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The State of the Union
Since becoming chief executive of the Queensland Rugby Union at the end of 2009, AFL native Jim Carmichael has taken some bold steps to get the game back on track and revive its financial fortunes. After a season where the Reds became the hottest property in Super rugby, Carmichael tells Phil Lutton about the challenges ahead in 2011, the future of Ballymore and why he believes Quade Cooper will remain with the QRU.
brisbanetimes.com.au: There's been a great deal of change at Queensland Rugby since you joined the organisation. What's been the most pleasing aspect of the turnaround we've seen in the past 12 months?
For me, it's been across the whole spectrum of the business, seeing rugby as an industry galvanise, whether it be at club level, here at the Reds. The administration, the partnerships and the stakeholders we've got. There's a real belief that rugby has an opportunity to get itself very, very strong again.
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Jim Carmichael: Did you have a grand plan for the QRU when you took the job and are things progressing as well as you had hoped?
First off, I'm one that is always planning well ahead. I'm very much about planning for years to come in terms of what the industry and the business looks like. I had a plan, absolutely I did.
There's been a lot of things that have complicated rugby again since I got here; floods for example. That's had a fair impact on the game.
In saying that, the key indicators we identified within a couple of months of me joining have been very, very good. You only have to look at the take-up of membership. Membership is 100 per cent from where it was last year. Ticket sales, already, are coming in ahead of where we were before.
Our corporate hospitality, which is very important in terms of the economics of our business, is up 300 per cent with a way to go.
Compared to where we were, it's significant. With our sponsorship, we had some very big sponsors who were at the end of their contracts with us. In terms of the volume of sponsors we've been able to attract into the Reds and then the community game, it's significant. It's very pleasing.
Do you believe the message is being heard in the regional areas and outside of traditional rugby strongholds?
I absolutely do. We've worked very hard in the past 12 months to engage our rural communities that have rugby folk out there. There's also people that haven't been into rugby. We've had a membership drive that was only about attaching to the brand of rugby and the take-up there has been enormous – places like Cairns, Townsville.
We've had a very clear focus that rugby folk are very loyal but there's a whole other market segment we had to be attractive too. That's the young kids, the teenagers, it's the female audience and I'm seeing a good uptake of all that.
In a perfect world, the health of a sporting franchise doesn't live and die solely on the success of its professional team. They can survive a slow season and bounce back. At this stage, how much does the QRU rely on the success of Ewen McKenzie and his Super 15 squad?
Of course it's a really important part of any sport that the team that is the professional component performs really well. There's been a tremendous amount of effort in getting the brand of the Reds, the culture of the Reds, to where they're admired in the way they conduct themselves.
Kids want heroes, parents want sportsman and organisations they can admire. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't important for the Reds to have a good season. But I really do think people are believing in them.
Of course there's a high expectation but as long as they believe you are doing the best you can, I think they're going to be there for us. Still, we've got a long way to go and we can't take anything for granted. There's a lot of challenges we face over the next few years.
At a boardroom level, how is the relationship with the ARU and how long until the QRU can stand on its own two feet financially?
We have a wonderful relationship with the ARU. They have a very big challenge in re-aligning parts of the code. We are very conscious of this. The ARU are working very hard to work with all the provinces to make the entire competition strong.
We went to them 12 months ago to help us. That was to get stability and our strategies aligned and to get the support of the governing body. They're working very hard with us to help get Queensland to a position where it will be safe in the long-term.
How long that will take? I can't really say. Complications arise, for example, one of the worst natural disasters in Australia's history. That has changed, somewhat, how we had to do business. We're starting to make that ground up again. We've got clubs out there with massive challenges because of the floods.
Last year, a new agreement was reached with Suncorp Stadium. You worked long and hard at the negotiations. How important was that deal to the future of the game in Queensland?
Without discounting Ballymore as a wonderful, iconic precinct for rugby, for me it was important to consider what the very best facility was Brisbane could offer to our professional team. Playing at Suncorp was important for the organisation. I believe that the stadium deal is going to be a very important piece for rugby over the next five-10 years.
Speaking of Ballymore, are you any closer to a final concept for its redevelopment?
We talk about Ballymore all the time. The one issue for us is we've got a very big footprint out here that has a fair bit of cost associated with it. It's on our minds every day, what ultimately is the right consideration for rugby and its community piece. We're getting closer all the time on that.
Quade Cooper is on a one-year deal, meaning a season of constant speculation about his future. How do you feel about his contractual situation and where he may end up?
I can say this. We have a wonderful relationship with Quade here. He's a very good young man. He indicates all the time to me how much he's enjoying the journey with Queensland and our vision for Queensland rugby. He wants to be part of that.
You'll be surprised to hear it but I'm not uncomfortable at all with all of that. It's one of those things that I think over the next six months or so, he'll see that this is his home. I'm very confident of that.
There's a new AFL team on the Gold Coast and the prospect of another NRL team in Brisbane. Do you think the Reds are well placed to be competitive in what's becoming a very crowded market in south-east Queensland?
In terms of the brand of the Reds and rugby, I'm very confident. One of the great assets that I've inherited is the direct relationship we have with the professional sport and the community game. That gives us an advantage because we have a fair amount of influence in what that looks like. That protects us from the other brands.
On the other side of it, the Reds – I think there's a massive amount of expectation and excitement. I'm almost overwhelmed by the amount of support from people who've been in rugby a long, long time. I think it's a special time for the game up here, even though things have been very tough for a long time.
All in all, we're very confident that Queensland is going to be strong and the Reds are going to be a strong franchise here.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-union/reds/the-state-of-the-union-20110211-1aqex.html
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