It's not the idea of a fixed schedule that's the problem, it's the way they've implemented it.
The way it should have been done is the NRL should have given a list to Channel 9 and told them that these are the games they will be covering.
Instead, 9 got their grubby hands all over the schedule and we are left with a situation where some teams have 1 FTA game, while others have 16/20 on FTA, and they're not necessarily the best teams.
Agreed and some of the choices 9 have made over the past few years have been absolutely mindboggling. So yes
the first issue is Channel 9's picks.
9 would actually be better off if they let the NRL pick the games for them. It's clear that nobody at 9 understands what their rugby league viewers want. It's not like the smaller clubs don't have matches that aren't suitable for TV. Like I've said before, derby games should be locked in for free to air coverage.
As for the locked in schedule, there's two issues at play here. The first is the TV aspect which I've already mentioned. The problem there isn't the locked in schedule, it's the games being picked.
The second issue is crowds and logic clearly dictates that a locked in schedule increases crowds rather than it reduces them. Why?
Well the people who are unaware of the game times are no worse off than they were before. They look up the schedule at the last minute and it's the same element of random luck.
The advantage comes when people who need to plan ahead look at the schedule months in advance and can make arrangements. As has been stated, the first few weeks of the competition were locked in previously so no,
locked in schedules don't negatively impact crowds.
The real issue is the methodology behind the draw.
I've read about the nature of how the draw is compiled and honestly, it probably needs to be reviewed. For starters the NRL needs to be locking in the big games first. The fact that there are no big Easter Sunday or Easter Monday matches is revealing. A computer program can't tell you this. That decision needs to be made prior to the information being sent to the programmers.