It is, kind of, but it still begs the question why Australian tv values afl at $53mill a year more than nrl. cant Be due to 18 afl australian clubs v 16 nrl Australian clubs as I keep hearing that 4 of the afls aren’t worth anything. is one extra game worth $53mill? And if yes then why the frick haven’t we brought one in by now?
Despite the NRL averaging 70 000 + more viewers per game than fumbleball the difference in value between the two Tv deals obviously comes down to the greater spread ; dominant in three capital cities ( Melb. Perth, Adel. you could throw in Hobart ) and small but solid figures in QLD and NSW.
The other factor is of course the people watching the respective sports. Both have their lower socio-economic demographic fanbase, but I`d say fumbleball`s fan base definitely reaches more consistently in to higher income brackets.
These things aren`t set in stone, apparently the 15k crowds that Toronto Wolfpack got at their home games cut across all socio-economic groups - no preconceived notions in Toronto who goes to a League match.
There are things League could do to address this and the reaction to the pride jersey furore shows they are trying but certainly a lot of the media coverage of the game still idolises the thugs i.e. Tallis, Geyer and Roach and the nufty good blokes i.e. Johns, Smith, Vautin.
Value to Australian tv, keep up! If we were as valuable to Australian tv as afl then the skynz deal would be pushing us way ahead of them. Instead we are going to sit $53mill behind in Australian value and $21mill (if you want to take all the afl telstra deal out) overall for two years, and very possible even more for a further three. When you factor in cash value it is likely to be even greater, potentially an extra $10-15mill on top of that. We are on track to have the biggest cash gap since the arlc took over.
The ARLC should squirm if this looks like going the way it is.
