News Coronavirus and NRL

[Canard]

What’s the lack of leadership you speak of?

They announced that they would shut the game down until 31 May as a minimum. This was always going to mean a 2 to 4 week training program would need to be completed by the players. This means mid June/July was always planned to be the earliest start date for the AFL.

It’s not lack of leadership or desire that stops the AFL from restarting early. It’s that they have completely different priorities, obstacles to overcome and are in a much better place financially than NRL to withstand the economic impact of COVID-19.

Back in March V’Landys said the NRL need the money or it will go bankrupt if they don’t get the game going in two months. Surprise surprise the NRL is desperate to restart before June.

As forceful as V’landys has been, its the financial hardship and desperation to avoid bankruptcy, that’s driven the NRL to push for the 28 May. They have no other choice. If they want to remain solvent they must re-start ASAP.

The AFLs strong, quiet and decisive leadership since 1986 has put them in a position where they can financially afford to sit back, avoid negative press, stick to their original plan, negotiate behind closed doors and see how the NRL go with the restart.

If you can financially afford to wait for a restart in July, why wouldn’t you? That’s smart business and strong leadership to stick to the original plan announced in March. It also allows your organisation more time to minimise risks of COVID-19 even further for players and the community.

Each code has completely different considerations to assess. So comparing the Codes re-start dates is just not an accurate indication of lack of leadership. The motivations behind each re-start date is a better indicator of quality leadership - and the AFL appear streets ahead of the NRL when it comes to leadership.

Shutting the AFL down until 31 May gave government and health authorities room to focus on getting on top of COVID-19 without unnecessary distractions. That’s great leadership and in the best interests of the nation. I can’t really say that for the NRL response over the past 6-8 weeks.

As for the Vic Gov’s no special treatment decision, I’d say that would be reviewed and reassessed weekly. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Storm are given the green light to train and play at aami park in the coming weeks or at least from 1 June - which is the date the AFL announced in March they would like to recommence.

And if this happened it would just reconfirm the AFLs solid leadership and decision making for selecting 1 June as the starting date way back in March.

It's amazing how draining all your savings is considered "good leadership".

It's also hilarious to see how salty all the AFL trolls on this forum are about any critiscism of their game.

 

[Willow]

What’s the lack of leadership you speak of?

Thank you for asking.

IMO Gillon McLachlan is a weak leader.

Rather than take the bull by the horns, he chose a wait-and-see game. The AFL is now playing catch up to the NRL. They can't even set a start date.

Gillon McLachlan has a track record of being indecisive. His inability to stand up and nip the Adam Goodes issue in the bud was disgraceful. It was perhaps the worst example of racial abuse against an Australian sportsperson in living memory. McLachlan said he "had to be careful." [Source]. WTF does that mean?

McLachlan has since admitted that he should have acted sooner. He should stood himself down.

Once again, thank you for asking. I suppose someone has to defend the AFL.

The AFLs strong, quiet and decisive leadership since 1986 has put them in a position where they can financially afford to sit back, avoid negative press, stick to their original plan, negotiate behind closed doors and see how the NRL go with the restart.

lol. You should be on Offsiders.

 

[Tommy Smith]

Thank you for asking.

IMO Gillon McLachlan is a weak leader.

Rather than take the bull by the horns, he chose a wait-and-see game. The AFL is now playing catch up to the NRL. They can't even set a start date.

Gillon McLachlan has a track record of being indecisive. His inability to stand up and nip the Adam Goodes issue in the bud was disgraceful. It was perhaps the worst example of racial abuse against an Australian sportsperson in living memory. McLachlan said he "had to be careful." [Source]. WTF does that mean?

McLachlan has since admitted that he should have acted sooner. He should stood himself down.

Once again, thank you for asking. I suppose someone has to defend the AFL.
lol. You should be on Offsiders.

To my mind this was the biggest stain in Australian sporting history. That it happened so recently is quite unnerving and highlighted a deep undercurrent of racism that still exists within AFL circles.

As an equivalent, just imagine a celebrated Indigenous legend like JT being booed everywhere he went for having the audacity to take a stand against racist abuse.

The NRL and its leadership would have rightly been slammed from pillar to post and still be hounded on it to this day.

But the AFL? "Great leadership" apparently.

Proof that we should never underestimate the media's ability to dictate the narrative.

 

[Desert Qlder]

Can't honestly say I admired the AFL's "strong, quiet and decisive leadership" on the rampant drug abuse in their game, and the peptide scandal.

As an outsider it only appears that drug use is near on sanctioned by them.

 

[Willow]

It's amazing how draining all your savings is considered "good leadership".

It's also hilarious to see how salty all the AFL trolls on this forum are about any critiscism of their game.

Get it right, it is "quiet and decisive leadership."

 

[Canard]

Get it right, it is "quiet and decisive leadership."

McLachlan comes across as a very timid upper class toff who by his own admission enjoys a game of polo more than the game he administers.

He has been Mr Invisible throughout all of the codes crisis, and is virtually paralysed with inaction at the moment.

Make no mistake they are envious of the NRL restart date and ambition.

 

[Willow]

To my mind this was the biggest stain in Australian sporting history. That it happened so recently is quite unnerving and highlighted a deep undercurrent of racism that still exists within AFL circles.

As an equivalent, just imagine a celebrated Indigenous legend like JT being booed everywhere he went for having the audacity to take a stand against racist abuse.

The NRL and its leadership would have rightly been slammed from pillar to post and still be hounded on it to this day.

But the AFL? "Great leadership" apparently.

Proof that we should never underestimate the media's ability to dictate the narrative.

Yeah I was going easy when I said perhaps the worst in living memory. Definitely not something that "only used to happen a long time ago".

You're right about the NRL, it simply would not be allowed to get out of hand. Indigenous rounds are celebrated. GI's celebration wasn't booed. The All Stars Indigenous vs Maori event is embraced by the vast majority. I know people who don't even follow Rugby League but they went to the game just for the pre-match celebrations.

Rugby League has old Paul Vautin with his awkward jokes, ignorant but a well meaning uncle who is falling behind the conversation. Aussie Rules have Sam Newman, an outright racist flog who was allowed to stay on air while his mate Eddie McGuire gave him support, and still makes excuses for Newman to this day [Source].

 

[Tommy Smith]

And who can forget Eddie himself suggesting that Adam Goodes could be used to promote the King Kong musical.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/4720152

Holy hell and this bloke is a leadership figure in the AFL.

The culture difference within the two games is chalk and cheese.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

That McGuire / King Kong piece is one of the most awkward pieces of radio ever.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

And who can forget Eddie himself suggesting that Adam Goodes could be used to promote the King Kong musical.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/4720152

Holy hell and this bloke is a leadership figure in the AFL.

The culture difference within the two games is chalk and cheese.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, says the league won't punish McGuire for his on-air gaffe.

"He's punishing himself this morning, I've got no doubt," Demetriou said.

Now thats a leader

 

[franklin2323]

People are going to be going off their nut (critics) once the comp actually does restart.

I really hope we pull it off.

Alot of that will be jealousy that RL pulled it off

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

Yeah I was going easy when I said perhaps the worst in living memory. Definitely not something that "only used to happen a long time ago".

You're right about the NRL, it simply would not be allowed to get out of hand. Indigenous rounds are celebrated. GI's celebration wasn't booed. The All Stars Indigenous vs Maori event is embraced by the vast majority. I know people who don't even follow Rugby League but they went to the game just for the pre-match celebrations.

Rugby League has old Paul Vautin with his awkward jokes, ignorant but a well meaning uncle who is falling behind the conversation. Aussie Rules have Sam Newman, an outright racist flog who was allowed to stay on air while his mate Eddie McGuire gave him support, and still makes excuses for Newman to this day [Source].

Also the uproar amongst the Afl fans when Goodes did an indigenous war dance after kicking a goal.
When GI scored & did the "Goanna"it was celebrated .
When Goodes did his indigenous war dance it set off the backward southern hicks .

 

[King hit]

That racist abuse Goodes received was absolutely disgraceful and they did nothing whatsoever to stop it. Or what about the crowd violence that is rampant and nothing happens.

yeah great leaders

 

[Cactus]

What’s the lack of leadership you speak of?

Hahahaha. Coming from someone who has failed to understand even the most basic principles of contracts and how the commercial world operates you think you can now lecture others all about leadership.

I though you said Nine holds all the power in these current negotiations Still say that do you ?

 

[Willow]

Also the uproar amongst the Afl fans when Goodes did an indigenous war dance after kicking a goal.
When GI scored & did the "Goanna"it was celebrated .
When Goodes did his indigenous war dance it set off the backward southern hicks .

Eddie McGuire said Adam Goodes should have cleared it with the AFL before doing his 'spear throwing' routine, apparently it was inappropriate. Note to Eddie... it was during the AFL indigenous round. Exactly when is the appropriate time to do it?

FTR, it was a choreographed war-cry, and it was a boomerang, not a spear. Goodes learnt it from some junior players.

Mark Yettica-Paulson is a mentor to teenage Indigenous AFL squad The Flying Boomerangs, and says that he and his team performed the specific dance in front of the AFL’s Indigenous All-Stars last year, which included Adam Goodes:
https://www.pedestrian.tv/sport/cho...goodes-war-cry-mimed-a-boomerang-not-a-spear/

The shocked masses must have never thrown a boomerang in their lives.

 

[Cactus]

Two interesting bits in this piece by Roy Masters. Underlined and bolded


'Two-billion-dollar asset': Don't sell digital arm, Grant warns NRL
By Roy Masters
May 4, 2020 — 12.01am

Social distancing in order to kill off COVID-19 is short-term pain for long-term gain. Selling NRL.com is the reverse.

The Herald reported on Saturday that Nine Entertainment Co, the NRL’s free-to-air broadcaster, is interested in acquiring the NRL’s digital arm as part of a strategy to lower costs and renegotiate the existing broadcast deal.

Should ARLC chair Peter V’landys agree to the acquisition, it would represent a short-term gain for the NRL and its greedy clubs but long-term pain for the code.

Nine’s strategy would be to relieve V’landys of the costs of the NRL’s digital arm, probably for a zero acquisition fee, while raking in its future revenue.Yet one of the key reasons former ARLC chair John Grant and his board invested $150m over six years in the NRL’s digital arm was to create an asset that could potentially stream games direct to subscribers and create competitive tension over broadcast fees with its traditional media partners, Foxtel and Nine.

The COVID-19 pandemic has weakened all the broadcasters and sporting codes but content is still king. No free-to-air network in Australia can be No.1 without NRL or AFL.

Despite the NRL exhausting all its reserves and discounting player salaries for 2020 as a result of COVID-19, it is probably in a stronger position with the networks than at any previous time. In fact, it’s possibly in a more powerful bargaining position than the AFL, whose free-to-air broadcaster, Channel Seven, needs the support of owner Kerry Stokes, just as its pay TV partner, Foxtel, requires the financial backing of News Corporation.

Foxtel is also the NRL’s pay TV partner but Nine, owner of this masthead, has a stronger balance sheet.

The challenge for the networks is that advertising is way down as a result of the pandemic and, with no major sport, subscribers are cancelling Foxtel and Kayo.

In New Zealand, the NRL broadcaster is the listed SKY NZ. It was once the most profitable broadcaster by margin in the world. Today, it has a market cap of $61m, signed a dud deal with NZ rugby and is leaking subscribers.

But NRL is not a dud sport in Australia. Nine can boast that four of the top five programs nationally and annually are rugby league, yet now complains it costs too much to buy the rights and produce the games. It anticipates empty stadia will cause a fall in TV audiences.

Nine’s attack last month on the NRL’s “bloated” administration cost structure may well have been a ploy to relieve V’landys of the expense of employing 70 staff in the NRL’s digital arm in exchange for acquiring a potentially valuable property. Grant was always confident NRL.com could be worth $1 billion and hasn’t changed his position. In fact, it’s the only issue that will draw him into making a comment.

He argues that NRL.com is an extension of the strategy that started in 2012 with the removal of Fox Sports and Nine’s first and last rights over broadcast through until 2027. This, he says, returned sovereignty to future rights negotiations and, as the Australian viewing audience becomes more wedded to streaming, a global provider may offer the seed capital to fund NRL.com to a point where it streams games, such as the Junior Kangaroos versus France match on its website last year.

Former ARLC chair John Grant lost his job over the $150 million funding of NRL Digital, which put clubs offside. Grant calculates that if the NRL converted half its existing 1.6 million digital customers into $25-per-month subscribers, and had a free-to-air broadcaster pay a fair but lesser price than Nine pays now - plus monetises other available revenue streams - it could produce annual revenue of over $360m with advertising offsetting production costs. “That’s almost $2b over five years, and any asset capable of generating this sort of cashflow is a very valuable asset,” Grant said.

“Also, the NRL is in a good position to start with a restructure of the costs in the game. Right now, the ARL Commission has a very big decision to make. To sell or not to sell NRL.com! I just hope that before the die is cast, the good people on the commission, led by what has, to date, been a very capable and strong Peter V'landys, do the numbers and make the right decision for the game’s future. The opportunity to retain sovereignty over this future and to redefine the game’s cost structure and its relationship with the media is very enticing.”

But Nine clearly want exclusivity of product and acquiring Nrl.com is the cheapest first step. Nine will also want to release the network from its simulcast arrangement with Foxtel, where Nine’s 7.30pm Friday viewership is undermined by Foxtel subscribers staying with the network at the conclusion of the 6pm game.

Advertising revenue is split among the multiple platforms on which NRL viewers can watch games: Nine’s two channels, Foxtel’s three and NRL.com in partnership with Telstra.

The NRL’s Annual Report points out that its digital arm has been developed and run in partnership with Telstra, the NRL’s sponsor.

Telstra own 35 per cent of Foxtel who would also be interested in acquiring NRL.com. The Australian-owned telco, which has been ignored in the media coverage of V’landys' battles with broadcasters, would have something to say on Nine owning NRL.com.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/two-bi...ital-arm-grant-warns-nrl-20200503-p54pcb.html

 

[typicalfan]

McLachlan comes across as a very timid upper class toff who by his own admission enjoys a game of polo more than the game he administers.

He has been Mr Invisible throughout all of the codes crisis, and is virtually paralysed with inaction at the moment.

Make no mistake they are envious of the NRL restart date and ambition.

Seems like the kind of guy who would do a good job when all is running smoothly, can stick in the background while the cogs of the wheel turn, but not ideal in a crisis where he lacks the authority to do what needs to be done.

Vlandys is a warhorse bit old school and that can be a weakness but great leadership in a crisis.

 

[TheFrog]

'Pay what we ask': V'landys sends message to broadcasters as talks heat up
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/pa...casters-as-talks-heat-up-20200503-p54pem.html

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys has rejected the argument that the NRL will be a less valuable product to broadcasters without crowds, saying he hopes the game’s two television partners “see reason and pay what we ask" for the rest of the season.

While the competition draws closer to a May 28 resumption with the New Zealand Warriors flying into Tamworth on Sunday night and players to resume training on Tuesday, the game is yet to strike agreement with Nine and Foxtel.

Both are seeking a reduction in their rights fees and extensions to their contracts to broadcast the game, which run until 2022, leaving the code’s finances in limbo despite putting a pay deal to players that would guarantee them 80 per cent of their wages for the year.

As former ARLC chairman John Grant urged the governing body not to part with its digital arm, telling the Herald it could be a $2 billion asset for the game, V’landys strongly disputed the notion that matches would carry less value for television without crowds, as the broadcasters have argued in attempting to drive down the price for this season.

“I disagree with that vehemently,” V’landys told the Herald. “ It’s got nothing to do with the product or what product we’re supplying.

“You can use all the excuses to reduce it but at the end of it, it’s how much you’re willing to pay. How much you can write in advertising, how much revenue you can get out of the product and work out how much you want to pay for it.

“It’s not about rounds, it’s about money. At the end of the day don’t worry about anything else ... it’s the quantum. It’s nothing to do with what you’re supplying. It’s the quantum in these circumstances, in this economic crisis.

“We hope the broadcasters see reason and pay what we ask and then we’ll go from there.”

A Nine spokesperson said on Sunday night the rest of the season being a diminished product was at the core of discussions with the NRL. Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany could not be contacted.

The Herald reported on Friday that Foxtel had joined Nine, the publisher of this masthead, in seeking a discount on the remainder of the season, wanting to pay for no more than the 17 rounds the free-to-air network has expressed a willingness to splash out for.

With the NRL pressing ahead with plans for 20 more rounds before the finals and the State of Origin, such a position would leave the game about $33 million short in terms of what they would expect to be paid for that number of games under the terms of their five-year deal.

While V’landys maintained it would be inappropriate to publicly discuss details and figures from the negotiations because they were commercially sensitive, he said agreeing an extension with broadcasters until 2025 was not off the table.

“There’s always a chance. We’re leaving all options open to help them,” he said.

“This is not just your normal negotiation. If we weren’t in this economic climate I’d be going 10 times tougher, 100 times tougher. But take into account where we are and the circumstances we’re in, you have to just adapt yourself to that. You can’t just be one-dimensional. As good partners you’ve got to take into account that they’re going through some of the harshest economic circumstances in the last 50 years.

“They’re acting in the best interests of their organisation, which you have to appreciate, which I do, and they appreciate that I’m going to act hard for the NRL.

“What pleases me is the good faith it’s been held in. No one is trying to go in there without trying to get a resolution. While they’re acting like that you can’t ask for more.

“There’s a lot of work to be done yet. We’ll see how we go. But I know we’ll come to a resolution, it’s just when and how much.”

V’landys had to stick his neck out and make the players a pay offer without a broadcast deal completed, simply so the resuming of the season was not further stalled. If the money from Nine and Foxtel comes up short of what the NRL wants, he will have to further slash costs in the game including at head office.

“We had to give the players some certainty ... so we made the offer we did,” he said.

While Nine has targeted an acquisition of the game’s digital department as part of a proposal for an extended deal, V’landys said the NRL wanted to retain resources in that space while working more closely with broadcasters, rather than in competition with them.

“We will always have our own digital,” he said.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

PVL seems right at home down in the trenches .

My brother who has followed his business career has a theory .
That he will as he has done with Racing & attempting to do with RL is get it in far far better shape than it has been for decades then will enter politics .
He will eventually run for Premier .

 

[TheFrog]

The Storm decision is somewhat baffling, it’s not safe for them to train at AAMI but all good if they’re happy to cross the Murray and come back on weekends.

They play on weekends, don't they? Maybe the club will give them 48 hours immediately following each game to duck down to Melbourne and empty their fluid bowls, so long as this fits in with the social distancing strategies.