NRL expansion: Battle set to begin for new licence to become Brisbane’s second team

One of the prospective franchises for Brisbane’s second NRL licence has a secret weapon it hopes will blow their rivals out of the race.

Peter V'landys is ramping up NRL expansion for a second Brisbane team. Picture: Jonathan Ng

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo will fly to Queensland for expansion talks as prospective franchise the Dolphins ramp-up plans to win the battle to become Brisbane’s second team.

The Sunday Mail can reveal Redcliffe have engaged the international firm that helped clinch an A-League licence for Macarthur FC to deliver the bid document that would see the Dolphins named as the NRL’s 17th team in 2023.

After 10 years of multimillion-dollar investment, broken promises and exhaustive bid campaigns, well-placed sources say NRL expansion is not just a probability, but a certainty.

Brisbane’s second team to rival the Broncos will be named by July, with a tender process slated for April.

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Those time frames have prompted Abdo to get on the front foot, with the NRL boss to touch down in Brisbane next month for a series of meetings with bid teams the Dolphins, Firehawks and Jets.

It is the first time in a decade an NRL heavy-hitter will arrive on Queensland soil to specifically discuss expansion with the bid consortia in the most emphatic sign yet the Telstra Premiership will have 17 teams in 2023.

Now the Dolphins are going for the jugular. The $100 million commercial juggernaut has struck a deal with CT Advisory group to put the finishing touches on their bid document to blow rivals the Brisbane Jets and Firehawks out of the water.

The global consultancy research-and-campaign experts were the driving force behind the bid that catapulted Macarthur FC into the A-League two years ago — and the Dolphins believe they are the standout option.

Should they win NRL admission in 2023, the Dolphins would join the Broncos as the richest clubs in rugby league — a remarkable scenario for a start-up, top flight operation.

“If the NRL called for tenders tomorrow, we’d be ready to go,” said Dolphins NRL bid chief Terry Reader.

“We have been working since last August to have our bid to be Brisbane’s second team ready and now we have engaged a professional company to deliver the bid to win us an NRL licence.

Macarthur FC won an A-League after engaging CT Advisory group to oversee their bid document. Picture: AAP

“The CT group were responsible for the bid document that helped Macarthur FC win their A-League licence.

“David Gallop (ex-FFA boss and former NRL CEO) said Macarthur’s bid was probably the best sporting submission he had ever seen, so we are determined to put in a bid that the NRL can’t resist.

“It will take a phenomenal bid to beat us … we believe we tick the boxes to be Brisbane’s second team.”

Expansion is so close the NRL is currently looking at the permutations of a possible 17-team draw for 2023.

NRL strategic-projects chief Lachlan Smith has been tasked with crunching the numbers and undertaking a forensic analysis to determine if the code is ready for a second Brisbane team.

Like ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys, Abdo is keen to grow the game responsibly and will come face-to-face with the bid teams as they prepare for a fierce tender battle.

“We would like to give all stakeholders clarity on expansion by the middle of the year,” Abdo told The Sunday Mail.

“We will begin the process of engaging everyone in the next two months.

“Whether we have a second team in Brisbane depends on the business case and what incremental value is created.

“Queensland is a really important market for us. It now comes down to a business case of how it will be implemented from a football, scheduling and player-depth perspective and practically, what revenues can we get incremental to cover the incremental costs.

“Another important factor is making sure we are creating new NRL fans, not cannibalising existing fans of clubs. Tribalism is important to us. The potential to have more regular rivalry games is good for all clubs.”

If there was an expansion betting market, Redcliffe, founded in 1947, are entitled to strong favouritism.

The Dolphins Leagues Club boasts 40,000 members and their commercial operations, which include a shopping centre on an 11-hectare site, turn over more than $30 million annually.

Their asset base is valued at $100 million with the “jewel in the crown” the 10,000-seat Dolphin Stadium, which was upgraded last year at a cost of $6.5 million.

The Moreton Bay region has 470,000 residents with 5500 registered players, including 40 junior teams and almost 800 players in the Redcliffe Dolphins system alone.

One criticism of the Dolphins’ NRL bid is their distance from the Brisbane CBD. Redcliffe is 40km from Suncorp Stadium and there are fears fans will not travel to home games, but Reader dismissed any travel issues.

“It takes 30 minutes to drive from Redcliffe to the CBD and 20 minutes to the airport. It’s more accessible than people may believe,” Reader said.

“There are two million Brisbane residents in a 30-minute radius so we have plenty of fans we can reach out to.

“We will be the Dolphins but we want to appeal to the wider Brisbane market. We want to represent more than just the Peninsula.

“It’s also incumbent upon us to grow the game and have kids coming through to play not only NRL, but State of Origin which is the jewel in the crown for the game.

“Is Brisbane ready for a second team? Most definitely.

“One of the key factors, though, has to be finances. Any new team will have to be financially viable. Can they stand on their own two feet? From an asset and revenue standpoint, we would be one of the richest teams in the game so that has to give the NRL great peace of mind.

“The game would not have to worry about the commercial viability of a club that has 75 years of history.”

It’s on! NRL eyes expansion tenders for Broncos rival

The NRL is set to officially launch a tender process for expansion from April as ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys ramps up plans to introduce a second Brisbane team to rival the Broncos.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the NRL will seek formal bids from the Dolphins, Firehawks and Brisbane Jets within six weeks pending a final analysis from the governing body on whether the code can afford to expand to 17 teams.

The imminent call for tenders is the most compelling sign yet NRL expansion is real — and V’landys is leading the charge for a fourth Queensland team in 2023 despite the latest financial figures to hit the code.

An ARL Commission board meeting on Friday will reveal the NRL lost $24.7 million last year due to the ravages of COVID, a deficit sure to fuel an anti-expansion backlash from cash-strapped Sydney clubs.

V’landys will not jeopardise the financial health of the code’s 16 clubs, but internal NRL due diligence, being undertaken by strategic projects chief Lachlan Smith, suggests rugby league is ready for expansion.

V’landys confirmed the expansion race is about to heat up with the governing body poised to accept bid documents from Queensland’s three prospective NRL franchises.

“We are currently setting the criteria on the bids,” he said.

“They will have to address the criteria and if the numbers stack up, we will look at a tender process around April or May, absolutely.

“We may also look at a second round of interviews with the bid teams.

“We are on target for the ARL Commission to consider announcing a second Brisbane team in June or July.”

Nick Livermore (left) from the Brisbane Bombers and Steve Johnson from Ipswich Jets have joined forces to form the Brisbane Jets NRL bid.

V’landys has met some opposition in his quest to grow the code for the first time in 16 years after the birth of the Gold Coast Titans in 2007, but he insists the NRL’s multimillion-dollar loss will not kill expansion.

“The loss is no impediment at all to expansion,” he said.

“Our actual loss was not as great as it seems.

“Because Origin was played in November, outside our usual financial period, the loss would have been $3.7 million (not $24.7m) if we factored Origin into the equation.

“To make a $3.7 million loss considering what has happened in the world with COVID, it’s a phenomenal effort.

“If anything, this substantially enhances the expansion idea.

“There are some people who don’t want expansion to go ahead but that won’t stop me. If the business case stacks up, we will have a second Brisbane team.

Peter V'landys is ramping up NRL expansion for a second Brisbane team. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We will not be reckless. We need to grow the game in Queensland.

“There are no two ways about it and anyone who can’t see that is not acting in the best interests of the game.”

The Bombers and Ipswich’s western-corridor bid joined forces three weeks ago to become the Brisbane Jets, who are adamant they will be ready to enter any tender process.

“Both the Bombers and Ipswich have been planning for the last 10 years and now as a merged entity, no-one is better prepared than us,” Jets spokesman Nick Livermore said.

“If the NRL calls for tenders in April, we will be ready to go.

“I imagine the NRL will set up a data room where if you put a bid in you must meet certain criteria. Areas such as geographic footprint, financial backing and participation will all be part of the criteria and we will be able to meet that.

“It’s exciting to know expansion is potentially around the corner.”

Originally published as NRL expansion: Battle set to begin for new licence to become Brisbane’s second team