Rex link said:
[quote author=Rusty link=topic=184645.msg284468#msg284468 date=1281857367]
I wouldn't be so sure, a second team in brisbane makes a lot of business sense to me.
Yes of course a second, and maybe even a third Brisbane team makes tons of business sense... unless, like Rupert, you happened to own the existing Brisbane rugby league monopoly team.
TokyoEagle link said:
Where are the millions that News is syphoning off, do you have proof of this, if so show us please.
From the info i can get it looks as if the NRL are in as much trouble cash wise as Manly are.
Sure TE, the NRL has been kept near the verge of bankruptcy, and this is totally the outcome of the SuperLeague war, which the ARL lost to News Ltd. The siphoning of millions has been widely reported and here's my understanding of the facts:
It's reported that News Ltd's half share of NRL profits was of the order of $6m to $8m per year, and that this money was essentially diverted to News Ltd's subsidiary, the Melbourne Storm. This subsidy is apparently negotiated to continue even after a proposed (but so far vaporous, hypothetical and nonexistent) News Ltd exit from the NRL - of the order of $14m. Only an increasingly extreme and negative public reaction to News Ltd's presence can force them out.
Then the News Ltd Broncos are extremely, extremely profitable, unlike every other Rugby League team, resulting from the News Ltd NRL preventing any competition for the Broncos in the second largest Rugby League centre in the world.
Of course all these millions are dwarfed by the money News Ltd saves in TV licence fees through its low payment by Fox Sports for live and exclusive pay TV coverage of NRL games. News Ltd through its controlling part ownership of both the NRL and Fox Sports is effectively negotiating with itself in deciding how much NRL TV rights are worth.
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How much do we make? Take out the clubs cuts, take out the refs, advertising, admin and all the other costs associated with running a national competition, there is not much left for News to syphon off.
You say that news ripped the NRL off with the last deal, maybe they did. Why would a company pay more than it has to if nobody else is willing to bid competitively for the rights.
Hopefully the situation will be corrected with the next media deal.
One of my beefs is the talk from gallop that they are willing to except less money to have a set yearly schedule.