AFL and its media friends play dirty over NRL’s Western Bears
ARL Chairman Peter V’landys has dropped a half-a-billion dollar bombshell on the AFL as the war for the hearts and minds of Western Australian sports fans heats up.
The Western Bears would deliver a $500 million economic boost over 10 years as the AFL bunkers down for a ‘Wild West War’ amid the NRL’s push for an 18th rugby league franchise in Perth.
This masthead can reveal expansion D-Day is looming, with the NRL set to hold urgent talks with the WA government in the face of a political smear campaign that threatens to derail rugby league’s Perth project.
The NRL will resume negotiations with WA premier Roger Cook in the coming weeks with a view to the NRL making a definitive call on expansion to Perth.
The NRL will know in coming weeks if Perth’s Western Bears are the code’s 18th team in 2027.
A report, obtained by this masthead, shows a new NRL franchise would deliver an economic benefit of $51.9 million per season to Western Australia _ a $519m boost over the next decade.
That would more than compensate for the WA government’s start-up costs in setting up an 18th NRL club in Perth.
Under the NRL’s blueprint, the WA government would invest in a stadium upgrade of HBF Park, plus a Centre of Excellence for the Western Bears.
The NRL is reportedly seeking a $120 million licence fee. But no such entry payment will exist. The NRL will not receive a cent of any $320 million injection, with the government funds to be pumped into infrastructure and grassroots investment to build a rugby league bedrock in WA.
‘THEY HAVE THE RESOURCES TO MAKE AN NRL TEAM WORK’
The NRL’s greatest coach Wayne Bennett, who was part of rugby league’s most recent expansion phase with the Dolphins in October 2021, is adamant WA can bankroll a Perth franchise.
“Western Australia has a market, so we can grow our national footprint by going to Perth,” he said.
“I’m a fan of growing the game.
“The Dolphins have been a success and if we put the investment in the right places, we will get the right players.
“I’ve been to Perth for NRL games with the Dolphins and the response was unbelievable.
“Some of Australia’s biggest companies are in Western Australia, so they have the resources and the population to make an NRL team work.”
But there are fears the Western Bears are on the brink of collapse following a political firestorm over the past month that has seen WA premier Cook come under attack over his support for a new NRL team in Perth.
Cook secured another term a fortnight ago with what was dubbed a “resounding victory” and the outcome of the election was regarded as the final hurdle to the WA premier shaking hands with the NRL on the Western Bears.
But a political powderkeg has turned the blowtorch on Cook and left the Western Bears walking a tightrope.
DIRTY TACTICS AS AFL INTERESTS PANIC
There is a view high-powered AFL officials are in the background playing dirty pool, mindful of the NRL threat and the prospect of a turf war for the hearts and minds of three million WA residents if Perth opens its arms to rugby league’s Bears.
Western Australia has long been regarded as an AFL stronghold via the market duopoly of West Coast Eagles and Fremantle.
The NRL is wading through choppy political waters in a sink-or-swim battle for rugby league’s first WA team since the death of the Western Reds in 1997.
The state’s leading newspaper, the West Australian, has been vicious in its coverage of the NRL’s expansion push to Perth. Last week, V’landys was sensationally accused of having brokered a “secret deal” with Cook, after the ARLC chair told this masthead the NRL had temporarily “downed tools” on talks with the WA government until the election was over.
The NRL insists no formal deal is in place, nor even an in-principle agreement with the WA government.
Such is the uncertainty, the NRL has about four weeks to strike a deal with the WA government or face aborting the Western Bears project, with the ARLC needing clarity on an 18 or 19-team league before kicking off negotiations on the code’s next TV rights deal.
Intriguingly, the West Australian is owned by Seven West Media, which has control of the Seven Network, the free-to-air broadcaster which inked a $1.5 billion deal with the AFL in 2022. Billionaire Kerry Stokes is chairman of the Seven West Media empire fanning the flames of NRL expansion discontent.
Stokes and the AFL ostensibly have unfettered control of the WA market. The NRL’s Western Bears would represent a dangerous market raider.
The AFL is under threat like never before.
The NRL last month released data that showed they have dethroned the AFL as the most-watched code in Australian sport and rugby league’s expansion to Perth would give the sport the bona fide national footprint they have lacked for decades.
“There are dirty tactics to shut the NRL out of Perth,” one industry source told this masthead.
“The AFL is no longer the No.1 code with viewers. By expanding to Perth and Papua New Guinea, the NRL will not only have a national reach, but tentacles globally in the Pacific via PNG.”
NRL A $500 MILLION BOON TO WA
Last month, the Western Bears became an unwitting political hot potato.
Viewed as a rugby league advocate, Cook was slammed by WA opposition leader Libby Mettam for allegedly holding “secret meetings” with V’landys. Mettam also promised WA voters her government would not commit to paying $320 million for an NRL team.
Suddenly under fire, Cook played a straight political bat, saying: “What he (V’landys) has to understand in that NRL in WA is not a major sporting code”, before adding: “WA NRL has to be worthwhile for the WA taxpayer.”
According to the top-secret economic-benefit report, the Western Bears will justify any purported Cook gamble.
Industry experts assessed the benefits of a Perth NRL team in five key areas.
Visitation was valued at $14.4 million per year, direct inflow expenditure would generate $6.5m and the most significant boost was employment, with an estimated 132 jobs worth around $23m annually.
SportWest, the peak industry body for sport in Western Australia, found that each participant in organised sport generates a return of $10,178 for the state of WA.
Based on that formula, a 30-man Western Bears squad would be worth $1.52 million to WA over a five-year term leading into the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Those figures alone underscore why V’landys is keen to deliver an NRL licence to WA, turning up the heat on the AFL in a market that saw 59,721 and 59,358 fans attend the last two Origin matches at Perth’s Optus Stadium in 2019 and 2022.
A TEAM FOR THE WA PEOPLE
Bears director Billy Moore has been involved in high-powered merger talks with WA chiefs. He is adamant the Western Bears can co-exist with AFL’s West Coast and Fremantle without bad blood in the Wild West.
“We are very hopeful the Western Bears will not be dead,” he said.
“This is not a shotgun marriage, it’s a perfect fit.
“There’s no doubt WA is currently an AFL state but I see it very much like Queensland where all sports have a bona fide supporter and participation base.
“There doesn’t have to a sporting war, just a realignment of attention.
“Until the box is ticked and we get the nod, I accept there is a possibility that something could go wrong.
“But I know from our talks the WA government very much wants a team in Perth.
“If you look at the AFL, Sydney Swans were born out of South Melbourne and the Brisbane Lions had links to Fitzroy, so there’s no reason the WA people won’t embrace the Bears.
“We’re humble enough to be part of the Western Australian family and they would be part of our historical family at the Bears.
“The Western Bears would absolutely be a team for the WA people.”
Dolphins boss Terry Reader, whose new franchise club will stage an NRL fixture in Perth for a third consecutive season in June, says an 18th team in Perth is a no-brainer.
“I’m a big fan of Perth. I think it can be a great success,” he said.
“We have played over there two years in a row and we play in Perth again the Saturday after State of Origin this year, so we have quite a close relationship with the Perth people.
“We have helped Perth with their expansion bid through the process.
“The year before we had 47,000 watching us at Optus Stadium and there were 1000 Perth fans with Dolphins colours watching us at a captain’s run.
“We were nine months old. That blew us away. Wayne (Bennett) looked at me and said, ‘Have a look at this, we are in Perth and we have a thousand people in Dolphins kit watching us train’.
“Rugby league has a real heartbeat in WA. Origin has sold out at Optus Stadium and we had a 20,000-sellout at HBF for a stand-alone game last year.
“The biggest thing for Perth is it gives the NRL another time zone for TV.
“Being two hours behind the eastern seaboard, it’s perfect for TV timeslots. The NRL is already the most watched-code in Australia and if we have a Perth franchise, it really does put the ‘N’ in National Rugby League.”
Asked if the AFL should be threatened by the NRL in Perth, Reader said: “Rugby league certainly has a place in WA.
“Is there a big enough population for an NRL team in Perth ... I believe there is.”
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