NRL club chairmen walk out as Todd Greenberg and John Grant backflip on funding

[Super Freak]

LEGENDARY rugby league administrator Ken Arthurson has backed the growing push to have John Quayle take over from John Grant as chairman of the ARL Commission.

Together Arthurson and Quayle were in charge of the ARL when the Super League War broke out in 1995.

With the game now on the brink of another civil war, Arthurson has told The Daily Telegraph Quayle’s experience and honour would make him the perfect man to deliver peace again.

“If it was up to me there would be no question. I would certainly be supporting John Quayle,” Arthurson said.

“I said from the word go, when the Commission was first established, they were crazy if they didn’t put John Quayle on it.

“I couldn’t speak too highly of John Quayle.

“Apart from the fact that I regard him as a very, very good administrator and a man who has a terrific knowledge of the game of rugby league, his loyalty to me during the time he was chief executive and I was chairman was just outstanding.”

NRL clubs have the numbers to remove Grant under the current constitution and he is expected to be axed before Christmas.

While Grant is digging his heels in to stay, Arthurson said he could understand the clubs’ disappointment and anger after the Commission reneged on the funding agreement to provide 130 per cent of the salary cap from 2018.

“To be a good witness, I don’t know too much about John Grant or his administrator abilities,” Arthurson said.

“But I do know this, you are looking for trouble if you make a promise and then break it.

“Particularly one that is affecting the clubs so much.

“Some of the administrators ring me up and generally the information I get from those blokes is that they all want to get rid of John Grant.

“They tell me they have the numbers.

“I don’t know if they have or not but that is what I have been told.

“I worked with John Quayle for a lot of years and I will tell you this about Quayle; once you point him in the right direction, by Jesus he is like a terrier.

“He just keeps going.

“I couldn’t think of anyone more suitable.”

Arthurson said it was also time for the NRL to show more respect to the grassroots and tireless workers in country regions.

“I was very disappointed that they wiped the City-Country game,” Arthurson said.

“They say the game doesn’t mean much but Jesus it does mean a lot to country people.

“Some of those poor bloody blokes in the country are working all for nothing. They are painting lines and mowing lawns and getting food prepared and helping to raise money to get gear for players and kids.

“Surely they are entitled to a little bit back.”

No Cookies | NT News

 

[Fozz]

Arthurson can bugger off, just another old dinosaur from a bygone era.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]The trouble for rugby league, Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant and the governing body's toxic relationship with the 16 NRL clubs, can all be traced back to a fateful announcement in the first week of December last year.[/FONT][FONT=sueca_hd_regular]Back then, in what Grant termed an "emotionally charged environment", management agreed to to fund each club to the tune of 130 per cent of their total player payments from 2018 onwards.
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]It was a landmark deal. But while a heads of agreement was signed, and the deal loudly trumpeted at the time as saving the clubs' financial bacon forever more, negotiations over terms dragged on for the best part of 12 months before Grant and the commission pulled the deal from the table on November 23.


[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]Since then, all hell has broken loose as Melbourne Storm chairman Bart Campbell, who struck deal original deal, has led the charge to dump Grant.
[/FONT]

[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]But the simple fact is that the original agreement was dumb, extremely unaffordable for the NRL and one of the biggest strategic mistakes made in the almost five-year history of the independent commission now running that game.
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]It is also one, with the clubs calling for Grant's scalp, that threatens to come back to bite them. But it is also one rugby league's management desperately need to extract themselves from. Even if it is entirely their own fault for agreeing to it in the first place.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]There are two main problems for the NRL.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]The first is that its balance sheet is already stretched. This is because it wants to invest in shoring up its base of grassroots players and participation; and it needs to invest up to $100 million over five years in its digital business when it takes over the online running of the game from Telstra about this time next year. That comes after pouring a good $30 million in propping up four clubs, failing to sell the Newcastle Knights this year and the accusation from many clubs and commentators that running head office is costing too much anyway.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Aligning interests

[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]The second is that in agreeing to the 130 per cent deal it aligned the players' interests – a new collective bargaining agreement needs to be signed next year – with the clubs. That is a dangerous combination for a governing body.
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]In 2015, the NRL made an $18 million loss. It is likely to post another loss this year and there is a real possibility it will post another negative result in 2017. It is a far cry from 2013, when it announced a $50 million profit and was flush with funds after negotiating a record $1 billion broadcast deal in 2012. The league has a sustainability fund that was worth about $52 million in October 2015, but there are concerns it may have been raided in the past 12 months to shore up the league's finances.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]The 130 per cent funding deal agreement last December came at a time when then NRL chief executive Dave Smith had walked away from the game or fallen on his sword – depending on the version of the controversial TV rights negotiations that infuriated Rupert Murdoch that you believe – and Grant had headed off a previous move by the clubs on his position.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]NRL clubs, upset at the way TV talks had initially moved (the NRL eventually clinched a $1.8 billion five-year deal with Nine Entertainment Co and Fox Sports), had threatened Grant's position as he moved to become interim CEO. The 130 per cent claim was struck and peace was set to reign.
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]But of course it couldn't, because the deal was simply unaffordable.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]The AFL, the richest sports code in the country, has never offered to pay its clubs more than the 100 per cent of total player payments. Modelling it did a few years ago suggested that every 1 per cent increase promised to the clubs would cost the AFL $12-18 million annually. Ratchet up the percentage above 100 per cent and multiply it by a five- or six-year term of a TV deal and the money going to the clubs is enormous.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]Wisely from a strategic and financial point of view, the AFL has a "disequalised" funding model. That means "poorer" clubs get more funding than the wealthy ones. That helps prop them up, and usually keeps them onside with head office. The NRL struck a deal to fund all its clubs the same amount, meaning all 16 clubs' interests were completely aligned.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Player payments

[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]Then there is the question of what the NRL players stand to be paid. Agreeing to pay the clubs a set amount far exceeding the total player payments meant the clubs' interest, getting more money from the NRL, was completely aligned with the players' interest of getting higher salaries.
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]Suddenly instead of having the clubs on its side in CBA negotiations the NRL will have the clubs siding with the players or not worrying what player salaries and the total payment package gets set at. It doesn't matter to the clubs, they were set to get 130 per cent of player wages no matter what.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]They could tell the players they were happy to pay them more, safe in the knowledge the NRL was going to pay them that 130 per cent. (The AFL, meanwhile, also has a CBA negotiation to do but has not promised any big specific funding packages to clubs – or the players.)[/FONT]
[/FONT]

[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]The NRL is now wisely backing away from the 130 per cent deal at rapid rate. But that doesn't excuse the governing body from the ham-fisted way it dealt with the matter in the first place. It signed a heads of agreement with the clubs, so it is understandable they are angry at the league and want Grant's scalp – a move they see as the only one they have as a protest at the NRL's mismanagement.
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]While in the short term there is the move to ditch Grant to deal with, the longer-term game is for the NRL and the 16 clubs to thrash out a deal. It has to be done.[/FONT]
[FONT=sueca_hd_regular]It will be tough, but should not be impossible. Then both parties could get on with the task of bringing in revenue to the game, not just relying on the big bucks of a TV deal to save the day every five years. That truly would be a win-win situation.[/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
Read more: Why the NRL can't afford its 130pc club funding deal | afr.com
Follow us: @FinancialReview on Twitter | financialreview on Facebook

Not a bad read on the saga looking from another perspective.

 

[Super Freak]

Jesus christ..

How did the NRL record a profit with such amateurs running the show?

 

[LittleDavey]

Could be the best game in the world, yet I've seen backyard comps run more effectively. Absolutely abysmal.

 

[Super Freak]

Representatives of the clubs and the ARLC met today and agreed to continue discussions to resolve the current impasse.

 

[mitch222]

How the hell are these spastics making huge losses with the new tv deal in place? Time to trim the fat as NRL HQ I think. And the 100 mill in grassroots footy certainly isn't making its way out to the bush

 

[Super Freak]

Grant has until 10am tomorrow to give the clubs what they want or he is gone.

Clubs sought three concessions - they be given 130 per cent of the salary cap - around $13m a year - in funding, they be issued two seats on the eight-member commission and that Grant be booted out by November next year.

 

[Morkel]

Grant has until 10am tomorrow to give the clubs what they want or he is gone.

Clubs sought three concessions - they be given 130 per cent of the salary cap - around $13m a year - in funding, they be issued two seats on the eight-member commission and that Grant be booted out by November next year.

Haha! Poor Grant.
Grant: "What if I don't meet your demands"?
Clubs: "You're gone"
Grant: "Okay what if I do"
Clubs: "You're gone"..... "In November"
Greenturd: (immediately) "Deal I'll sign it right now who has a pen what's the date today is that all you need?"
Grant: "Wait, what?"

 

[Super Freak]

Haha! Poor Grant.
Grant: "What if I don't meet your demands"?
Clubs: "You're gone"
Grant: "Okay what if I do"
Clubs: "You're gone"..... "In November"
Greenturd: (immediately) "Deal I'll sign it right now who has a pen what's the date today is that all you need?"
Grant: "Wait, what?"

The clubs are also going to make sure he is not the one to hand the trophy to the winner of the World Cup as a final **** you to him.

They claim he does not deserve a glorious exit.

He has really pissed them off.

And not only them it seems. There are reports he has also pissed off a few of the other commissioners and NRL administrators.

 

[gordjw]

So the game really hasn't progressed at all since SL. It's still run by a group of tribal vindictive dickheads, just with different names.

The clubs should be more worried about why they aren't profitable without the club grant.

 

[Morkel]

So the game really hasn't progressed at all since SL. It's still run by a group of tribal vindictive dickheads, just with different names.

The clubs should be more worried about why they aren't profitable without the club grant.

Agree. The point of the Independent Commission was that it was independent. That it wasn't run purely by the NRL clubs for the NRL clubs. Yet here we are.

 

[Nashy]

Well if it was actually independent, we wouldn't have got to this. Grant has been nothing more than another puppet. Until all the old boys are 6 feet in the ground, this game will never progress.

 

[Morkel]

Well if it was actually independent, we wouldn't have got to this. Grant has been nothing more than another puppet. Until all the old boys are 6 feet in the ground, this game will never progress.

Agree.

EDIT: Except I don't think Grant was a puppet. If he was, he'd be safe, so long as he did what the clubs wanted. Which means if he is a puppet, it's for the little guys. Which isn't quite as bad. He probably is genuinely working towards what the IC is supposed to be about.

But what is G-Turd doing during all of this? Haven't heard **** from him. Is he keeping low so he escapes the wrath, or is he actually behind all this? He is a greasy politician, I'm sure there's something in this for him.

 

[gordjw]

Well if it was actually independent, we wouldn't have got to this. Grant has been nothing more than another puppet. Until all the old boys are 6 feet in the ground, this game will never progress.

Who do you reckon he's a puppet for?

I mean he helped get the record TV deal, so it wouldn't be for them, and clearly the clubs hate him, so it's not the ARL.
Is there another big faction that I'm missing?

 

[Sproj]

Apparently an agreement has been reached about funding.

 

[Foordy]

John Grant survives as ARL Commission chairman

The Daily Telegraph

UNDER-fire John Grant will continue as ARL Commission chairman after surviving a marathon day of meetings with NRL club bosses.

Grant’s fate was to be decided at the emergency general meeting at Rugby League Central in Sydney following his falling out with NRL clubs over funding.

Fed-up club chairmen voted to ruthlessly pursue Grant after a three-hour meeting on Monday night inside Baker McKenzie lawyers office in Bridge Street, Sydney.

Clubs sought three concessions — they be given 130 per cent of the salary cap — around $13m a year — in funding, they be issued two seats on the eight-member commission and that Grant be booted out by November next year.

After a session of meetings that lasted all day on Tuesday, the clubs and NRL came to agreement, which allowed Grant to stay on as chairman for the next year.

The package agreed included:

- A significant increase in club payments in the next five year cycle;

- A special fund set up to assist financially distressed Clubs;

- A 65 per cent increase in funding for grassroots Rugby League.

Club Chairs representative Bart Campbell said this ensured the game was strong at every level.


“The clubs and Commission have a common goal – to make Rugby League as strong as possible into the future,” Campbell said.

“This agreement delivers the funds needed to achieve that target.”

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...n/news-story/8089e4898d24a3c5b7c9c52d00f279ca