League: US group thinking big over Warriors

Vodafone Warriors. Photo / www.Photosport.nz

The head of the Tongan-American consortium hoping to buy the Warriors is thinking big.

Hawaiian politician Richard Fale believes that his group, which includes half a dozen current or former NFL players, could take the Auckland club into a new, and certainly unprecedented stratosphere, claiming they could win "more championships than Tom Brady".

Fale also said if they are able to gain control of the club this year, they would be in a position to claim an inaugural NRL premiership by 2020.

Fale, who has served as a Republican member of the Hawaiian House of Representatives since 2013, is CEO of the group, that includes players who have won Super Bowl titles.

He says that inherent knowledge of what it takes to achieve ultimate success, mixed with principles learned in the NFL over almost a century, and together with strong investment, could change the fortunes of the Warriors in the NRL.

"We have people in our group that know what a championship organisation looks like and how they operate," Fale told the Herald on Sunday. "It takes absolute excellence on the field, and off the field. It's something you can sense within five minutes of walking around an organisation and feeling the culture."

Based on that, Fale is prepared to make the claim the Warriors could one day outdo New England Patriots legend Brady, who has played (eight) and won (five) more Super Bowls than anyone else in NFL history.

"We believe we could take the Warriors to a point where they are in the finals every year," said Fale. "And they could win five championships in 10 years, with a better winning percentage than Tom Brady and the Patriots. I see no reason why that wouldn't be the case."

Fale's group includes several Tongan families, with representatives in Hawaii, United States, Tonga and New Zealand.

Warriors owner, businessman Eric Watson, is believed to be asking $20m for the NRL franchise.

The NFL is recognised as the most successful domestic sports league in the world. Since it was founded in 1920, it has grown to astronomical proportions. Although restricted to a 16-game regular season, it has the highest average attendance (more than 67,000) of any sporting league on the planet. It is the most popular of the four major American sports. The 2017-18 champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, paid an average salary of US$2.75m this season.

Fale thinks all that accumulated knowledge could be transformational in Australasia.

"Look at rugby union — it only became professional in 1996," said Fale. "It's the same age that the NFL was in 1941. We believe that we can take the applicable parts of theexpertise we have from the NFL, NBA and MLB and accelerate the growth of rugby league. What took the NFL 50 years to figure out, we believe we can put rugby league on anaccelerated path towards achieving that. I think we would be able to effectively execute that in an organisation like the Warriors. That's the genesis behind all of this."

Fale adds that for the current and former NFL players among his consortium, the desire to become owners of a sporting franchise was fuelled by their own playing experiences.

"When you are a little kid, your dream is to make it in the NFL, knowing what it could do for you and your family and because you enjoy the combative nature of the game," said Fale. "But when you make it, after the first five or six years, you kinda realise you are just a pawn on the table.

"It's the guys who are sitting up in the boxes who have the real money, the real power, the real influence. Because the moment that you leave that field, there is already 10 guys lined up to take your spot. So it has been that understanding, that you need to be the guy in the [owner's] box to really be in a position to influence things and have your voice heard, especially in the field of professional sports."