Australian Rugby / RA

[SouthernX]

look at the league to union pathways of Radradra & Vunivalu.

there’s still hope for Vunivalu to earn a monster payday but unfortunately he’s gotta head to Europe/Japan.

one point I am certain of is league converts is they don’t really go crawling back to thugby league in a quick hurry - they stay with the 15 man game if things don’t work out for them in Oz.

 

[Rebel man]

Significant international brand deals are true for maybe the top 10 players in world rugby. If you're playing the odds, you're far more likely to pick up a good-sized deal in Aus as an NRL star

And as rugby grows internationally those opportunities will increase. Where the NRL players will be getting endorsements from Hooters Penrith

 

[LeCheese]

And as rugby grows internationally those opportunities will increase. Where the NRL players will be getting endorsements from Hooters Penrith

It's a global game, but the vast majority of brand deals are local to the region/nation for which they play - the exception again being if you're one of the top players internationally and have global recognition. Within Aus, an NRL star has more value to most brands than a Wallabies star, and will continue to do so for some time.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

From a Club perspective sure there’s more money in Union globally… if you think your endorsements will be global you’re kidding though. A guy like Angus Crichton is an Adidas athlete as are number of players like Cleary. If he played Union he wouldn’t suddenly gain money from the UK because they would want EPL players or English Rugby players first. NRL is far bigger in Australia so the endorsements are as well for the top level players. You can bet when these negotiations start their agents are in contact with the brands to see what it would mean for their deal also. You barely find a Rugby player on any add, poster, car dealership.

Most of the League players know rugby will be there for a cheque when they can no longer get a deal in the NRL and don’t want to live in the north of England

 

[Wallaby Man]

Win a World Cup and you have international brands chasing you. Play well in the NRL and nobody outside of western Sydney cares.

That’s simply not true. I’d dare say the no.1 RL player has as many big companies lining up to sign him as any RU player. Adidas, Nike, Coke etc. want reach in the market that the player exists in. There is almost nobody in RU that has cut through outside of his own market to a general populas. Wilkinson and Lomu prob the only ones to truly reached mass appeal to the wider markets.

If you were to rank the top 50 RL or RU contracts you might find 20 of them taken up by NRL players. Then if you add third party deals it might be a little bit more. I’d be pretty confident in saying if you add 3rd party deals to the mix there would be 30+ guys in the NRL earning over a mil a year.

 

[Rebel man]

That’s simply not true. I’d dare say the no.1 Rugby League player has as many big companies lining up to sign him as any RU player. Adidas, Nike, Coke etc. want reach in the market that the player exists in. There is almost nobody in RU that has cut through outside of his own market to a general populas. Wilkinson and Lomu prob the only ones to truly reached mass appeal to the wider markets.

If you were to rank the top 50 Rugby League or RU contracts you might find 20 of them taken up by NRL players. Then if you add third party deals it might be a little bit more. I’d be pretty confident in saying if you add 3rd party deals to the mix there would be 30+ guys in the NRL earning over a mil a year.

But league players exist in small markets. Rugby is rapidly growing after a successful World Cup in France and the potential for a successful World Cup in the US this is a space league will not be able to compete in

 

[Doritos Day]

But league players exist in small markets. Rugby is rapidly growing after a successful World Cup in France and the potential for a successful World Cup in the US this is a space league will not be able to compete in

You are vastly overstating what this means to Australian players in particular.

The NRL TV deal is worth more than essentially every rugby competition combined. The NRL is also way better at monetising/promoting the athletes as individuals which is beneficial for both the individual and competition

The last Wallaby to have actual cut-through to the casual audience was Quade Cooper and look how he's been treated. For better or worse rugby 'culture' rejects the 'rockstars' but the likes of Dusty Martin, Latrell Mitchell etc. get kids excited and people talking which means more $ for them.

I'm not sure by what metric rugby is 'rapidly growing' in markets of relevance but outside of France the main club competitions have never been in a more perilous state.

 

[Wallaby Man]

But league players exist in small markets. Rugby is rapidly growing after a successful World Cup in France and the potential for a successful World Cup in the US this is a space league will not be able to compete in

Rugby is not rapidly growing.

The last 5 years has been a disaster for the sport. Its popularity in England is at an all time low, same as in Wales. Ireland it’s doing alright, France is doing alright and that’s about it.

Most the domestic comps are in some trouble. Japan is inflated because companies are spending money on cultural connection to in-house sporting organisations, it’s definitely not been driven by eyeballs and participation over there. NZ isn’t in rude health, etc. MLR is arguably less viable now than it was 3yrs ago (it just lost 2 teams this year). Canada it’s the worst it’s ever been. Emerging countries like Germany have fallen backwards at a rate of knots and Romania is a shadow of what it’s been in the past.

Rugby is kinda held together by the 6Ns and some Latin countries showing improvement.

The fact is the NRL is the wealthiest ‘rugby’ competition in the world. It’s based in 2 wealthy markets Sydney and Brisbane (Paris isnt a rugby city and neither is London). It’s also not propped up by wealthy vanity projects (France) and some large contracts to exports (Japan). Their tv deal is more than the Eng Prem, Super Rugby (both sides of the ditch) and French rugby combined. It’s just the international element that props up a lot of cracks in rugby.

Now at the last World Cup I would of said it’s heading in the right direction but I don’t think many Union bosses would say they are in a better position now that they were then with off field metrics.

I have my opinion on it but the awareness campaigning for head contact has made massive issues, more than what RL, AFL and NFL have had on it. Primarily because of the way it’s been handled (rightly or wrongly) and the activist nature that’s got into the topic surrounding the sport. Finances have fallen apart because of an inflated market that wasn’t self sustainable. The spectacle of the game hasn’t been at its best and the production of the broadcasters is 20yrs behind what other sports are offering (Stan is doing its best).

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Also, rapidly growing will just mean more jobs for people and maybe a slight bump for the top tier due to competition but there will just be more guys getting the chance to be professional and maybe earn 100-250k.

Total game changer if say the US boomed and their TV market came into it but that isn't on the horizon even with a WC.

 

[Dctarget]

Rugby is not rapidly growing.

The last 5 years has been a disaster for the sport. Its popularity in England is at an all time low, same as in Wales. Ireland it’s doing alright, France is doing alright and that’s about it.

Most the domestic comps are in some trouble. Japan is inflated because companies are spending money on cultural connection to in-house sporting organisations, it’s definitely not been driven by eyeballs and participation over there. NZ isn’t in rude health, etc. MLR is arguably less viable now than it was 3yrs ago (it just lost 2 teams this year). Canada it’s the worst it’s ever been. Emerging countries like Germany have fallen backwards at a rate of knots and Romania is a shadow of what it’s been in the past.

Rugby is kinda held together by the 6Ns and some Latin countries showing improvement.

The fact is the NRL is the wealthiest ‘rugby’ competition in the world. It’s based in 2 wealthy markets Sydney and Brisbane (Paris isnt a rugby city and neither is London). It’s also not propped up by wealthy vanity projects (France) and some large contracts to exports (Japan). Their tv deal is more than the Eng Prem, Super Rugby (both sides of the ditch) and French rugby combined. It’s just the international element that props up a lot of crack in rugby.

Now at the last World Cup I would of said it’s heading in the right direction but I don’t think many Union bosses would say they are in a better position now that they were then with off field metrics.

How intertwined are pokies and League? If Pokies saw significant reforms in the future, would that hurt the League purchasing power? Or they have a wealthy enough, large enough fan base that drives their revenue.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

How intertwined are pokies and League? If Pokies saw significant reforms in the future, would that hurt the League purchasing power? Or they have a wealthy enough, large enough fan base that drives their revenue.

Massively. Plenty of players basically donate their contracts back to the club.

Just mean more ads from Joel Caine unfortunately

 

[Wallaby Man]

How intertwined are pokies and League? If Pokies saw significant reforms in the future, would that hurt the League purchasing power? Or they have a wealthy enough, large enough fan base that drives their revenue.

None of the playing budget is from pokies. Most the pokies money just goes into other things that aren’t high performance related.

The NRL distributes a grant that is more than the salary cap to each club. Gambling ads revenue is another question, but that’s more the tv companies than the league. But they are correlated because tv companies prepared to pay more knowing they will get gambling revenue in form of ads

 

[Doritos Day]

The spectacle of the game hasn’t been at its best and the production of the broadcasters is 20yrs behind what other sports are offering (Stan is doing its best).

Really comes down to this, I was cringing at Aus v Eng Game 1 last year when the first half took about 65mins. All I could think of was that every pub in the country has already switched back to the league.

Aus/NZ are trying hard to liven things up with better rules etc, unfortunately rugby's international element works against it here as its difficult to get alignment on these things when European traditionalists would rather still be playing with leather balls.

The club level here is a joke in terms of fan engagement, simple stuff like consistent websites and player lists, injury reports, team namings etc. It's way too haphazard in this day and age, can only hope that the unified approach next year solves it all but not holding my breath.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

None of the playing budget is from pokies. Most the pokies money just goes into other things that aren’t high performance related.

The NRL distributes a grant that is more than the salary cap to each club. Gambling ads revenue is another question, but that’s more the tv companies than the league. But they are correlated because tv companies prepared to pay more knowing they will get gambling revenue in form of ads

The NRL teams do often get grants from the associated Club though like Juniors giving South Sydney money. Can’t say that’s necessarily pokie money and it would be unfair to do so, but I’m sure a chunk of it does come from that. Clubs may tighten their belts if their take lowers.

 

[Wilson]

The NRL teams do often get grants from the associated Club though like Juniors giving South Sydney money. Can’t say that’s necessarily pokie money and it would be unfair to do so, but I’m sure a chunk of it does come from that. Clubs may tighten their belts if their take lowers.

It's not a small amount some of them are bringing in either:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1632640060012240896

 

[Dctarget]

It's not a small amount some of them are bringing in either:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1632640060012240896

what's the y-axis?

 

[Wilson]

what's the y-axis?

Millions

 

[Members Section]

Side note on actually signing nrl players. NAS spent a lot of time back in wellington when he refused to get jabbed. If he has not applied for residency (which I wouldn't think he would bother with the free work laws) is he actually eligible to play for the wallabies?

 

[RugbyReg]

Who is NAs?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^ Nelson Asofa-Solomona. Was kinda a next big thing in schools rugby but went to Loig, apparently Eddie is a fan.