www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... -lud5.html i believe the ARL stuffed up not awarding the original license to the newcastle wests club who have a rich Leagues club and their own ground but thats history as a massive area for the game, the club are very important for the nrl newcastle is one of the strongest RL areas in australia.

www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... -lud5.html i believe the ARL stuffed up not awarding the original license to the newcastle wests club who have a rich Leagues club and their own ground but thats history as a massive area for the game, the club are very important for the nrl newcastle is one of the strongest RL areas in australia.

They need to get a better stadium deal. Some financial backing wouldnt go amiss and with the new stand finishes hopefully their crowds will pretty much sustain them, especially now they are targetting Gosford as theirs

They are indeed. Which begs the question "why they are in so much financial difficulty?"

every nrl clubs bar the broncos and titans lose a lot of money

some have LC behind them, others rich owners.

its because our TV deals are poor

I know, but if they are one of the strongest RL areas in the country, isn't that cause for concern?

ive been concerned about their situation for years

tehe problem is as ive stated

the license shouldve gone to newcastle wests with their strong LC behind it

but the CRL doesnt like to weaken its own competitions by taking strong clubs out so they made a new franchise instead

every nrl club faces a massive revenue shortfall

thats why i bang on about tv ratings etc

clubs should have more money from the tv ratings they deliver

when looking at expanding the game with new clubs the nrl is aware that to have a competitive team, a club needs around $2 million a year from outside sources on average

perth, wellington or png would all have at least these losses if not more

queensland teams will go closer to breaking even as their finances are generally better, especially if the club is in an area with a strong population

it seems clubs need at least crowds of 20,000 to break even under the current tv deal.

It still amazes me it costs $15-20mill to run a NRL club and only $5-8mill to run a SL club, with basically the same salary cap.

Or improve the attendances, sponsorship revenue and merchandising take? a better bet than having all your eggs in one basket TV which can be pretty fickle.

Actually it was decided that a new team not aligned with any of the factionalism in the CRL would have a better chance of success and garner support from the entire community rather than one (albeit wealthy) single club.

hopefully not, i expect my future home to have its own NRL franchise in the form of the central coast bears by 2013. but ill still be a roosters member when i arrive in July!

jb sees the CC bears as the enemy so ignore him

We'll see if Bears get the nod.

Shout when you get here in July.

www.theherald.com.au/news/local/ ... 79926.aspx Knights will play 3 games in Gosford this year. .

www.theherald.com.au/news/local/ ... 79926.aspx Knights will play 3 games in Gosford this year. .

did you read the article?

I am well aware of this, as we'll have to play them again, as last year they played their reserves in a local, lesser comp.

One thing you should be aware of is that that is an old article. There was a bit of a stink as the Central Coast's basketball side is called the Crusaders. You'd have thought the RL geniuses would have looked into in first before choosing that name. Subsequently, the RL side will not be called that but something else. It's name escapes me. But yes, the Knights have said they will play 3 "home" games there.

yeh they will be called to teh Centurions after backing down to Basketball.

It is clear that Newcastle are making a bid to entice Central Coast folk to join them, as they should being so close.

close huh?




close is Hull FC and Hull KR

they are playing 3 games there. but they are the "away" team for all 3. its souths, roosters and manly home games. all 12 of their home games are in newcastle

are the upgrades at EnergyAustralia finished yet? the knights only averaged 16000 last season, i know the upgrade was going on but there were still a lot of empty seats and that hit them hard financially

North Sydney is closer to Gosford than Newcastle is.

True (by a few kms) but irrelevant as there isn't an NRL team in Nth Sydney! (and were not talking about Newcastle fans going to Gosford, but the other way around)

Newcastle have a great plan, get 3 games in a ripe for the picking territory whilst not sacrificing any home games to disgruntle your Newcastle fans. It is a little over an hour from Gosford to Newcastle, if I lived there I'd be travelling it every other week to support a regular team.

If you lived in Gosford wouldn't you head to Sydney where there are a greater choice of teams? Just hypothesizing.

Just so you know as an aside North Sydney DRLFC goes all the way up to the hawkesbury, so our juniors in say Berowra are only 15 odd mins from Gosford.

not if a team was making an effort to link to my home town. Hence why I applaud the Knights for stepping in and filling the gap. They are forming strong links with the area and as such i would support that back by choosing them as my team.

so if the sharks did the same for perth you would then back the sharks then mate to be your local team?