Potential Teams:
+ Western Force (definite)
+ Greater Sydney Rams (likely interested)
+ NSW Country (likely interested)
+ Sydney Rays (likely interested)
+ Canberra Vikings (unlikely interested)
+ Fiji Drua (unlikely interested)
+ Melbourne Rising (unlikely interested)
+ Japanese team (unknown interest).
+ Samoan team (unknown interest).
+ Tongan team (unknown interest).
The NSW NRC teams aren't a fan of the NRC / the ARU at all. They would definitely be interested to hear Twiggy's proposal at the very least.
It'd provide a very clean pathway from Shute Shield to semi-professional rugby (Twiggy's breakaway), and if the competition was held alongside Super Rugby they could technically participate in both competitions.
Shute Shield -> Twiggy's Breakaway -> NRC -> Wallabies eligbility.
Considering the Rebels and the ACT were spared by the ARU, I think they'd be hesitant to join and lose favour.
Regardless, they could still enter their franchises utilising local players / Super Rugby squad players to participate throughout the Super Rugby season. It'd provide the same above pathway, if you replace SS with local competitions.
Financing / Broadcasting:
Utilising the 10 teams above as the upper limit for participation:
+ Twiggy could allocate $500k per team per year in the competitions infancy to assist with operations. ($5 mil per year capital outlay for Twiggy)
+ He could then facilitate the competitions broadcast via a League Pass (similar to NFL / NBA) for $50-$100 a season (or $10 for a single game).
If we assume ~5x the average Super Rugby crowd in Australia are interested, and this numbered is bolstered by pubs / clubs across Australia, we could assume that 50,000 purchase the year long subscription.
This would net $2.5 mil per year to subsidize the above outlay of $5 mil per year.
+ Teams would take all gate, which would help finance their operations, and would be able to procure some level of sponsorship.
With the above, each team would have access to approx. $1 mil per year, $500k of which may be able to be spent on player payments.
This equates to an average of about $17k per year, which is reasonable for a semi-professional competition, given that such remuneration is only for the non-NRC part of the year.
They'd also get access to a semi-professional environment, S&C, exposure to contracts etc.
Of course, as the competition grows in popularity so too would the revenue from the League Pass, sponsorship and the gate.
Obviously thats over simplified and the real costs would be quite extensive but a solid competition is not out of the question.
It'd also provide the ARU a good exit from Super Rugby when it inevitably dies.
