Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Sun Nov 23, 2014 9:52 pm  

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/63446715/Bid-for-Wellington-NRL-team-officially-launched Let's see how the Aussies handle this one.... New Zealand have been World Champions and Four Nations champs twice in the last 6 years and deliver close to 20% of the NRL stars currently in the competition. A second team wouldn't just be great for the NRL, but I believe would be a massive boost to the game here in NZ. Wellington and the south Island may have less amateur sides than all of Auckland combined, but recent crowds here for the 4 nations (20,681/25,093) and Warriors (30,112/22,512) with very little promotion show that there is an appetite for the game outside of Auckland.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/63446715/Bid-for-Wellington-NRL-team-officially-launched Let's see how the Aussies handle this one.... New Zealand have been World Champions and Four Nations champs twice in the last 6 years and deliver close to 20% of the NRL stars currently in the competition. A second team wouldn't just be great for the NRL, but I believe would be a massive boost to the game here in NZ. Wellington and the south Island may have less amateur sides than all of Auckland combined, but recent crowds here for the 4 nations (20,681/25,093) and Warriors (30,112/22,512) with very little promotion show that there is an appetite for the game outside of Auckland.

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:34 am  

Are the NRL going to expand by a team or cut an existing one?

It would be good for the game as a whole to have two NZ teams, but the Warriors' track record on the field is poor given the talent they have available, which doesn't help any application.

Also, I have to say that despite the fact the Warriors bring small but enthusiastic crowds to games and the general entertainment value, it was noticeable that they were only featured once free to air last year (that I can remember), with Channel 9 preffering to show games between Sydney's lesser teams on a depressingly regular basis, rather than the generally far more entertaining (for the neutral) Warriors. That would suggest selling another NZ team to the Aussie public could be difficult?

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:58 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Are the NRL going to expand by a team or cut an existing one?

It would be good for the game as a whole to have two NZ teams, but the Warriors' track record on the field is poor given the talent they have available, which doesn't help any application.

Also, I have to say that despite the fact the Warriors bring small but enthusiastic crowds to games and the general entertainment value, it was noticeable that they were only featured once free to air last year (that I can remember), with Channel 9 preffering to show games between Sydney's lesser teams on a depressingly regular basis, rather than the generally far more entertaining (for the neutral) Warriors. That would suggest selling another NZ team to the Aussie public could be difficult?

Or maybe they get more paid subscriptions for the entertaining Warriors and so keep them on the non free to air broadcasts. That would in turn help the sale of the new Wellington franchise to the powers that be

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:09 am  

Not sure Wellington is big enough to sustain an NRL team, the union club seems to struggle and that game is much bigger. Hurricanes made a financial loss last year and avg less than 11,000 fans. That would put them as one of the worse supported clubs in the NRL. If RL could be more popular than S15 in Wellington is an interesting question?

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Tue Nov 25, 2014 7:47 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Not sure Wellington is big enough to sustain an NRL team, the union club seems to struggle and that game is much bigger. Hurricanes made a financial loss last year and avg less than 11,000 fans. That would put them as one of the worse supported clubs in the NRL. If RL could be more popular than S15 in Wellington is an interesting question?

They would almost certainly be more entertaining though, wouldn't that be a plus in the Orca's favour?

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:54 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Not sure Wellington is big enough to sustain an NRL team, the union club seems to struggle and that game is much bigger. Hurricanes made a financial loss last year and avg less than 11,000 fans. That would put them as one of the worse supported clubs in the NRL. If RL could be more popular than S15 in Wellington is an interesting question?

The issues with the Hurricanes and the Lions in the level below is more to do with the stadium, the Wellington sporting public and the total arrogance of the Wellington RFU with regard to marketing.
The stadium is a major problem on a number of levels. First up, when it blows down here (They are called the hurricanes for a good reason) the stadium is horrible....the wind literally howls around the stadium and if you add rain to the mix, it's a pretty unpleasant way to spend 80 minutes after forking out $40+. It's an oval, to accommodate Cricket, so atmosphere is lacking too and then there's the catering which is run by thieves....I don't mind spending $8 (4 quid) on a pint at Wembley, but $7.50 here for a 270ml bottle of carlsberg is a total rip off.
Then there's the WRFU who like my old buddy David Hughes, believes sticking posts in the ground and announcing a KO time is marketing. Super 15 isn'r super as far as the public here are concerned and as long as there's nothing other than the same newspaper adverts run the crowds will stay at about 10k.....put it this way, I've attended All Black games at the stadium, but I've never received anything to "invite" me to a canes or lions game. I have on the other hand received invites to the AFL game on ANZAC day (4 free tickets and a beer voucher)....they still only got 14k this year and we pay them a million bux of ratepayers cash to come here.

The Warriors came here in 2013 and marketed the booty out of the game....Vodafone ran a text competition for 500 people to be in a special "fan zone" and released a special shirt (so unlike the warriors that )....the result was 30k. Last year they didn't promote it at all and still got 22k.
For the 4 Nations final there was nothing other than a press shoot which the aussies turned up late for and a few flags at the railway station and we still got 25k.....so RL is popular enough down here.

The Orcas would need to average about 15k to be self sufficient and the whole bid is about the side being self sufficient, not reliant on individuals or gambling and being part of the community. Transport links to the stadium are spot on with direct routes to most of the RL areas. Unlike the Union, League has already got fairly strong ties within the regions we would tap into and it's general manager is very much hands on and well liked.

Wellington or NZ2 makes more sense than Brisbane 2 that will simply cannibalise the broncos fans, or Western Australia where the TV gains are minimal and they struggle to get 20k to the games they do host.

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:20 pm  

None of which suggests that a NRL team would be any more succesful than the Hurricanes. They will be in the same stadium and RL is hardly noted for its marketing geniuses. With a population of just 200k it is hard to see how they would generate enough income to be sutainable.

3 out of the last 4 games in perth have attracted 20k+ crowds, what struggle are you speaking of?

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:12 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

None of which suggests that a NRL team would be any more succesful than the Hurricanes. They will be in the same stadium and RL is hardly noted for its marketing geniuses. With a population of just 200k it is hard to see how they would generate enough income to be sutainable.

The NRL bid is based around communities stretching to Porirua and the Hutt Valley, which are all directly linked by public transport to the stadium. The Communities will "own" the club and therefore, there won't be the chance to have the general apathetic attitude that has crippled the Canes. These communities number over 450,000 in population and if priced correctly, I see no difficulty in getting a 15k average which I believe is the number needed to break even.

JB Down Under wrote:

3 out of the last 4 games in perth have attracted 20k+ crowds, what struggle are you speaking of?

20,267 in 2014 together with 12,014 earlier in the year....

In 2013 they got 20,221.....in 2012 they got 15,599 (wasn't it pissing down that day?).....struggling to find this 3rd 20k attendance.

By the way....22,000 is comfortably getting 20k......a couple of hundred over is a struggle....and Perth has a population 4 times the size of the region we would be taking our fans from.

Televisually(sic), Pert adds little to the NRL. 35,000 to 60,000 is what we get on NZ Pay TV here for an NRL game....The Warriors attract 100,000 to 150,000 more TV viewers when they are on TV. NRL hardly rates at all in Perth and even Wednesday Night funball only tapped 109,000 for this years decider and the NRL Grand Final 144K.....the fumbleballer final attracted 380k.
League rarely goes head to head here with Union, as the Warriors are at Home on Sundays, so it's fair to assume we'd bring another 170k eyeballs to the table....and if scheduled right, the NZ Derby would fill Eden Park/Cake Tin on ANZAC day or during the Origin period.

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Sat Nov 29, 2014 4:02 am  

Well i hope the NRL have the foresight to let another NRL team in from New Zealand.
Best of luck to all concerned with the bid.

Re: Wellington Orcas for NRL 2018? : Sat Nov 29, 2014 4:41 am  

Huddersfield1895 wrote:

Well i hope the NRL have the foresight to let another NRL team in from New Zealand.
Best of luck to all concerned with the bid.

The NRL needs three (3) New Zealand teams in the NRL in order to grow the game. Wellington probably needs to be next because it already has an organized bid. However at some point in the not too distant future Christchurch needs to be added, to represent the South Island, with most of its home games in Christchurch and perhaps 25% in warm and sunny Dunedin. But that would have to be in 2023, to give Wellington time to establish itself, and to give Christchurch time to recover and rebuild from the earthquake.