The ARL Commission has order NRL boss Andrew Abdo to prepare the national competition for bigger expansion, with Peter V’landys gunning to add three more teams by the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
This expansion drive means Australia will see the most teams in its top-flight rugby league competition since the infamous 1995 Super League war led to the unified NRL and its 20 inaugural teams in 1998; a two-decade high that was quickly trimmed down to just 14 by the time the turn of the century rolled around two years later.
The next step now is that the boffins and gurus at the ARLC will “identify the best expansion zones, the bid process and a timetable for formal entry to the premiership,” the Daily Telegraph has reported. The project will cost around $80 million and focus on building grassroots first up.
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The Sporting Base can already tell fans the bids expected to put together proposal packages once the ARLC begins fielding proper enquiries: Perth, Papua New Guinea, three New Zealand ventures—including a South Island organisation, as well as Sydney pair North Sydney and Newtown, and the Brisbane Tigers.
The understanding, Base has heard, is that Brisbane’s entry would be very long odds with the Broncos, Cowboys, Titans, and Dolphins in the Queensland market. Similarly, the Jets and Bears would struggle to return as solo teams.
ARLC has rubber-stamped Peter V'landys' expansion masterplan: Three new #NRL franchises to be added before 2032 Brisbane Olympics
No teams locked in yet but expect bids from:
⚈ Perth
⚈ PNG
⚈ New Zealand (at least three)
⚈ Brisbane Tigers
⚈ North Sydney Bears
⚈ Newton Jets… pic.twitter.com/AoJZs4iMxv— The Sporting Base – NRL (@BaseNrl) June 26, 2024
Perth has the very best odds and already looks set to become the 18th NRL team. Behind that consortium (which may eventually couple with North Sydney or Newtown) are the New Zealand interests, though which of the three expansion proposals gets a tick remains to be seen.
PNG and its $600m government carrot will also be somewhere in the mix. Whether that venture would be based on the Australian mainland is something that’s still being decided internally.
Either way, V’landys is very confident his plan to get three extra teams will make it out the gates.
“I am super confident there will be 20 teams, that’s the ambition,” he said.
“The analysis will show us what the best options are and what the bid teams have to prove to us is they will bring in a new audience. If we don’t expand, we’ll never reach our full potential.
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“If we do it, we do it as a masterplan and we’ll present the masterplan to [the NRL clubs].”
