2023-2028 next tv deal discussion

[Perth Red]

Maybe they carve it up and give the Premiership to one channel and SOO to another and Internationals to another.

Never really understood how SOO doesn't make the game more money. When you compare the FTA deals of the two codes SOO does not seem to be pulling in the money from FTA that it is supposedly worth. I thought Ch7 did a great job with the RLWC, wouldn't be unhappy of they got SOO and a full and proper international fixture coverage as stand alone. Ch9 can have the NRL comp, everyone will be watching on Kayo by end of contract anyway!

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

FTA wont want to pay more that it has to. It will be happy with the three games a week on offer and wont want to pay an extra $40-50mill ish it would cost for a 4th game. Especially as the option to buy and resell the Saturday night game is gone. It would be interesting to know if there is a clause in the Fox deal for a ninth game either way, ideally we would see a Saturday night FTA game as the ninth game but I suspect Fox has locked out the option in the extension. we know how valuable the exclusive Saturday line up is to them. It could have been a 6pm Fox game but as that isn't in the extension deal it wont happen for at least 7 years I suspect. Best outcome would be to bring in Brisbane 2 in 2023 and WC Pirates in 2025 and either sell the ninth game as a stand alone to highest bidder in 2025 or use it to launch an NRL streaming service. Sadly the Fox deal has probably excluded such possibilities.

Monday Night Football would be perfect for FTA.

 

[Perth Red]

Monday Night Football would be perfect for FTA.

And terrible for fans that get off their backsides to support their clubs!
Ideally we would see three games on a Sunday as part of an expanding nine game comp. 2pm 4pm 6pm Sundays with the Pirates playing most home games on the Sunday 6pm (3pm or 4pm WAST) slot which would give another day game which usually produces better RL.

In an ideal world we would see
Thursday night Brisbane game (Broncos or Brisbane2)
Friday 6pm game in NZ EVERY week. All Warriors games plus an on the road game taken to different cities in NZ to grow the game there
Friday 8pm Sydney Friday night football - derby game (hype it up as the thing to do on a friday night in Sydney)
Saturday 2.30pm,5pm,7.30pm
Sunday 2pm (Sydney game), 4pm (Qlnd game), 6pm (Pirates or SA on the road game very other week)

That would maximise crowd attendances and tv audiences imo

 

[Diesel]

One good thing about SOO being on a different FTA channel than the NRL is we won’t hear during round 1, who is your pick for NSW this year?

 

[Rugged Rigid Robust Roy]

I agree, the focus on SOO by Channel 9 is horrid, every waking moment of every coverage. Even when Ryan Papenhouzen scored the seeming game winning try in the Grand final, it was like "Freedie, is he in the NSW squad..."

I mean, SERIOUSLY, he just scored a great Grand final try in the biggest game of the year and its like all the commentators care about is State of Origin.

 

[emesssea]

To be fair that try did make it 26-0 in what was a let down of a game, and the NSW coach was one of the commentators*, and game I was only 8 or so day away.

*on a side note, I have always found it interesting how there are many commentators that have other roles within the game blurring the line of neutrality (best exemplified by Goulds statement about Penrith having the better half despite being down 22-0). In the US, we have some commentators who are 'consultants' for certain teams, which has created issues in the past.

 

[Rugged Rigid Robust Roy]

Imo that isn't fair, you could talk about anything in relation to the current game being played at the time. You have post game to talk about SOO and Ryan didn't play SOO anyway. All I'm saying is there is a huge NSW bias in the commentary and anyone in Queensland and Victoria know that.
They should have different commentary teams for Queensland and Victorian coverage where you don't need to hear the total bias towards the NSW Origin team.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

And terrible for fans that get off their backsides to support their clubs!
Ideally we would see three games on a Sunday as part of an expanding nine game comp. 2pm 4pm 6pm Sundays with the Pirates playing most home games on the Sunday 6pm (3pm or 4pm WAST) slot which would give another day game which usually produces better RL.

In an ideal world we would see
Thursday night Brisbane game (Broncos or Brisbane2)
Friday 6pm game in NZ EVERY week. All Warriors games plus an on the road game taken to different cities in NZ to grow the game there
Friday 8pm Sydney Friday night football - derby game (hype it up as the thing to do on a friday night in Sydney)
Saturday 2.30pm,5pm,7.30pm
Sunday 2pm (Sydney game), 4pm (Qlnd game), 6pm (Pirates or SA on the road game very other week)

That would maximise crowd attendances and tv audiences imo

Monday night isn't great for attendees, but neither is Thursday or Friday. The only thing the broadcasters care about is TV viewers. Until we find another revenue stream then we will be at the mercy of the broadcasters.

I've suggested before that NZ should have the 6pm game every week. Having 24 games in NZ each year, played at prime time, will help the game grow in that market. When Warriors are the away team the games can be taken to areas outside of Auckland.

 

[emesssea]

Imo that isn't fair, you could talk about anything in relation to the current game being played at the time. You have post game to talk about SOO and Ryan didn't play SOO anyway. All I'm saying is there is a huge NSW bias in the commentary and anyone in Queensland and Victoria know that.
They should have different commentary teams for Queensland and Victorian coverage where you don't need to hear the total bias towards the NSW Origin team.

And thats goes back to what I was saying how strange it is that the commentating teams, which are supposed to be neutral, have members who are actively involved in the game to the point you can reasonably question their neutrality. I could never see here in the US an active GM being able to also do commentating, even if it was on the individual teams own broadcast, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if the leagues would prevent that from happening.

 

[emesssea]

Monday night isn't great for attendees, but neither is Thursday or Friday. The only thing the broadcasters care about is TV viewers. Until we find another revenue stream then we will be at the mercy of the broadcasters.

I've suggested before that NZ should have the 6pm game every week. Having 24 games in NZ each year, played at prime time, will help the game grow in that market. When Warriors are the away team the games can be taken to areas outside of Auckland.

That would make the most sense, but as you say its what the broadcasters want, and I believe the 6 pm slot was brought in for Fox right? So I'd imagine they'd want to maximize the amount of Australian teams on, and not have it be NZ Warriors permanent time slot.

 

[Chief_Chujo]

I've suggested before that NZ should have the 6pm game every week. Having 24 games in NZ each year, played at prime time, will help the game grow in that market. When Warriors are the away team the games can be taken to areas outside of Auckland.

Love this idea

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

That would make the most sense, but as you say its what the broadcasters want, and I believe the 6 pm slot was brought in for Fox right? So I'd imagine they'd want to maximize the amount of Australian teams on, and not have it be NZ Warriors permanent time slot.

The large New Zealander population in Australia, plus the extra revenue it can generate from betting agencies in NZ, might add value to the match.

 

[Perth Red]

Monday night isn't great for attendees, but neither is Thursday or Friday. The only thing the broadcasters care about is TV viewers. Until we find another revenue stream then we will be at the mercy of the broadcasters.

.

that’s why the nrl has to find the right balance between maximising tv revenue AND fanbase revenue generation, At a club level a club could make a lot more money from a 25-30k crowd avg and 50k members than the current $13mill a year tv grant. Look at the big afl clubs who are raking in over $50-60mill a year from their fanbases!
The Eagles have double the revenue of the Broncs, with no pokies and a smaller tv grant, due to the size of their fanbase.

 

[Perth Red]

That would make the most sense, but as you say its what the broadcasters want, and I believe the 6 pm slot was brought in for Fox right? So I'd imagine they'd want to maximize the amount of Australian teams on, and not have it be NZ Warriors permanent time slot.

its not a massively rating spot for fox and if you had the right teams playing in nz the audience wouldn’t be any different than if it was two Australian teams playing in Sydney. In fact generating more interest in nz helps news ltd out as they own the game rights in nz anyway.

 

[emesssea]

its not a massively rating spot for fox and if you had the right teams playing in nz the audience wouldn’t be any different than if it was two Australian teams playing in Sydney. In fact generating more interest in nz helps news ltd out as they own the game rights in nz anyway.

I don't disagree with you but does Fox and/or the NRL see it that way as well? It would have made sense from the start of the 6 pm kick off for 11 of those time slots to be NZ home games, yet in the 3 seasons (ignore the 2020 season for obvious reasons) of the 6 pm kick off NZ has had only 5 home games in that slot, and I'm not sure why the last two seasons they were mostly at the end of the season (2019 their last 4 home games, and 2018 their last 3). Why is that? I doubt Fox or the NRL have failed to realize they have a team in NZ that could take the bulk of that time slot.

Also, is an 8 pm kick off on a Friday ideal in NZ? Each country is different when it comes to the optimal times to broadcast sports, and I know next to nothing about NZ's broadcasting culture.

EDIT: Just comparing the 2019 NRL season and Super Rugby season, looks like the Warriors got the majority of the 6 pm time slots at home after the Super Rugby season finished, and during their season any Friday 6 pm game for the Warriors would have went head to head against one of the NZ Super Rugby teams home game

 

[Perth Red]

I don't disagree with you but does Fox and/or the NRL see it that way as well? It would have made sense from the start of the 6 pm kick off for 11 of those time slots to be NZ home games, yet in the 3 seasons (ignore the 2020 season for obvious reasons) of the 6 pm kick off NZ has had only 5 home games in that slot, and I'm not sure why the last two seasons they were mostly at the end of the season (2019 their last 4 home games, and 2018 their last 3). Why is that? I doubt Fox or the NRL have failed to realize they have a team in NZ that could take the bulk of that time slot.

Also, is an 8 pm kick off on a Friday ideal in NZ? Each country is different when it comes to the optimal times to broadcast sports, and I know next to nothing about NZ's broadcasting culture.

EDIT: Just comparing the 2019 NRL season and Super Rugby season, looks like the Warriors got the majority of the 6 pm time slots at home after the Super Rugby season finished, and during their season any Friday 6 pm game for the Warriors would have went head to head against one of the NZ Super Rugby teams home game

Sadly the NRL doesn't control the fixtures, TV does. Until NRL gets control back we will be at the whim of the TV execs, who as pointed out dont give a sht about fans at games.

 

[tri_colours]

Sadly the NRL doesn't control the fixtures, TV does. Until NRL gets control back we will be at the whim of the TV execs, who as pointed out dont give a sht about fans at games.

The NRL chose the fixtures , but its in consultancy with the Networks. They don't want to be pissing them off and being forced to take less money.

The AFL are much more sensitive to its networks needs

 

[Rugged Rigid Robust Roy]

the AFL doesn't need international anything to thrive. It's everyday competition is the pinnacle in this country by the length of the Flemington straight. These League international matches that you speak of, draw crowds of 30,000. The AFL draws 70 - 80,000 to it's matches a dozen+ times a year EVERY year and the average crowd across the whole competition is 35 - 36,000. Matches are sold out regularly in Adelaide and Perth, where there are waiting lists for season tickets in 50 - 60,000 seat stadiums, not 25,000 capacity suburban parks with Mavis and Beryl doing a sausage sizzle up on the hill. Just imagine the catering, food and beverage and corporate contracts stadiums like Optus in Perth and Adelaide Oval enjoy. In Melbourne well no need to even go on about the MCG and Marvel Stadium. The Brisbane Lions will be playing to sell out crowds this year in Brisbane and even the Swans will be drawing more bums on seats in Sydney than most of their opposition clubs from other codes. So long as the AFL keeps investing massively in grass roots footy aa well as the women's game nobody will even see their dust

 

[Perth Red]

Expected revenue $411mill
*Actual revenue $332mill

Reduction in media deal for 2020 (cash) was approx $79mill (19.2%)*

https://www.nrl.com/siteassets/about/annual-reports/nrl-annual-report-2020.pdf

* actual media revenue unknown as has been included in line item of licensing which in 2019 included $80million of other revenue generation. This means tv reduction could be anywhere between $79mill and $159mill.

 

[Diesel]

Expected revenue $411mill
Actual revenue $332mill

Reduction in media deal for 2020 (cash) was approx $79mill (19.2%)

https://www.nrl.com/siteassets/about/annual-reports/nrl-annual-report-2020.pdf

That’s the same percentage as the AFL’s, isn’t it?