them to promote the growth of the game, potentially we might look at NRL playing matches in the UK or something more formal.”

Great article, but its clear that the NRL are not going to buy Super League in its present format.

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It’s good that they’re still thinking of the UK/Europe market in some kind of meaningful context even if it’s not the takeover that some want.

Id be interested in them coming over, but even more so if it was a competition of sorts involving the very best SL teams.

A kind of global champions league, but even baby steps towards that would be welcome such as NRL on the road perhaps as part of Magic etc.

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20 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Just so long as they play an OTR game in London rather than take RLC advice and play it at Warrington.

I doubt very much that London has much interest in the NRL. If there is a section of the UK population that would be interested in seeing an NRL game live, it would be Rugby League fans, so why would you not play the game where the fans are?

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Just now, Dunbar said:

I doubt very much that London has much interest in the NRL. If there is a section of the UK population that would be interested in seeing an NRL game live, it would be Rugby League fans, so why would you not play the game where the fans are?

I think London turns out for well-promoted major sporting events. And I'd be assuming that the NRL promotes this. If it was Broncos-Roosters (say), there'd be some recognisable names to push it too. It's essentially the same reason London gets decent Test attendances.

Secondly, as we are reminded every so often, there are tens of thousands of RL fans in London. There's a set of fans who are fairly passive in their interest but are easily activated for prestigious one-offs. This includes a fair number of RU-first fans for whom the NRL is held in high regard.

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1 hour ago, The Future is League said:

So would I, but would we have to cancel the whole Super League program that weekend?

If we weren't willing to do that (and Championship and League 1) then we don't deserve to have the NRL games here. It would show that the UK game was still completely failing to grasp the bigger picture.

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1 minute ago, Toby Chopra said:

If we weren't willing to do that (and Championship and League 1) then we don't deserve to have the NRL games here. It would show that the UK game was still completely failing to grasp the bigger picture.

I love the NRL as a competition but it isn't something we should be cancelling domestic league fixtures to accommodate.

This next part is not aimed at you but more general. 

I do find it bizzare that we haven't seen the Kangaroos here to play England in an age and yet we think a club game from Australia is the right strategic step for the sport.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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20 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I doubt very much that London has much interest in the NRL. If there is a section of the UK population that would be interested in seeing an NRL game live, it would be Rugby League fans, so why would you not play the game where the fans are?

1. People will travel from far and wide for high level sport, if promoted properly. 

It's telling that we're having this conversation on the day that the NFL is starting is London series, where only a small fraction of fans come from London itself.

2. If the only market available to the NRL is just the existing UK small northern town rugby league market then they won't bother. It's not worth the effort and cost for the return. Fortunately, as per above, the NRL will have more ambitious goals.

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1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

I love the NRL as a competition but it isn't something we should be cancelling domestic league fixtures to accommodate.

This next part is not aimed at you but more general. 

I do find it bizzare that we haven't seen the Kangaroos here to play England in an age and yet we think a club game from Australia is the right strategic step for the sport.

We can have both, although neither are in our hands.

The NRL is the best rugby competition on the planet - either code - and we absolutely should piggy back it to promote rugby league here. We're not in competition with it, it's currently the best rugby league property available to promote the game and we should embrace it.

If we can get the Ashes going again on a regular cycle, all the better, but that doesn't preclude us working closely with the NRL.

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11 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

1. People will travel from far and wide for high level sport, if promoted properly. 

It's telling that we're having this conversation on the day that the NFL is starting is London series, where only a small fraction of fans come from London itself.

2. If the only market available to the NRL is just the existing UK small northern town rugby league market then they won't bother. It's not worth the effort and cost for the return. Fortunately, as per above, the NRL will have more ambitious goals.

I think people massively overestimate the profile and attraction of the NRL here.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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2 hours ago, The Future is League said:

So would I, but would we have to cancel the whole Super League program that weekend?

No, you’d just keep Saturday or Sunday free for it. 

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36 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I think people massively overestimate the profile and attraction of the NRL here.

There’s ’missionary ‘ work to be done for sure in terms of the broader profile.

But the only way they can increase their profile is by playing here.

If Australian rugby league wants to showcase itself (and it should) in UK/Europe then we stand to be a beneficiary through association.

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2 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

There’s ’missionary ‘ work to be done for sure in terms of the broader profile.

But the only way they can increase their profile is by playing here.

If Australian rugby league wants to showcase itself (and it should) in UK/Europe then we stand to be a beneficiary through association.

Explain to me how that would work.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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18 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Explain to me how that would work.

Two ways for me:

1.  People (and maybe sponsors) watch/attend a high quality rugby league match backed by NRL marketing muscle that generates media interest too translating to a view to check out the domestic rugby league scene.

2.  Playing in the UK/Europe with their club teams generates interest in Australia in the UK/Europe market which could lead to rejuvenating interest in an international tour or international club matches again with the very best of Super League.

Let’s face it doing something has the chance to be exploited by both them or us if we plan accordingly.  Doing nothing will inevitably lead to nothing happening.  

 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Two ways for me:

1.  People (and maybe sponsors) watch/attend a high quality rugby league match backed by NRL marketing muscle that generates media interest too translating to a view to check out the domestic rugby league scene.

2.  Playing in the UK/Europe with their club teams generates interest in Australia in the UK/Europe market which could lead to rejuvenating interest in an international tour or international club matches again with the very best of  Super League.

Let’s face it doing something has the chance to be exploited by both them or us if we plan accordingly.  Doing nothing will inevitably lead to nothing happening.  

 

 

 

Both of these benefits are based on the premise that parachuting NRL games into the UK and effectively creating a new 'top tier' of club Rugby League will in some way benefit the current top tier here.  I haven't seen in my career a strategy of substituting a new (marketed as better) product ever benefiting the legacy product. 

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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5 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Both of these benefits are based on the premise that parachuting NRL games into the UK and effectively creating a new 'top tier' of club Rugby League will in some way benefit the current top tier here.  I haven't seen in my business career a strategy of substituting a new (marketed as better) product ever benefiting the legacy product. 

I don’t think there’s an almighty chasm between the NRL and the top of Super League.

I thought to be honest you might only see the threat and the weakness and completely discount the opportunity and the strengths.

I’m not sure what your business career is in and with all due respect if it’s not sport it might be completely irrelevant to even mention it?

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I actually think teaming up with the NFL on this one could be a smart bet. There must be some links already with the Raiders. Having a multi sport international series for both comps could be beneficial for both.

Why see the Titans vs Broncos once when you can see it twice?

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I always find a useful bench mark of popularity of a sport / occasion the BBS sports site as it shows how many people are currently viewing a page.

Very often there are plenty of people viewing a page even when it is live on another platform.

Commentary of the NRL Grand Final is live on the BBC and the game is on the front page of the BBC sports page and the main item on the Rugby League page.

Currently there are 438 people viewing the page.

For comparison, there are 1,754 people on the page sharing live commentary of the India Pakistan Women's T20 World Cup game.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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6 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

I don’t think there’s an almighty chasm between the NRL and the top of Super League.

I thought to be honest you might only see the threat and the weakness and completely discount the opportunity and the strengths.

I’m not sure what your business career is in and with all due respect if it’s not sport it might be completely irrelevant to even mention it?

It is true that I am looking at the possible downsides. Maybe that is a fault of mine.

The point is, while there my be some benefits from this happening - if there are, I can see it being the NRL that sees these benefits and not UK Rugby League.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

I doubt very much that London has much interest in the NRL. If there is a section of the UK population that would be interested in seeing an NRL game live, it would be Rugby League fans, so why would you not play the game where the fans are?

There’s plenty of Australians and kiwis in London, more than there are in Warrington. 

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3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

There’s plenty of Australians and kiwis in London, more than there are in Warrington. 

Is that the target demographic for growth of Rugby League in the UK, the Australian and Kiwis in London?

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Just now, Dunbar said:

It is true that I am looking at the possible downsides. Maybe that is a fault of mine.

The point is, while there my be some benefits from this happening - if there are, I can see it being the NRL that sees these benefits and not UK Rugby League.

I think they have more to gain it’s true if they can build it up and market it properly, they could further exploit the UK/Europe market.

And the benefits for us would not happen automatically, they would require a well executed strategy by the UK/Europe side.

If you’re also a bit cynical that would be accomplished then I would understand the reasons why.

There’s nothing wrong with your position per se on reflection or seeing the problems.

Despite my post I don’t consider you a negative guy so sorry if it came across as that.

 

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