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Timeslot fairness

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
With the fairly poor final 6 rounds schedule finally being released to almost total criticism, this is worth discussing again.

I'm a fan of TV timeslots (and in effect length of turnarounds) being allocated evenly, or at the very least every team guaranteed a minimum amount of each.

What are people's thoughts on this?

Does the team playing effect your choice to watch or do you default watch whatever game is on if you're home/ at the pub?

Do any of the ratings geeks on here have stats comparing how different teams rate?
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
17,509
I’ve said this repeatedly over the years, it is not that hard to evenly distribute the timeslots over a season. Specifically regarding the schedule next year I would define that there are 4 slots during any full weekend, the Thursday/Friday night slot, the pub game slot, Saturday and Sunday.

Each team would ideally play in 6 Thursday/Friday night games, 6 Sunday games, 9 Saturday games and 3 pub games which, lo and behold, equates to the exact ratio of games available within each slot in a full round.

Obviously there are other factors like shortened rounds, public holidays, turnaround times etc. but at the very least they could ensure every team has at least 4 Thursday/Friday night games, 1 pub gam, 4 Sunday games and 7 Saturday games which leaves 8 other games to be scheduled however they choose.
 

Snappy

Coach
Messages
11,844
Next year channel 9 still have the rights to determine time slots. After that NRL take control so things should get better then. In the meantime we just have to suffer the BS draw.
 
Messages
1,850
Boom!

I think they do this in the Super League with their limited TV coverage.

The popularity of badly rating TV will improve with more exposure. A fair shake for everyone just makes sense.
 

SpaceMonkey

Immortal
Messages
37,542
Certain teams have timeslots that work especially well for their home games though, so I don't think its unreasonable that there's some variation. Ie Cowboys prefer Saturday night due to mn you of their fans travelling long distances for the games, and the Warriors get the early Saturday and Sunday spots as it means they're played in prime time in NZ while filling the early tv slot here due to the time difference.
 

Eion

First Grade
Messages
7,601
I don't have a problem with clubs giving preferences to the nrl about times and trying to accommodate these. But the crucial part is to ensure a minimum FTA appearances per club through the regular season. This will create some certainty of exposure for sponsors and is just plain fair.

f**k you nrl if you don't do this.
 

Card Shark

Immortal
Messages
32,237
I don't have a problem with clubs giving preferences to the nrl about times and trying to accommodate these. But the crucial part is to ensure a minimum FTA appearances per club through the regular season. This will create some certainty of exposure for sponsors and is just plain fair.

f**k you nrl if you don't do this.
 

SpaceMonkey

Immortal
Messages
37,542
I don't have a problem with clubs giving preferences to the nrl about times and trying to accommodate these. But the crucial part is to ensure a minimum FTA appearances per club through the regular season. This will create some certainty of exposure for sponsors and is just plain fair.

f**k you nrl if you don't do this.

Absolutely. I even think they should still be able to satisfy the "Qld team on Friday night football every week" requirement that Nine wants, but it should be shared between the three Qld teams, not just the Broncos.
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
Certain teams have timeslots that work especially well for their home games though, so I don't think its unreasonable that there's some variation. Ie Cowboys prefer Saturday night due to mn you of their fans travelling long distances for the games, and the Warriors get the early Saturday and Sunday spots as it means they're played in prime time in NZ while filling the early tv slot here due to the time difference.

Problem is the only half of the teams get their preferences taken on board while the rest get shafted
 

Jason Maher

Immortal
Messages
35,977
Next year channel 9 still have the rights to determine time slots. After that NRL take control so things should get better then. In the meantime we just have to suffer the BS draw.

Genuine question for Broncos fans (from a Dragons fan who lives in Brisbane). How annoyed are you at almost never (and never this year) getting a Sunday afternoon home game, or even the early game on Saturday? As a father of 3 kids, I personally would prefer Saturday or Sunday afternoon for the Dragons game, as I get the kids home at a reasonable hour (the only thing the kids themselves care about is the lunch or dinner we always get at Milton Macca's).

On a different but somewhat related note, there have been a couple of improvements this year: Thursday night instead of 2 Friday games, and a Saturday afternoon game instead of concurrent games at 7:30. The 9:30 Friday game sucked, especially if your team was playing in it. And I'll always be happy to see more daylight football.
 
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Snappy

Coach
Messages
11,844
Yes Jason its a big gripe. Everyone always bangs on about Brisbane favourable draw bla bla bla, but as a fan who attends games with my family, it really sux.

Like you, I'm a father of two boys, and some sunday arvo, or preferably saturday arvo/evening games would be a much better slot for attending games. We had a saturday night game against the knights last month and that was great. I'm looking forward to 2018 when we should get more home saturday and sunday games.
 

some11

Referee
Messages
23,313
Genuine question for Broncos fans (from a Dragons fan who lives in Brisbane). How annoyed are you at almost never (and never this year) getting a Sunday afternoon home game, or even the early game on Saturday?

White and Bennett have said numerous times we'd rather have day games, better for crowds (families in particular) and it mixes up the draw. Our membership group went off season tickets just because its every bloody Thursday or Friday night.

I'm completely for any or all control being taken away from Nine over scheduling.
 

OVP

Coach
Messages
11,623
How many games did Cronulla get on fta ? They're at the top of the table and yet have barely been sighted on fta. What a joke.
 

BuderusIsaBeast

Juniors
Messages
554
For mine every team should have an even amount of free to air games. This should be a priority however I have doubts it will change even with the NRL taking over the draw
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
17,509
How many games did Cronulla get on fta ? They're at the top of the table and yet have barely been sighted on fta. What a joke.

Well the first 20 rounds were scheduled November last year, Channel 9 can't just guess that the Sharks would have their best season in near on 20 years.

It is a joke they get none in the last 6 though.
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,215
Well the first 20 rounds were scheduled November last year, Channel 9 can't just guess that the Sharks would have their best season in near on 20 years.

It is a joke they get none in the last 6 though.

The potential battle for the minor premiership Sharks vs Storm in the final round won't be on channel 9 either. They really are stupid.
 

TheFrog

Coach
Messages
14,300
It's not about quality games of Rugby League being shown on FTA TV. It is about ratings, pure and simple. Channel 9 could not care less about the likely battle for the minor premiership. It is a Sydney team, and not one of the better rating ones, against an out of town opponent. They have assessed it as a likely poor rater.

I'm surprised Rabbitohs vs Cowboys was selected from the coming round. Maybe the Cows get brownie points with 9 for being premiers.
 
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nrlnrl

First Grade
Messages
6,833
Problem is the only half of the teams get their preferences taken on board while the rest get shafted

100% - the whole draw process is a shambles. Ch9 have too much say & certain clubs have too much say. There should be a rule that during Rounds 1 to 26 no two teams play each other twice in less than 12 rounds. I know there are traditional games & rivals, but the closeness of certain teams playing each other twice this year (as has happened over the past) takes away from the second clash.
 
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