{"id":29120,"date":"2021-01-31T19:19:06","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T20:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=29120"},"modified":"2021-01-31T21:59:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T21:59:12","slug":"vlandys-confirms-nrl-expansion-bombshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=29120","title":{"rendered":"V'landys confirms NRL expansion bombshell"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys has confirmed the league will move ahead with plans to add a 17th team to the competition<\/a> in time for the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

A decision on the new franchise, which will finally give Brisbane its second NRL team<\/a>, could be made as early as June, according to V'landys who detailed the developments to the Sydney Morning Herald.<\/p>\n

"It's very realistic to say that we'll have a second team in Brisbane in 2023," V'landys said.<\/p>\n

"From what I've seen and the presentations that have been given to me, they are well advanced. If I said 2022 they'd be ready. They've been doing work for years. There's no reason why we can't be up and running in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"The one thing that I am impressed with is how advanced these bids are. They are not mucking around. They are serious. If we came to a decision in June this year, that would give them a year and a half. It's plenty of time. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen mid this year."<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The bids vying for the NRL's new opening include the Brisbane Bombers, Brisbane Firehawks (Easts Tigers), Ipswich and Redcliffe Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Last year, V'landys and NRL chief Andrew Abdo reportedly travelled to the United States where it is believed they received the blessing for expansion from News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch, who last year rubber-stamped Foxtel's pay television rights extension until 2027.<\/p>\n

While the NRL is still yet to secure a free-to-air television deal beyond 2022, the code believes the addition of a new franchise will be of interest to Nine.<\/p>\n

The new team will cost the NRL around $12 million as part of its distribution to all clubs.<\/p>\n

\"Brisbane<\/p>\n

Last year, V'landys revealed on Nine's 100% Footy that the league was only interested in expansion if it was in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

V'landys said the game's intentions were to avoid "rusted AFL states" and focus on improving the NRL's stranglehold on the Queensland market.<\/p>\n

"If there is a 17th team, it will be in Brisbane, no doubt about that," V'landys told Nine's 100% Footy.<\/p>\n

"That's where the market is, that's where we are strong. No good spending a lot of money in rusted on AFL states in my view.<\/p>\n

"You want to go to the states where you have the nurseries and have the population that loves the game.<\/p>\n

\"V'landys<\/p>\n

"But before we do that, it's got to be a pretty strong business case. You just can't go there without making sure both the Broncos are not affected, and the Titans are not affected.<\/p>\n

"We don't want to cannibalise them at all. So, there's a long way to go because it needs to really stack up commercially.<\/p>\n

"I like the fact that players can get a bye. That helps their mental well-being, they can always look forward to having that weekend off during the year, so there's that benefit. But it has to stack up commercially."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys has confirmed the league will move ahead with plans to add a 17th team to the competition in time for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29122,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29120\/revisions\/29122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}