Catch 22. Schedule all games prior to the season starting equals lesser tv deal, which equals less money for the NRL, which means we set ourselves back another 5 years. If you can think of another GUARENTEED income in the hundreds of millions of dollars worth as an alternative please elaborate.
Foxtel pay the AFL twice as much money per game than the NRL, for a game which rates far worse on pay TV. And this is for a fixed schedule rather than a rolling schedule.
The key to getting good TV rights is a fair bidding process. The AFL has an open bidding process and gets top market price. With the NRL, News Limited sells the TV rights to themselves for less than half price.
Just to make matters worse, the terms of the deal favour the media company rather than the competition. No other competition in the world is happy to trash attendances and club membership with a rolling schedule, even though the broadcasters would toss this up in negotiations. We don't (yet) have an independent executive that will put what is best for the clubs ahead of what is best for TV.
Look to News Limited to try to get one more half-price 5 year TV rights deal out of their mate David Gallop before an independent commission has full control.
