Firstly like others I have been very annoyed at the apparent disparity between the AFL and NRL TV deals. The AFL deal was second, and it has changed how deals will be done in the future.
Many complain that TV dictates what happens in the NRL and they are right, but there is quite a bit of it in the AFL. Foxtel demanded a number of high profile games in particular a lot of local derbies in the AFL.
I think people complaining about the stoppages, well we have been demanding live games for years and the simple fact is that the money for the sport comes from the ads 9 can sell during the game. There must be ads. So you either have the old option which happened each year with origin and you miss the first 3 tackles in a set. Or the new option. Anyone who remembers the origin game where aflie kicked a field goal to win, will know a lot can happen in 30 seconds. And we all nearly missed that.
Gallop is right getting games on foxsports is fine, but the real deal is free to air. Even really good fox ratings nationally amount to only half a decent sydney friday night free to air figure. The prospect of sbs or abc broadcasting into melb/per/adel is great. A crap figure across those 3 cities on free to air would probably match the foxtel figure.
I clearly think the NRL get too much dictated to them by TV, but it does happen elsewhere. Here is a key next time let the afl fo their negotiation first then improve on theirs, perhaps nit in dollars but in terms.
But others are right, you don't know how lucky you are. In most other western countries pay TV has all the major sports events. Even in NZ I couldn't believe it last time I was there, all blacks games are all on pay live and on 1 - 2 hours delay on free to air.
Many complain that TV dictates what happens in the NRL and they are right, but there is quite a bit of it in the AFL. Foxtel demanded a number of high profile games in particular a lot of local derbies in the AFL.
I think people complaining about the stoppages, well we have been demanding live games for years and the simple fact is that the money for the sport comes from the ads 9 can sell during the game. There must be ads. So you either have the old option which happened each year with origin and you miss the first 3 tackles in a set. Or the new option. Anyone who remembers the origin game where aflie kicked a field goal to win, will know a lot can happen in 30 seconds. And we all nearly missed that.
Gallop is right getting games on foxsports is fine, but the real deal is free to air. Even really good fox ratings nationally amount to only half a decent sydney friday night free to air figure. The prospect of sbs or abc broadcasting into melb/per/adel is great. A crap figure across those 3 cities on free to air would probably match the foxtel figure.
I clearly think the NRL get too much dictated to them by TV, but it does happen elsewhere. Here is a key next time let the afl fo their negotiation first then improve on theirs, perhaps nit in dollars but in terms.
But others are right, you don't know how lucky you are. In most other western countries pay TV has all the major sports events. Even in NZ I couldn't believe it last time I was there, all blacks games are all on pay live and on 1 - 2 hours delay on free to air.