Interview: Multi-millionaire backer Geoff Murphy on why CQ must be the next NRL franchise
geoff-murphy
Born, bred and diehard Queensland rugby league man Geoff Murphy has made a substantial fortune from construction – estimates put it at $120 million – so he knows the importance of strong foundations.
Away from his day job as General Manager of his JM Kelly (Project Builders), and his chairmanship of Beef Australia, he is the driving force and funding source behind a Rockhampton-based Central Queensland bid to enter the National Rugby League.
The tireless, knockabout 70-year-old – “I’m like a wild boar,” he says – has travelled around the world on behalf of the bid, tying up a sister club deal with NFL’s Green Bay Packers, and ploughed an amount “in the millions” of his own money into the three-years-and-counting project.
A significant proportion of that money has gone towards a business plan which is almost complete. It is the foundation of the CQ story and the document Murphy believes has his bid towering above other contenders including Perth, Ipswich and a second Brisbane outfit.
A key component of that plan is a report commissioned from Colin Smith, a powerful and significant name in the realm of TV rights. Smith, a director of Global Media & Sports, is being paid as a consultant by the Australian Rugby League Commission as it pushes for new deal, expected to surpass the AFL’s recent $1.25 billion TV bonanza.
The ARLC has yet to set a time table for expansion, although a report in the Sydney Morning Herald last week suggested they were investigating the level of extra rights money that could flow from a ninth match each week. That story suggested TV executives from Fox and Nine favour a fourth Queensland team to be based in Brisbane, but Murphy says that is not backed up by Smith’s report.
“I employed him to do the research for us in August 2011 but we haven’t made it public because we decided to keep the report as part of our business plan,” Murphy tells SportBizInsider.
Murphy is excited by Smith’s judgement and although he is keeping the full report in house he is happy to share its conclusion, saying: “I want to read you the last paragraph.
“Choice of location for an expansion team should be based on the chance of success of the new team. The success of the new team will be determined by local support of fans and business. The survey shows fans’ support will be the highest for a Central Queensland expansion team. Given the propensity of Queenslanders to support their NRL team, television audiences for a new team in Brisbane, Ipswich or Central Queensland will not vary. Likewise, pay television subscription growth is not expected to vary depending on the location of the new franchise.”
“So he’s saying we are as strong as anywhere in some areas but stronger in others.”
Since commissioning the Smith report Murphy and the CQ team, including CEO Denis Keeffe, have continued to build their business plan, including paying for a preliminary design of the stadium.
“We have a fantastic business plan but we’ve gone a step beyond that and had it reviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, so when it goes to the NRL it will have been ticked off by one of the major five.”
If Murphy’s approach is basement up, he feels one of the bids main rivals, the Brisbane Bombers, is doing the opposite, working on the fittings rather than the foundation first.
“We haven’t gone out there and announced players and colours and names and coaches,” says Murphy. “That’s what the Bombers have done in Brisbane. They haven’t put together a decent business plan, they’ve just gone out and named who they’re going to go and buy as players and who their coach is going to be.”
Murphy said naming teams and potential signings before the bid was successful was horse-before-the-cart thinking.
“It was a deliberate step that we wouldn’t go out to the market place with unfounded announcements until we could be sure we could do what we were saying we could because we think we would lose credibility,” Murphy says. “Sooner or later we will do that but we’ve concentrated on putting down the foundations, ticking all the boxes.
“We believe the decision the NRL will make will be based on viability. We think that’s the most important thing and the colours and names are things that aren’t critical yet.”
He believes that when expansion happens a fourth Queensland team is “a given”.
“From there I think the most important thing the Commission will look for is look for is long-term viability,” Murphy says.
“The reason I say that is we have a new Commission, we have a team like Melbourne for example who haven’t been able to survive off their own money, who are still supported by News Limited and I believe that sooner or later that understanding of on-going support will stop.
“When it does, if the Storm can’t survive under their own steam where are the funds going to come from? I believe the NRL will have to continue to support it because I believe it will be critical that a team remains there.
“If the NRL has to do that it will be heart-wrenching for them and I don’t believe the Commission is going to want to put another team in where it might have to put its hand in its pocket to support it down the track. Viability is very important. And that’s why we are saying we are putting together the best viable bid to win it.”
Geoff Murphy on . . .
. . . His rugby league passion
“I grew up always following rugby league. I played rugby league in my school days and after I left high school only until I was about 18. It was then that I started my own business and I never really had the opportunity to play. From then my passion was to watch the game rather than play it because I was involved in developing a business and bringing up a young family. I’ve always been very passionate about rugby league, it’s the game I’ve always loved. I was born and bred in Toowoomba and in those days the Darling Downs was a great breeding ground for footballers. My two sons both played rugby league and I’ve got grandchildren looking at playing soon.”
. . . Why CQ is rugby league central
“In the area of CQ we have 600,000 people and their main sport is rugby league – we’re the heartland of the game and I don’t say it lightly. For State of Origin last year Central Queensland had the highest viewing rating per person of population of anywhere in Australia. There are no national sporting teams in our areas; no other teams in soccer, AFL, basketball, whatever. The people here are very passionate about rugby league.
“It’s a the perfect place for expansion in Queensland because you’re tying up the heartland for rugby league. It is seven hours drive to Brisbane and a bit more to Townsville. The people here love the game so much many travel to Brisbane or Townsville to see games. We do feel we’re entitled to a team in CQ; consider the number of young lads bred here who just don’t make it when they go away from their home base, their daily support.”
. . . A second Brisbane team
“I think it’s important to look at failures in the past, like the Crushers, and about congestion. We have two NRL teams in South East Queensland already, in the Broncos and Titans. The Broncos are one of the top teams in the NRL and that’s fantastic and we aspire to be as good as them – some people say we would be weakening them but that’s wrong. The Titans need support, they have had bad times. Another team in SEQ is going to put pressure on both of those, so what about this gap in the centre of the state where there are no teams but there are avid, passionate rugby league supporters?”
. . . Why CQ deserves to be a front runner
“We’ve been going for about three years. We are well organised, we have our junior development in place. We have a scholarship for 12 young lads who we’re putting through school at the moment, we’re out promoting and have a development officer in 120 schools in the area. What puts us ahead of the others is that we’re developing the grass roots right now. I don’t believe any of the other bid teams are doing that. We’re out there developing the game in CQ, giving young lads an opportunity now to start developing their careers.
“On top of that we’re blue sky. There’s no other competition to compete against, not just in rugby league. In SEQ for instance they have national cricket, basketball, the Roar, the local league comp, the Broncos, there is so much sport to go to and you split the sporting spend and sponsorship. Clubs in SEQ have to fight for sponsorship. Up here people are looking to sponsor something.”
. . . His dream scenario
“My dream is kicking the butt of the Broncos, kicking the butt of the Titans, kicking the butt of the North Queensland Cowboys! Central Queensland always gets eaten up by those people so we’ll love kicking their butts! Really? My dream is regularly paying NRL games in Central Queensland every couple of weeks.”
Bid milestones*
Received $440,000 from a consortium of leading companies in the coal mining industry to fund the development of a comprehensive business plan to be submitted to the NRL. These companies led by BMA are committed to working together to develop a long-term sponsorship of the CQ NRL Team.
Commitment from Queensland Government to build a new stadium in Rockhampton that will hold 20,000 people. The Stadium will be based on the model of Skilled Park on the Gold Coast.
Links with the Green Bay Packers.
More than 10,000 junior rugby league players registered in CQ region.
A burgeoning Leagues Club that has more than 11,000 members and has experienced over 500 percent growth in membership in the last two years.
Moe than 40,000 Bid members, 150 Corporate Partners and 10,000 Facebook fans.
QR National sponsors the Schools Program where a development manager attends 120 schools in CQ annually delivering Rugby League and healthy lifestyle programs.
QR National sponsors the Scholarship Program – it provides educational scholarships to 11 disadvantaged youths in CQ. Funding to these families offsets education and sporting expenses. Eleven former NRL players are on board as mentors including greats of the game Gary Larson, Jason Hetherington, Matt Sing, Mark Graham and Steve Bell.
CQ NRL Bid Junior Development Program. Started in 2011 a highly innovative Junior Development Program that focuses on the holistic development of a select group of elite U13s and U14s players from the Central Queensland region. This team will form the core of the Under 20 team in the NRL. The CQ NRL Club will comprise mostly CQ players, coaches and staff. Committed to 75 percent of all players and staff in CQ NRL Team to be local products.
Major sponsors: JM Kelly Builders, QR National, APN Publications, WIN Television, Telstra, CQ University
Commercial business ventures and links with Indigenous Traditional Owner groups and peak Indigenous organisation in the Region CQID.
CQ University MOU and Heads of Agreement
*Supplied by the CQ NRL bid team.
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