NRL expansion bombshell: 20-team competition could revive Bears, include Pasifika team
The Bears played their last game in 1999 but refused to give up hope of a fairytale comeback. China may yet prove their greatest ally in their bid to become the NRL’s 18th team.
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Australia’s political fight to keep Chinese influence at bay in the Pacific could provide a path for the North Sydney Bears to return to the NRL.
News Corp Australia can reveal the Bears are weighing up whether to align themselves with NRL bid teams from Pasifika or Papua New Guinea – and it could help in the ongoing battle against China to win hearts, minds and wallets in that region.
The Bears played their last game in the premiership in 1999 but refused to give up hope of a fairytale return.
China may yet prove their greatest ally in their bid to become the NRL’s 18th team.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already thrown his support behind an NRL team in Papua New Guinea and Bears board member Billy Moore confirmed they are open to exploring the concept of a joint bid.
“What we’ve said to the NRL is you tell us where we need to go to become the 18th team,” Moore said.
“Our fans will go with us. We’ve waited 24 years.
“All we want is to be back into the competition. Whether that is in Perth, Port Moresby or Wellington. But, during discussions, what has arisen is the prospect of becoming the Pasifika Bears.”
A Pasifika Bears amalgamation would put them in direct competition with an existing Papua New Guinea bid – officials from that country are exploring their own options after being buoyed by Albanese’s public support.
It is understood the successful bidder could have access to millions in government support, given the desire to ward off the Chinese influence in the area and improve cultural ties with Australia.
Remarkably, rugby league’s importance in the fight for influence in the Pacific has made it all the way to the American capital. The Washington Post featured a story in September titled: ‘Can this sport (rugby league) outmatch China in the Pacific? The West is betting on it.’
Rugby league could emerge as the saviour in the Pacific and the Bears, a 1908 foundation club, could be the key.
“We have three non-negotiables,” said Moore, a 211-game Bears legend.
“We want our colours, our brand and to play two games at North Sydney Oval a year. That will give us our history back. We will completely fund it. We will go wherever the NRL thinks is the best option. We will not cannibalise any other club. We will create extra pathways.”
North Sydney chiefs have had talks about joining the potential Perth bid, having previously failed to return to the NRL as the Central Coast Bears. Ex-Canterbury CEO Andrew Hill, who is the strategic advisor to PNG’s 2025 hopes, said the bid team was making progress.
However, Brisbane Jets director Nick Livermore has major logistic concerns about a PNG or Pasifika NRL team.
“Where can a Pacific team be appropriately based? How do you fund it commercially and corporately in Cairns?” he said.
“It would be a very complex process logistically, but the game is driven by money and if a Pasifika team can attract major funds for the game, the NRL might decide to explore that region.”
20-TEAM COMP: SECRET NRL PLAN THAT COULD REVIVE BEARS
The ARL Commission has hatched plans for a 20-team competition in the most significant expansion project for the NRL since the Super League war.
News Corp can reveal Roosters supremo Nick Politis is behind a $400 million masterplan for the NRL to take over the AFL as Australia’s No.1 football code by adding three new teams — possibly before the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys confirmed high-level talks were held on a 20-team league at an Annual General Meeting of clubs.
“I am all for looking at a 20-team competition because you have to set yourself goals,” he said.
The Dolphins’ stunning victory in their premiership debut last week was emphatic vindication of the code’s decision to expand to 17 teams this season and now the NRL is keen to capitalise by exploring new frontiers.
A News Corp investigation into the NRL’s ambitious expansion drive can reveal:
■ V’landys is backing plans for a 20-team Telstra Premiership;
■ Three new expansion clubs are estimated to be worth $20 million in annual funding support for the next 20 years — a $400 million coup for the NRL;
■ A Pasifika franchise is the shock front-runner to win an 18th NRL licence;
■ The Pasifika club will be based full-time in Cairns and play a number of NRL premiership home games in Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea;
■ North Sydney chiefs are open to merger talks with the Pasifika consortium to bring the Bears back to the top flight for the first time since 1999; and
■ The Australian government will provide tens of millions of dollars in financial support to help bankroll a Pasifika team.
The 20-team proposal would be the biggest change to Australia’s premier rugby league competition in three decades.
The ARL expanded from 16 clubs to 20 in 1995 following the addition of the North Queensland Cowboys, South Queensland Crushers, Auckland Warriors and Perth’s Western Reds.
The 20-team format only lasted two seasons before the breakout of the Super League war, which led to two rival competitions in 1997 before a compromise triggered the birth of the National Rugby League in 1998.
Twenty clubs took part in the first season of the NRL before the competition was reduced to 17 in 1999 — the same number of teams in this year’s Telstra Premiership.
Now Politis confirmed major growth for the sport is back on the agenda after tabling his proposal at last Monday week’s AGM involving NRL hierarchy and the 17 clubs.
“Yes, I have suggested we go to 20 teams,” said Politis, the Roosters chairman with almost 50 years of administrative experience in the sport.
“If we want to compete with the AFL, we have to be truly national and be representative in every state.
“I’m not saying we expand right now.
“But over the next five, eight or 10 years, we should look to go to 20 teams.
“We had 20 teams in 1995. Unfortunately some teams got killed off because of Super League, so a few teams dropped off during the compromise. Adelaide and Perth were cut.
“It would be great to see North Sydney back in the NRL.
“I strongly believe the Bears should be resurrected, possibly by going to Western Australia as the Perth Bears, and there’s areas like PNG and the Pacific Islands that the game can explore.”
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has previously flagged the prospect of issuing an 18th licence, but a 20-team competition has not been genuinely placed on the agenda.
Until now.
Abdo and V’landys are open to unveiling another NRL outfit for the code’s next TV rights deal from 2027 and that could be the preamble to the rubber-stamping of the 19th and 20th licences within the next decade.
A number of consortia would be contenders for three new NRL licences, including North Sydney, a Pasifika bid, a second New Zealand team, PNG, Perth and Brisbane’s Firehawks and Jets, both of whom lost out to the Dolphins last year.
Adding more teams would deliver a fiscal broadcasting goldmine for the NRL.
Twenty teams equates to 10 games a week — an extra two fixtures per round — and would give the ARL Commission confidence of securing a TV rights deal north of $2 billion over a five-year term entering the decade of the Brisbane Olympics.
“The only way to grow our TV rights is by giving the broadcasters more product, just like the AFL,” Politis said.
“It will take some time for people to accept it, but we have to keep growing the game.”
Speaking for the first time about plans for a 20-team competition, V’landys said he supported Politis’ vision to continue expanding the NRL.
“Nick Politis is one of the great visionaries of our game and if he believes we should go to 20 teams, we should certainly consider it,” he said.
“If the 17th team went well, then, yes, naturally we will look at 18 teams and even 20 teams.
“The intention was always to grow the game in stages.
“It’s not something that will happen overnight. It’s an objective and we have to have the ambition to get there.
“One of the reasons the AFL do so well is because they have 18 teams and they have more product to sell in terms of TV rights than we do.”
V’landys revealed the introduction of a Pasifika team — leading to historic premiership matches in PNG, Samoa and Tonga — is realistic.
“We will absolutely look at a PNG or Pacific bid,” he said.
“The Pacific region is a huge potential pathway for the game. It’s a very embryonic idea, so we have to do the research and the strategy.
“The Dolphins have been a wonderful addition, they have grown our Queensland audience, and it’s just the beginning for the game.
“Everything we do is fact-based. We would have to do the research (on a 20-team league) and look at it.
“At this stage, I haven’t got that data, but the 20-team idea has been proposed and we will investigate it.”
Souths chief executive Blake Solly cautioned the NRL against expanding too rapidly.
“The idea of 20 NRL teams, under the current operating model, is completely unsustainable,” he said.
“There is not the playing, coaching or administrative talent to expand at that sort of rate.
“At the moment the NRL haven’t confirmed an obvious candidate or location for an 18th team, let alone the 19th or 20th.
“The Dolphins have done a very good job building an NRL club in a short time frame. They’ve earned the right to stabilise and grow before another new team enters.
“Any decision to add an 18th team needs to be aligned to an NRL strategy to increase participation, properly fund the existing NRL clubs for the elite player development we all undertake, and be a guaranteed commercial success.”
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