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NRL rules out introducing a second Brisbane team until at least 2020
February 19, 2016 7:28pm
PETER BADELEXCLUSIVEThe Courier-Mail
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THE NRL has gone cold on short-term expansion in Queensland in a move that will see the Broncos enjoy a rugby-league monopoly in Brisbane until at least 2020.
As Brisbane prepare for their World Club Series clash against Wigan on Sunday morning, The Courier-Mail can reveal the Broncos will remain the NRL’s sole presence in southeast Queensland.
Prospective franchises the Brisbane Bombers and Ipswich were hoping to coexist with the Broncos by 2018, but NRL head of football Todd Greenberg has baulked at adding a fourth team in Queensland.
ARL Commission chairman John Grant flagged the possibility of a 17th team being added to the NRL when Dave Smith resigned as chief executive last October.
Greenberg has not completely ruled out expansion, but it will not happen under the code’s current broadcasting deal, which expires at the end of 2017.
Such is the code’s reluctance to enter new markets, the NRL’s strategic plan, compiled over the past year by Shane Richardson.
Greenberg’s revelation comes as a crushing blow for the code’s posse of expansion hopefuls, including Central Queensland, Perth and Wellington, who were sweating on a tender process for possible entry to the NRL in 2018.
Asked if a fourth Queensland team is on the code’s agenda, Greenberg said: “In the NRL, not in this lifetime cycle of the broadcast deal.
“The way we have struck the broadcast deal, they (ARL Commission) can talk about expansion any time inside the broadcast deal, so it’s not off the table completely, but I don’t know when they will talk about it.
“We already have 16 clubs, a whole pile of them are going broke and until such time as we get that right, they won’t be looking at it (expansion).
“Shane Richardson’s blueprint looked wholly and solely around expansion at the second-tier of the game, he talked about where we would put new teams in new markets in what he called a Platinum League.
“My message (to the expansion franchises) is to not only be patient but also to engage with the game and look at what we are doing at a second-tier level, because there are great opportunities to further the expansion of the game through the second-tier of the competition.
“Ultimately, that’s the nursery to the big stuff.”
It is understood Fox Sports bosses are keen for another two teams, including an NRL licence in Perth, in the hope of securing more content for a Sunday night pay TV timeslot.
But with 13 of the NRL’s 16 teams currently running at a loss, the ARLC will not risk the death of existing clubs in the quest for a fourth Queensland outfit.
The Bombers were one of the teams angling for inclusion into the NRL.
Ipswich bid chief Steve Johnson yesterday expressed his disappointment but vowed to fight on.
“The game is crying out for more teams in Queensland,” he said. “Logistically and statistically, there’s every reason why there should be another side at present.
“The decision-makers in Sydney can’t take us for granted and think we can keep developing players for the NRL without appropriate resources.
“We’re sitting on the biggest group of juniors in Australia, around 12,000 in this region, and you can’t expect the Broncos and Titans to look after them.
“In the short-term, there should be another team in Brisbane and long-term, another one in Central Queensland. Ideally, we should have five teams in Queensland.”
Bombers bid chief Craig Davison said: “We’ve been around five years and we’ll wait another five years if we have to.
“Until we hear some clear direction from the NRL, we’ll keep plugging away and do the best we can.”
