For the competitionin the year 2000, the NRL are having a 14 team comp.
They are doing this by making the NRL criteria to rank clubs. Clubs who dont make the 14 have to merge or get culled.
I dont really agree with it myself, and I think its all wrong, but I will explain it to you as best as I can how all this was done.
Firstly there is a table showing what ranking each team got, and what score they got in each aspect of the criteria, and overall.
Club
PositionsHome Crowds Away crowds Competition Points Gate Receipts Profitability Sponsorship/Other Income TOTAL
1.Brisbane 33 33 42 41.25 19 64 232.25
2.Newcastle 32 29 29 38.75 29 66 223.75
3.Melbourne 21 30 43 40 23 58 215.00
4.Canterbury 23 23 36 25 33 44 184.00
5.Cronulla 29 22 30.50 28.75 31 42 183.25
6.S. City 22 31 30.50 26.25 22 40 171.75
7.Parramatta 30 32 23 27.50 21 26 159.50
8.Nth Qld 31 7 6 37.50 14 62 157.50
9.Canberra 13 19 22 23.75 30 46 1153.75
10.Auckland 14 12 14 36.25 7 60 143.25
11.Manly 19 21 34.50 17.50 11 38 141.00
12.Penrith 20 11 13 16.25 32 28 120.25
13.Balmain 7 20 12 15 20 22 96.0
14.Norths 11 13 19.50 8.75 6 24 82.25
15.Souths 12 14 7 13.75 13 14 73.75
16.Wests 6 6 11 6.25 12 12 53.25
Below is the 14 team competition the NRL are planning to have in 2000, and the teams that were unfortunately forced to merge, or get culled:
Brisbane Broncos
Canberra Raiders
Canterbury Bulldogs
Cronulla Sharks
Manly-Norths
Melbourne Storm
Newcastle Knights
Nth Qld Cowboys
Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers
St George Illawarra
Sydney Sity Roosters
Wests Tigers
Balmain Tigers withWestern Suburbs Magpies
Below is a description of how the whole criteria works:
How The Criteria Works
The NRL Admission Criteria covers three specific sections:
1) THE BASIC CRITERIA
This addresses minimum standards which all clubs must meet. These standards cover the areas of Playing Facilities, Administration, Solvency and Development. In relation to playing facilities, each club must either have a stadium that meets minimum guidelines or be able to show a clear plan of how it intends to meet such guidelines within a specified time frame. Administration covers the basic areas that must be addressed within a club, Solvency includes the provision of a five year business plan, while Development requires each club to submit proof of its efforts in regard to development of the game at junior level.
2) THE QUALIFYING CRITERIA
This specifically relates to three clubs, Newcastle, Brisbane and Auckland, who under the 1997 agreement had access to a licence without the imposition of the Selection Criteria. The Qualifying Criteria stipulates the provision of a five year business plan and a minimum revenue of $8million. The minimum revenue figure is made up of at least $1.25million in Gate Receipts and $2.5 million in net sponsorship and other income (see explanation below). It specifically limits to $2million any NRL funding in reaching that figure and limits funding from the ARL, Leagues Clubs or News Limited to $2.25 million in the calculation of the $8million revenue target.
Sponsorship and Other Income includes: sponsorship revenue, corporate box revenue, catering revenue, signage revenue, merchandising revenue, functions revenue, interest income and prize-money. Leagues Club, ARL or News Limited Funding are not included under the heading of Sponsporship and Other Income.
3) THE SELECTION CRITERIA
This is a measure of crowd support, competition results, sponsorship support and finances. It is used to rank those teams which have not already obtained a licence to compete, or who are not participants in an approved joint venture.
How the clubs are ranked
Crowd Numbers (Home Games) (a)
1
Ranked on a scale of 1-20, 20 being the Club with the highest aggregate crowd at home games.
Crowd Numbers (Away Games) (b) 1 Ranked on a sale of 1-20, 20 being the Club with the highest relative aggregate crowds at away games.
Competition Points (c) 1 Ranked on scale of 1-20, 20 being the Club with the best results over the past 5 years
Gate Receipts (Home Games) (d) 1.25 Ranked on a scale of 1-20, 20 being the Club with the highest gate receipts in dollar value from home games.
Sponsorship and Other Income (e) 2 Ranked on a scale of 1-20, 20 being the Club with the highest total.
Profitability (f) 1 Ranked on a scale of 1-20, 20 being the Club with the highest overall profitability.
Notes
(a) Crowd numbers (home games) are measured as the total aggregate crowd (paying or complimentary) for the highest attended 16 games in 1998 and 1999 (does not include finals series).
(b) Each visiting team at a venue will be ranked on the basis of relative attendance.
The away team with the biggest crowd that year at the venue will be awarded twelve points, the away team with the second biggest attendance eleven, and so on.
Relative points at each venue will be added together to give an overall rank.
Ranks will be calculated for each season and then aggregated over 1998 and 1999 for a final score, ie. the highest team in this category will score twenty points (refer to calculation section).
c) The 1997 season will be excluded in the calculation of the rankings in this category.
The position earned by a team at the end of the premiership rounds will be ranked, with minor premiers in a given year awarded 20 points to the last placed team 1. The annual points will then be weighted on the following basis:
1995
a weighting of
1
1996
a weighting of
2
1998
a weighting of
3
1999
a weighting of
4
In the case of Melbourne, the 1998 season was given a weighting of four and 1999 a weighting of six. (The same was the case with Adelaide and Gold Coast who are now gone)
(d) Gate receipts will be measured in accordance with the definition used for the Qualifying Criteria measurement and will be aggregated for 1998 and 1999 for the highest 16 gates over 1998 and 1999. (the definition referred to stipulates Season ticket sales and match ticket sales, less ticket costs, but does not include revenue form corporate box sales)
(e) Sponsorship and Other Income will be measured in accordance with the definition used for the Qualifying Criteria measurement and will be aggregated for 1998 and 1999.
(f) Profitability will be measured on the aggregate of profit and loss accounts for each Club for the 1998 and 1999 seasons as follows:
(i) For 1998, the Profit and Loss Account prepared under current Australian Accounting Standards.
(ii) For 1999, the forecast Profit and Loss Account (prepared under the principles of current Australian Accounting Standards) taking into account actual results to 31 August 1999 and the forecast to 31 October 1999. The estimate for the remaining two months must be agreed by the NRL.
(iii) Any revenue or expense item properly attributable to the football clubs, must be included in the Profit and Loss for this calculation irrespective of which entity it is recorded.
NRL reserves the right to verify and challenge the validity of any amounts to be included (or excluded) in any of the revenue/cost items for this purpose. This extends to both the quantum and the source of the item. NRL shall have the discretion to obtain an independent opinion, at its cost. The final decision on the application of the Selection Criteria rests with NRL.
Any change in venue, where requested by NRL, will be done in consultation with the two teams to ensure the possible effects on the Selection Criteria are appropriately dealt with.
Merged Entities participating in the 1999 season
Where mergers occur early enough so that the newly merged entity participates in the 1999 season, that entity will not be included in the calculation. For consistency the joint venture partners will not be included in the other year's calculation.
Calculation
Calculation will involve the following:
For each of Selection Criteria 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6:
(a) Add 13 points to those ranked 1 to 5 (ie. the initial 20 points for finishing first becomes 33 points and the initial 16 points for finishing fifth becomes 29 points).
(b) Add 8 points to those ranked 6 to 10 (ie. the initial 15 points for finishing sixth becomes 23 points and the initial 11 points for finishing tenth becomes 19 points).
(c) Add 4 points to those ranked 11 to 14 (ie. the initial 10 points for finishing eleventh becomes 14 points).
(d) Add 1 point to those ranked 15 to 20.
For Selection Criteria 3:
(a) For each of 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999, add to the initial points, 10 points for winning the Grand Final and 5 points for the losing Grand Finalist.
(b) Add 13 points to the points achieved by those ranked 1 to 5 (eg if the Club that is ranked first after the initial calculation has won a Grand Final and been beaten in another, they would receive 48 points (20 + 10 + 5 + 13).
(c) Add 8 points to the points achieved by those ranked 6 to 10.
(d) Add 4 points to the points achieved by those ranked 11 to 14.
(e) Add 1 point to the points achieved by those ranked 15 to 20.
The final calculation will be to accumulate the adjusted points from each of the above and multiply by the corresponding weighting, then aggregate to obtain total score.
Should scores be even between Clubs, the Club with the highest gate receipts (based on actual figures aggregated over 1998/1999) will be ranked highest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why wasn’t it drafted before clubs voted on a 14 team competition?
Because there was a clear need for clubs to have some input into the process and this could not have happened until the competition was reunited. Also, neither the ARL nor News were comfortable in having either party design a criteria, instead it was felt the new body, the NRL should have that responsibility.
Why has it changed so many times?
The Criteria was first issued in May 1998 and changed only after input from clubs. It has not changed since September 1998, when it was ratified by the NRL and distributed to all clubs.
Who wrote it?
It was a document prepared by NRL management with the help of independent statisticians, the clubs, the NRL Board and NRL partnership.
Why aren’t juniors included?
Juniors are a key element of the Basic Criteria. Each club needs to provide clear evidence of its efforts in this area to even reach the Selection Criteria. Were it to have been included on a numerical basis, out of Sydney teams would have dominated because of their larger catchment areas. Even within NSW, inner City teams list well below those in outer Sydney or in regional centres.
Why is there so much emphasis on money?
The Criteria predominantly focuses on match related issues and income derived as a result of on-field strength and the performance of club administration.
How can we know it has been applied fairly?
The NRL has used both accounting and legal consultants to monitor the collection of information and the application of the Criteria. Ernst & Young have verified data received by the NRL.
Well there you go, an explanation of the NRL criteria. I hope that has helped for those who dont get it. For now, why dont you go:
Back to the Rugby League Co-op
You can leave your opinions on one of the message boards there if you like.
Coming soon...I will analyse every team and go through how they got the scores that they did, so you can understand it a bit better.