Nick Livermore, the head of the Brisbane Jets’ bid to enter the NRL, has conceded there is little chance that his side will be selected as the next expansion team to enter the competition.
The Jets were unsuccessful in becoming the 17th team in the NRL after the Dolphins were granted the licence over Livermore’s Jets and the Brisbane Firehawks.
Livermore believes it is unlikely that the NRL would consider a second Brisbane team given the Broncos’ monopoly in the area due to their ties with News Limited.
“Another team in Brisbane will not happen in my lifetime,” Livermore admitted on SEN 1170 Mornings.
“As much as I would absolutely love to see that, we have the Gold Coast Titans, Broncos, the Dolphins and the Melbourne Storm who have got ties with the Sunshine Coast Falcons.
“We have four coastal teams in the South-East Queensland market.
“The Broncos have also got the heartland stitched up commercially and corporately. The Broncos are a $67 million club and they want to protect that.
“There are far too many dollars at stake for News Limited, who owns the Broncos, to see another team come in to compete with them for those dollars.”
Livermore also holds concern for the future of the NRL in Queensland given the AFL’s expected push into the area over the next decade.
The Brisbane Lions have relocated to their new training facility in Springfield and Livermore says that area is now lost to the AFL.
“The problem that the league has is that the AFL heartland where the Lions have set up in Springfield is the growth population,” he added.
“Rugby league is going to struggle west of Brisbane for a long time unless an NRL team is there.
“Gillon McLachlan has said Queensland will be an AFL state in the next 10 years based on junior numbers, Auskick and female participation.
“We have four NRL sides representing the east coast of south-east Queensland and absolutely nothing in the inner-west.
“We are going to fall behind and that is the reality of it.”
