Going back to a shifting schedule...

[Canard]

Happens in the EPL, which is the third highest attended domestic sport in the world.

As I said, have it set in a general sense, then if required games can change for whatever reason. Minimum 5-6 weeks lead time for those whose travel plans might be affected.

Poor analogy for mine.

There is literally 50 or so games (including cups) that fans could attend, and the demand is so high that people are happy to go along "last minute"

England (and Wales) geography is such that the travel considerations aren't anywhere near the same.

 

[Timmah]

I think you're misreading me.

All 8 games for all 25 rounds would be scheduled up-front. The NRL and the networks can consult up to 5-6 week prior on blocks of 5 rounds, say, and opt to swap one or two matches max per round IF they want. The schedule for those rounds may already be ideal and not need it.

Hell if people are upset about travel, limit it to Sydney games only, I don't mind. Just think it's worth a thought.

 

[Canard]

I think you're misreading me.

All 8 games for all 25 rounds would be scheduled up-front. The NRL and the networks can consult up to 5-6 week prior on blocks of 5 rounds, say, and opt to swap one or two matches max per round IF they want. The schedule for those rounds may already be ideal and not need it.

Hell if people are upset about travel, limit it to Sydney games only, I don't mind. Just think it's worth a thought.

I can only see this being of benefit for TV.

And I can't see why that should even be a consideration of the NRL or the clubs.

 

[Ace-STi]

F$%k form, i think all teams should get an equal allocation of time slots within reason...

This year was absolute BS there were some teams that got 5 or 6 Mondays and some had 0 or 1 and don't get me started about Friday games and the Broncos, bunnies, etc getting every round

I'm sick of watching same teams week in and out in the "Prime times"

 

[steggz]

F$%k form, i think all teams should get an equal allocation of time slots within reason...

This year was absolute BS there were some teams that got 5 or 6 Mondays and some had 0 or 1 and don't get me started about Friday games and the Broncos, bunnies, etc getting every round

I'm sick of watching same teams week in and out in the "Prime times"

Absolutely, there should be a mix (yes, even you Brisbane!)

 

[Tinkler]

Apparently the Tv rights deal has a clause that Cronulla games will be shown on 2 weeks delay at 3am Tuesday mornings with subtitles and no sound.

 

[Haffa]

Happens in the EPL, which is the third highest attended domestic sport in the world.

As I said, have it set in a general sense, then if required games can change for whatever reason. Minimum 5-6 weeks lead time for those whose travel plans might be affected.

Yeah, and Premier League fans HATE it. It's another stupid News limited (Sky Sports) idea to only benefit TV.

 

[Nugget10]

With the ARLC regaining control of the draw, what would you all think of reverting back to a shifting schedule of some kind??

Personally i would like to see the ARLC set the days for every game, but only confirm the times for the Saturday/Sunday games 5 weeks in advance.

But, hypothetically, we could even go as far as having all but a select few time slots left open for the entire season...

Is that you Mr Gyngell?

 

[Diesel]

With the new TV deal, does the NRL decide when the finals and GF are played or has Nine dictated it's Friday/Saturday nights and a night GF

 

[macavity]

Games between "shit" teams are often more entertaining than the games between the good teams... And I can't be the only one who can't enjoy a game between two hate-worthy teams.

Fixed schedule at the start of the year with as fair/even as possible an allocation of FTA games for each club.

And get rid of TPAs while we are at it.

Time to make the competition an actual level playing field, stop the rot now or the advantage is going to keep compounding.

 

[Matua]

The NRL people who schedule the Warriors games are idiots. They constantly put Warriors game on at the same time as All Blacks test matches or important Super of provincial rugby match ups. SkyTV in NZ must get pissed off as they lose a huge amount of viewers for league matches when if the games were played earlier they'd get two lots of large viewer numbers.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Games between "shit" teams are often more entertaining than the games between the good teams...

I'll send you a tape of the Eels v Panthers game from last weekend then ;-)

And get rid of TPAs while we are at it.

Time to make the competition an actual level playing field, stop the rot now or the advantage is going to keep compounding.

TPAs? It is off topic, but in response to that, nothing the NRL can do other than what it does. If they tried to outlaw players signing TPAs, the players would get the rule thrown out in any court in the land in about 5 minutes as a restraint of trade. I'll leave it there as I don't want to derail this thread and go off topic any further.

 

[Valheru]

It's either fixed or it's not.

How can they allocate a time to a game & then change it.

That will f**k up people's travel plans.

Yeah true, perhaps it would best work for the Saturday/Sunday games. For example channel 9 can swap (with a month notice) the Saturday evening game that they were meant to broadcast with one of the other 2 games if they prefer to show that one and the same with Sunday. That would have minimal affect on travel plans.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Yeah true, perhaps it would best work for the Saturday/Sunday games. For example channel 9 can swap (with a month notice) the Saturday evening game that they were meant to broadcast with one of the other 2 games if they prefer to show that one and the same with Sunday. That would have minimal affect on travel plans.

I beg to differ. If you are flying interstate (for example) for a Saturday night game, your flight back may be on Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon. Have fun then changing your flights cause the game goes from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon or even Sunday night. You have to think beyond all teams being based in Sydney mate and consider the impacts on our interstate and overseas based teams.

 

[Valheru]

I beg to differ. If you are flying interstate (for example) for a Saturday night game, your flight back may be on Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon. Have fun then changing your flights cause the game goes from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon or even Sunday night. You have to think beyond all teams being based in Sydney mate and consider the impacts on our interstate and overseas based teams.

You misunderstand me.

Saturday to Sunday would not be an option in terms of changing games. The only changes that could be made are Sat 3/5:30 to Sat 7:30 and Sun 2PM to Sun 4PM

 

[DiegoNT]

I beg to differ. If you are flying interstate (for example) for a Saturday night game, your flight back may be on Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon. Have fun then changing your flights cause the game goes from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon or even Sunday night. You have to think beyond all teams being based in Sydney mate and consider the impacts on our interstate and overseas based teams.

How many people actually fly interstate to watch their teams? I'm guessing on average it'd be a few hundred every game. So the fixed draw is done to appease a couple of hundred people each game, while a shifting schedule is done to appease the thousands of people who watch on tv.

 

[Captain Apollo]

You misunderstand me.

Saturday to Sunday would not be an option in terms of changing games. The only changes that could be made are Sat 3/5:30 to Sat 7:30 and Sun 2PM to Sun 4PM

Ah. Ok. Now I get you.

How many people actually fly interstate to watch their teams? I'm guessing on average it'd be a few hundred every game. So the fixed draw is done to appease a couple of hundred people each game, while a shifting schedule is done to appease the thousands of people who watch on tv.

So we penalise people who actually pay money to go to the game in favour of people who pay sweet FA huh? :crazy:

 

[DiegoNT]

Ah. Ok. Now I get you.



So we penalise people who actually pay money to go to the game in favour of people who pay sweet FA huh? :crazy:

Depends, getting thousands more people watching games on tv raises the price the tv companies pay per game and would offset the money spent by a couple of hundred fans flying interstate. And it's really only effects interstate games. I'm no expert on the geography of nsw but surely you don't need months and months to plan trips to other parts of sydney or even to places like Newcastle or wollongong?

 

[Last Week]

You misunderstand me.

Saturday to Sunday would not be an option in terms of changing games. The only changes that could be made are Sat 3/5:30 to Sat 7:30 and Sun 2PM to Sun 4PM

This is how I envisioned the idea being brought up.

I don't hate it, but I don't see any real advantage other than having a quality game on at a prime time slot, which as has been said is an advantage to TV networks only, really.

If this were to be introduced, TV networks should have to pay for it. This is a tool to be used to negotiate for the next TV rights deal.

We just got a big increase on our new TV deal, and now have full control of the draw back. It's fair to expect another increase in the 2023 deal if we gave the TV networks back control of some of the draw. Say the last 4 rounds.

 

[ucantseeme]

The NRL would be looking to grow crowds and memberships and using the draw as a tool to do so now the FTA money is locked in.

Rather than just randomly schedule games and hope it turns out, perhaps consult with the clubs about owning a timeslot for the season and playing a home game every 2 weeks (exactly). For example:

*Cowboys own the Saturday 7.30pm timeslot due to fans in the region having to drive long distances to attend and the daytime heat

*Brisbane on Fridays at 7.30pm, because they can still pull good crowds at this time and we are all expecting it to be this way anyhow

*Canberra on Saturdays at 3pm, they're not popular enough to own a Sunday arvo timeslot and a daytime spot should attract more local fans due to cold

Obviously these are home games held every fortnight so it is possible to two teams to own the same timeslot in alternate weeks. If you had two teams that share a venue (e.g. Dogs/Souths), you could have them share the same timeslot so every week on Sundays @ 4pm there is a game at ANZ.

There are certain teams that rate better than others, hence why the Broncos are always on Fridays on FTA. These specific teams should be given priority for FTA spots. Teams in non-FTA timeslots will get more away game matches against these teams which are shown on FTA to balance it out. FTA teams will not play each other more than once. Remember some teams play each other twice, some only once.

The reason for doing it this way is to build a habit for casual fans who don't go that often so that every 2 weeks at the same time there is a game at their team's home ground. Try it for one season and see how it effects crowds & memberships.