A team for suburbs south of the Brisbane River
Our bid leverages the strong and fierce 90-year-old history of the Suzuki Brisbane Tigers in the Brisbane and Queensland Rugby League competitions, featuring legendary players, coaches and premierships. In the last 30 years alone, the club has appeared in 10 grand finals, the most recent being the 2023 Grand Final where the Brisbane Tigers defeated the Burleigh Bears.
The bid is backed by a strong balance sheet, assets and financial forecast that’s comparable to the Brisbane Broncos and the Dolphins.
Since our bid announcement in May 2023, we’ve been working hard to implement and strengthen our initiatives that underpin our bid for an NRL licence. Our community program, RISING, has been implemented in more than 20 schools and positively impacted over 1500 students from low socio-economic and marginalised backgrounds across the south of Brisbane.
Our Hub Marketing team has invested in marketing and digital content strategies that communicate with our great fans and community, bringing them close to the action and giving them a greater insight into the game we all love.
Our affiliate clubs and school programs have been built upon to provide and empower Queensland grassroots footy clubs and the thousands of local players that embody the Queenslander spirit with each game they play.
South-east Queensland fans are craving more high-quality rugby league, with our four existing Queensland based teams still leaving our fans wanting more. Suncorp Stadium has the capacity to support another NRL team, with nine weekends of the regular season 27 round season having no games played at Lang Park.
Our bid focuses on the suburbs south of the Brisbane River, where we believe that the Brisbane Tigers can significantly grow the game. Both Brisbane-based NRL clubs are located north of the river and as Brisbane-ites, we all know there is a great rivalry over what side of the river we live on. There is no doubt that if there is an NRL team based in the south-western corridor, this rivalry will be further heightened.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the three fastest growing regions in Australia will be the Gold Coast, Logan and Ipsiwch. The Logan and Ipswich areas, in particular, are projected to grow during a 10-year period by approximately 275,000 inhabitants to a total population of almost one million people. This is an untapped market for Rugby League and needs to be at the forefront of this growth area to further enhance the game’s development.
The Brisbane Tigers have focused our activities to the south of the Brisbane River, with a particular focus on the south-west corridor from Logan to Ipswich, with our 14 affiliated clubs and schools based across this region.
The implementation of the Dolphins and their on and off field success has also proven that Queenslanders, and more specifically, Brisbane-ites, have an appetite for more Rugby League. The Dolphins, in their debut season, had great on field performances, clever marketing tactics, record crowds and television ratings, and high corporate and merchandise revenues. This demonstrated that the NRL was correct in its decision to add a second team in Greater Brisbane.
It’s also evident that, from the Broncos and Dolphin’s successes in 2023, and the repeat sold-out Magic Rounds, that south-east Queensland can accommodate another NRL team in the near future, so why not us?
The Dolphins have clearly demonstrated the that north of Brisbane can strongly support a second Brisbane team.
Over the next 10 years, three of the fastest growing areas in Australia will be the Gold Coast, Logan and Ipswich.
The Logan and Ipswich areas are projected to grow during this 10-year period by approximately 275,000 residents.
We believe the Brisbane Tigers can provide a similar commercial stimulus in the south-west corridor that takes in the Logan and Ipswich regions.
Brisbane Tigers also already have one of the best junior nurseries and pathways in Australia, with affiliated clubs and schools spread across the southside of Brisbane and the Logan – Ipswich corridor.
Last but not least, south-east Queensland has proven to be the strongest NRL region for game day attendance, broadcast ratings and corporate support.
In fact, south-east Queensland fans are craving more high-quality rugby league with our four existing Queensland based teams still leaving our fans wanting more.
With the strong attendance and audience figures we are seeing the Dolphins achieve in their debut year, we believe the Brisbane Tigers can provide a similar stimulus in the south-west corridor that takes in the Logan and Ipswich regions.
Queensland teams are also, on average, the most-attended NRL home games in 2023 so far, a trend that has been consistent over recent years.
The NRL’s Magic Round has also become one of the most popular events on Australia’s sporting calendar since its inception in 2019, with this year being completely sold-out.
As Brisbane steadily builds to the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the appetite for sporting entertainment and venues that showcase incredible homegrown athletic talent is only going to grow.
The Brisbane Tigers’ NRL bid is backed by a strong balance sheet, assets and financial forecast, comparable with the Brisbane Broncos and Dolphins.
Like the Dolphins, we already have strong and growing pathways south of the Brisbane River with 14 affiliated rugby league clubs and school programs.
From Under Five’s juniors teams to our Queensland Rugby League Hostplus Cup team, we have established roots at all levels in our wide-reaching community.
Brisbane Tigers will build upon our programs that already empower Queensland grassroots footy clubs and thousands of local players to dream big and offer unique fan experiences with the game we love.
If successful in securing an NRL team licence, our goal is to be the go-to club for sports fans on Brisbane’s southside, western corridor as well as throughout Australia and Pacific regions, particularly the millions of casual fans who do not support the Broncos, Dolphins or Titans.
The Brisbane Tigers is an established and iconic rugby league club in Queensland, and we strongly believe the Dolphins’ similar standing has significantly contributed to their early NRL success both on and off the field.
There are 987,119 people living north of the Brisbane River in Greater Brisbane, but almost 1.6 million living south of the Brisbane River.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over the next 10 years, three of the fastest growing areas in Australia will be the Gold Coast, Logan and Ipswich.
We will also be able to offer unique fan experiences for the forecast growing population in these regions as well as national and international rugby league fans.
With their recent expansion into Springfield, the Brisbane Tigers will also aim to compete with the Brisbane Lions and the AFL for players and fans across the southern Brisbane regions.
As the West Tigers already hold an NRL and NRLW licence, we are not looking to become the second ‘Tigers’ team in National Rugby League competitions.
We are not yet at the stage where our bid has considered the name of our potential NRL and NRLW team.
However, whatever our name may be, the Brisbane Tigers’ NRL bid is more than ready to once again prove that Queenslanders want another team to cheer on to premiership glory in exciting new ways.
The facilities at Totally Workwear Stadium are the perfect foundations for our bold and innovative bid to become the NRL’s next franchise and the fifth Queensland team.
Our Queensland Cup sides including the Hostplus Cup, BMD Premiership, Mal Meninga Cup and many other Suzuki Brisbane Tigers teams train, prepare and play at our home turf, Totally Workwear Stadium.
The redeveloped stadium provides an even better facility for Queensland rugby league matches and is regularly used by NRL teams for training when playing in Brisbane such as the 2023 Magic Round, as well as Queensland Maroons and Australian Kangaroos.
Our change rooms and gymnasium are female-participant compliant and will encourage more women to play rugby league, as seen by the introduction and on field success of our Harvey Norman U17s for the 2024 season.
Suncorp Stadium also has the capacity to support another NRL team. This year’s 27 rounds of the regular season will see nine weekends where no game is played at Suncorp.
Suncorp Stadium will of course be considered as an NRL game-day venue for our team, but we are open to considering other appropriate stadiums across the Greater Brisbane area.
We waited until May 2023 to publicly announce our bid as we have been busy fulfilling the major initiatives outlined in our 17th NRL team bid, to put our best foot forward for the new licence submission.
The Brisbane Tigers Rugby League Football Club are now in our strongest ever position to be the next NRL team and franchise, and we look forward to working with the NRL and other stakeholders to make this a rewarding reality for Brisbane, Queensland, the NRL and all rugby league fans.
You just have to look at the players in contention for this year’s State of Origin series, from Cameron Munster, Patrick Carrigan and Cody Walker, to see how fruitful our home region in south-east Queensland’s rugby league pathways are in producing NRL-ready players.
We have strong Hostplus Cup squad that features players who may well be the next stars of the NRL, with Solomona Faataape being the most recent NRL graduate that came from the Brisbane Tigers pathways.
Several of our Tigers from our BMD Premiership team also featured in the 2023 NRLW season with many being in contention for the 2024 season.
While that is an exciting question, and one of the first things that rugby league fans will start thinking about, it is too early in our bid process to discuss potential players or coaches.
Until the NRL can define who and what they are looking for in terms of timeline and criteria for the next franchise licence, we cannot provide further details regarding our bid at this time.
Check out the latest news on our bid, and the NRL and NRLW happenings, in and around Langlands Park
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