Not denying it's still a shit load but is dwarfed by what they cost Harold Mitchell who didn't even like the game !!
You know I have forgotten about this bloke in all this discussion.
There were a few comments earlier about potential re-entry of the Force or Rebels after the current 2020 broadcast deal is complete.
But tell me how we are ever going to get backers and private investment in the game ever again when the ARU decides 5 or 6 years later it's gonna to completely evaporate your time and money.
I was always against it initially, but I think the only way for a strong game into the future is to put every Rugby man with money together in a room and ask them what kind of national comp THEY want to see.
Make it like the A League. Every team is privately funded. They're in charge of their pathways for recruitment. It's in their best interests to grow the pie and a bigger financial return.
Perhaps we could have our top team play off against the winners of the other club comps in the world. Brisbane v Saracens or Toulon or something similar.
Fuck, in Germany the company Red Bull took a 5th division licence of a defunct Leipzig club, pumped 100 million Euros into it and 5 years later they're qualifying for champions league......
Would I give a fuck if my team was called the Coca Cola Adelaide Falcons and our shirts were in the shape of fucking coke cans if it meant Adelaide had a team made out of ZERO South Australians but was kicking arse as a team? Fuck no!
Despite the controversy, the people of Leipzig don't give a shit about the Red Bull connection. Despite the problems in East Germany they finally have a kick arse team to support. They have sell out stadiums and are up there with Bayern Munich in terms of revenue and results.
Now i'm just rambling...... I have not thought this through one iota.
I'm just so angry, sad and annoyed at the incompetence of the ARU that I think now the only way for us as a code in Australia to survive is to leave Super Rugby and start from scratch in some form or another. I want an end to this shit where half of the rugby fans in Oz don't watch our premier club competition or can't tell you the names of the any of the teams.
I'm frustrated that club games can get 4000 people but the NRC struggles for air time and fans.
I want every Aussie fan on the same page, invested in the same competition and finally together cheering on the Wallabies at the end of it....
Sorry for the rant........