P
Prestwick
Guest
We really should have sold Concorde to SARFU so they could jet to Australia in three hours...
-
Help Support The Rugby Forum :
F
fcukernaut
Guest
Is anyone going to ask the question where the hell are they going to play? The Collesium is an old relic, 90,000 seat hole, the rose bowl is in a similar state and Dodger stadium is even worse. I suppose there is that all soccer stadium that the Galaxy play in (Home Depot Center?). I'd also like to point out that the NFL has moved out of LA twice and that there's two NBA franchises, two major college football teams, two major college basketball teams, two MLB teams, two hockey teams and the Galaxy. We're talking about a city with effectively ten proffessional sports teams. Assuming the Super 14 keeps a similar schedule there are huge conflicts with major sports. Firstly, the first 5 weeks of the super 14 are dead in the middle of March Madness, a US$1billion industry that is huge for both UCLA allums and USC allums alike. Then the deeper you go in the competition the worse it gets. The Lakers are always a good team and go deep into May and right around now the Dodgers and the Angels start playing baseball. On any given day 80,000 people are going to be attending baseball in Los Angeles. I'm not saying don't go to the US, I'm just saying LA might not be the best place to go as there is only so much disposable cash and sponsorship money going to sports.
Another major problem in my eyes is that a Super 14 franchise undermines the NA4/"super 6". The moment you call it a developmental league or a "minor league" is the moment you kill it as a comercial enterprise. American consumers don't except second best. People will only buy the best or at least what they perceive to be the best. Which may be why a US franchise might be successful as long as you're getting top notch world class sport.
If the added TV revenue you're talking about is coming from Setanta, you're wasting your time. Not only do they have shallow pockets, but they don't have a large TV audience. Keep in mind here that a cable station named Versus payed the NHL $100million for the TV rights of their league and you can't find an NHL game on when you're in the States. Versus is in 70million homes in the States and no one can find an established sport on TV. How do you think rugby and Setanta is going to fare?
Who's going to own and operate the team? Is it going to be run by the USA rugby union and if so where the hell are they going to get the money? In my opinion it has to be owned by a deep pocketed investor who has more money than he knows what to do with. This way the only worry is how successful the team is and not whether or not you can afford to add/keep players.
Which brings me to my next point: how is the team going to be made? If it's a team full of Americans it's going to fail and fail miserably. This will show dramatically in the attendance levels. Americans don't like low quality play and bad teams. There are only four teams that can lose and not be affected by attendance the Boston Redsox, the Chicago Cubs, the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys. Everyone is screwed if they lose. So that means you have to allow for foreign imports, which means of course that there is probably going to be quota system similar to that in the Canadian Football League where a certain amount of players on the roster have to be Amercican(or I'm going to say Canadian and make this a joint venture to grow the game). If this is going to happen one more thing has to happen: the players should be allowed to go play where ever they choose and still available for selection for the national teams. If you want to make a compromise and say that you can go to any team so long as you're in the Super 14 than that works fine too. This does a few things. One it allows for guys like Daniel Carter to go overseas and make his dough and be an international superstar but it also effectively keeps him in front of New Zealand audiences. Secondly, it will sell the game. You're going to need these superstar players to sell the game and this will allow for that. Think of a Carter/Giteau mid field combo. That's exciting.
Finally I'd just like to say that inequivically the best rugby market or rugby hungry market is in Vancouver, Canada. Now obviously you don't really want to go there as the only one off franchise because the money's not there and it's not in the United States. However, there is a way you can use this market to your advantage and that is to base a team in Seattle. It may not be as glamorous as LA but to me it seems more practical.
Another major problem in my eyes is that a Super 14 franchise undermines the NA4/"super 6". The moment you call it a developmental league or a "minor league" is the moment you kill it as a comercial enterprise. American consumers don't except second best. People will only buy the best or at least what they perceive to be the best. Which may be why a US franchise might be successful as long as you're getting top notch world class sport.
If the added TV revenue you're talking about is coming from Setanta, you're wasting your time. Not only do they have shallow pockets, but they don't have a large TV audience. Keep in mind here that a cable station named Versus payed the NHL $100million for the TV rights of their league and you can't find an NHL game on when you're in the States. Versus is in 70million homes in the States and no one can find an established sport on TV. How do you think rugby and Setanta is going to fare?
Who's going to own and operate the team? Is it going to be run by the USA rugby union and if so where the hell are they going to get the money? In my opinion it has to be owned by a deep pocketed investor who has more money than he knows what to do with. This way the only worry is how successful the team is and not whether or not you can afford to add/keep players.
Which brings me to my next point: how is the team going to be made? If it's a team full of Americans it's going to fail and fail miserably. This will show dramatically in the attendance levels. Americans don't like low quality play and bad teams. There are only four teams that can lose and not be affected by attendance the Boston Redsox, the Chicago Cubs, the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys. Everyone is screwed if they lose. So that means you have to allow for foreign imports, which means of course that there is probably going to be quota system similar to that in the Canadian Football League where a certain amount of players on the roster have to be Amercican(or I'm going to say Canadian and make this a joint venture to grow the game). If this is going to happen one more thing has to happen: the players should be allowed to go play where ever they choose and still available for selection for the national teams. If you want to make a compromise and say that you can go to any team so long as you're in the Super 14 than that works fine too. This does a few things. One it allows for guys like Daniel Carter to go overseas and make his dough and be an international superstar but it also effectively keeps him in front of New Zealand audiences. Secondly, it will sell the game. You're going to need these superstar players to sell the game and this will allow for that. Think of a Carter/Giteau mid field combo. That's exciting.
Finally I'd just like to say that inequivically the best rugby market or rugby hungry market is in Vancouver, Canada. Now obviously you don't really want to go there as the only one off franchise because the money's not there and it's not in the United States. However, there is a way you can use this market to your advantage and that is to base a team in Seattle. It may not be as glamorous as LA but to me it seems more practical.
- The stadia is already in place. A brand new stadium is being built for an MLS team which will seat somwhere between 20-25 thousand, which is the ideal number for a rugby team and with the availablity of an 80,000 seater just down the road if you can somehow turn a finalist team into some circus spectacular.
- The NBA team is moving. No more Seattle Supersonics. That takes away from the drain on ticket buyers during the early part of the Super 14.
- Fans from Canada. Seattle is right next to the border which means that it will attract fans from the best rugby market in North America. They already cross the border to watch the NBA, NFL and MLB in Seattle, they'll do the same for rugby.
- Big Money. Seattle is right in the center of Silicon Valley, which means there are a lot of billion dollar douche bags sitting around with lots of money. And a very good arguement could be made that there is more sponsoship money available in Seattle than in LA.
M
Maccaweeny
Guest
Oh yes, right, posting pictures of the horrors of the POW camps is REALLY an accurate and telling portrayal of the current Japanese generation
[/b]
I know, i'm still on edge whenever I go to Japan.
A
Aspect
Guest
Getting a bigger interest in the American market, can only be good for the sport in my opinion.
S
sharks!
Guest
Thts stupid they might as well just make it a world league! and think avout it usa is in the northern hemisphere!! Super 14 should only be for south teams
K
kvt
Guest
LA based Super 14 team??....how about the Pacific or Argentina??
USA should look to Europe to develop their game
I guess it all comes down to $$
USA should look to Europe to develop their game
I guess it all comes down to $$
J
Jimz
Guest
wouldent the American side just get destroyed!!
S
snoopy snoopy dog dog
Guest
If it was made up of only American players, yes they'd be hockeyed every week. However I'd guess that if an LA based side was added to Super rugby it would be made up primarily of players from other nations along with a few token Eagles until their standard improves.
B
Blastab
Guest
then it wouldnt be a southern hem comp. i vouch for a pacific team
M
Mr Schlapp
Guest
The key to unlocking the potential in the US market is in getting rugby 7s accepted as an olympic sport. If this happens then it will unlock millions in government funding and the game will quickly spread through the US college system, creating a very competetive international side within a decade
P
paretrooper
Guest
yes more $$$$$ the more there is the more that NZRU can put in to the PI's
and help the argies. as for an la team cool the home teams ie SA,NZ,AST
all have play there home super rugby teams then split some of the teams
to go north and play in la and based there. while the other half stay in the south
and play then change around till all have played each other.
H
Hinch
Guest
I think we're all missing the biggest turn up in all of this.
It could finally lead to my dream of watching Reggie Bush stamped on repeatedly in a ruck. A pipedream, but it makes me smile everyday.
It could finally lead to my dream of watching Reggie Bush stamped on repeatedly in a ruck. A pipedream, but it makes me smile everyday.
E
erwanseb
Guest
After reading all these talks about s14 expansion, you cannot help but wonder why the hell did IRB award the rwc2011 to NZ instead of Japan.
I got nothing against NZ but that was definetly a big business blunder that will haunt them (IRB AND sanzar) for years to come.
I got nothing against NZ but that was definetly a big business blunder that will haunt them (IRB AND sanzar) for years to come.
R
Ripper
Guest
Knowing Reggie Bush, you still wouldn't get that chance, he would just dance around, than run out of bounds for a 3 yard loss.
U
USA_Rugby
Guest
Wow, you guys know quite a bit about american football.
Ripper, you have got it exactly right. He just dances around. lol
Ripper, you have got it exactly right. He just dances around. lol
G
Graham Robertson
Guest
Sounds like a fabulous idea ... the more the merrier
J
joe013
Guest
This can be great for us rugby! Maybe they will become better aponents
G
gerrietruter2
Guest
I still think USA can become one of the superpowers in rugby! If they can convert schoolboys from playing american football and start playing rugby the rest of the worlds rugby teams should start looking out for america in the next couple of years!
S
sanzar
Guest
Wait, didn't LA lose their NFL team because no one turned up to their games??? If that's right then this is a very stupid idea...
NFL is by far and away the most popular sport in the US and if an economy and population the size of LA can't support an NFL team, then what hope does a rugby team have??
NFL is by far and away the most popular sport in the US and if an economy and population the size of LA can't support an NFL team, then what hope does a rugby team have??
F
fcukernaut
Guest
No LA loses it's teams because they have nutjob owners. The first time they lost their team was because the owner just inheireted from her dead husband and moved it to St. Louis because she got a sweetheart stadium deal. The second time they lost their team was because Al Davis is just a nutter who moved the team from Oakland to LA and then back to Oakland for no legitimate reason apart from maybe spite.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
What TV Show's are you watching/looking forward to?- Latest: LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)
-
-
-