YiddoTiger said:
when Hadley had competition he was never No1 ... must be hard to win the footy ratings when u have no competition ...
Err .... where did you get this from? Hadley joined 2UE in 1987 and from about 1992 onwards 2UE was the number one league station in the ratings constantly, virtually never beaten. Even when he was stripped of rights to call the game, 2UE remained number one with Talking League - smashing 2GB who were calling the matches.
What Hadley did this year was what has been successful for the past 17. He used to only call Saturday Arvo & Sunday Arvo on 2UE, and the same thing happens now at 2GB.
I agree that the NRL must not award exclusive rights to anybody and I doubt they will. They've learned from that mistake.
Also, despite the fact that Ray Hadley is one of the most listened to broadcasters in the country, there is a minimal group of people (please don't tell me it's anything more than minimal, as ratings speak otherwise), who don't like Hadley - including many at the NRL. This was part of the reason why UE was stripped of rights in the first place. It wasn't only because 2GB offered the money, it was because they saw it has a great way to get the game away from Hadley.
David Gallop and Ray have a great relationship - as do 2UE and the NRL now, so I doubt there will be exclusive rights.
The NRL won't shoot themselves in the foot again, surely.