Monday Night Football - stay or go?

[applesauce]

This could be a bit of gamesmanship by the clubs/NRL. If the Fox thinks the NRL don't want it, Fox will have a make and offer too good to refuse and considering its makes a killing for them I suspect they will.

 

[docbrown]

This could be a bit of gamesmanship by the clubs/NRL. If the Fox thinks the NRL don't want it, Fox will have a make and offer too good to refuse and considering its makes a killing for them I suspect they will.

Assuming they're that organised ;-)

Monday Night Football won't be going anywhere.

When we introduce a 9th game, we should be looking at:

* Game 1 & 5: Friday Double Header - F2A
* Game 2 & 4: Sunday Arvo Double Header - F2A
* Game 3: Monday Night - Fox
* Game 6, 7/8 & 9: Saturday Night - Fox
* Game 7/8: floating fixture split between Sundays as a NZ 2pm game, a WA 4:30pm game, an EST 6:30pm game (mostly where Monday public holiday or school holiday) - and possibly also on occassion as a Monday arvo game (where Monday public holiday) or Thursday night (only on very rare occassions for public holidays etc).

 

[Eels Dude]

It comes down to whether it's financially viable or not. Will the increase in crowds by playing the game on sunday instead be worth it if the NRL loses a lot of income from the next TV deal? That's the question really. I doubt it is.

 

[Timbo]

I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if this has been mentioned.

If we go to 18 teams with the next TV deal, won't it take whether or not we have Monday night footy out of the equation? There will be an extra game so we will have to have it, otherwise (even allowing for Perth's late night timeslot) we'll have a scenario where there could be as many as 3 Sunday afternoon 2pm games? Or 2 Sunday 2pms and 2 Saturday 730s?

I hate overlapped games because I like to watch as much live as possible, this would compound the issue.

For the record, I love MNF. I like being able to come home from work on a Monday night and enjoy some footy at the end of the day.

Also it means there's more days of the week with footy than without. Which I like.

The clubs can't have their cake and eat it too. If you want the maximum TV deal, you have to have MNF.

 

[Bluebags1908]

I think the clubs are trying to get a better deal off Fox Sports for the Monday night games, and good on 'em I say.

I think the biggest problem for crowds on Monday night is the 7pm kick-off. It's extremely difficult if not impossible for many people to get to the ground after work. I know 7pnm kick-off is so everytone can get home earlier but I think & 7:30 is better as you will get an extra 2,000-5,000 or so per game.

 

[anjado]

The thing is Monday night football has worked previously it worked in 1996 when the game was arguably at it's lowest point. If we can recapture what made crowds flock to those games it would be great. Whether that would be due to the fact it was played at the Sydney Football Stadium or not i don't know. But if we can get good public transport links to the games it would be great and i believe it will draw huge crowds.

 

[Tom Shines]

I love it — except for it gives me another game to lose money on after the previous three days...

The same people that hate MNF and want Saturday afternoon footy are the same ones that yearn for the return of all-cotton jerseys and leather footballs and the like.

If we want the sport to continue to grow, we need more games in prime-time, and crucially, more ways to get people to those games (eg. public transport links, 7:30ko etc).

 

[Eels Dude]

I think the clubs are trying to get a better deal off Fox Sports for the Monday night games, and good on 'em I say.

I think the biggest problem for crowds on Monday night is the 7pm kick-off. It's extremely difficult if not impossible for many people to get to the ground after work. I know 7pnm kick-off is so everytone can get home earlier but I think & 7:30 is better as you will get an extra 2,000-5,000 or so per game.

But at the same time you'll get a lot of families not going because it means the kids are getting home at 10:00pm on a school night.

 

[proto]

The same people that hate MNF and want Saturday afternoon footy are the same ones that yearn for the return of all-cotton jerseys and leather footballs and the like.

exactly

i enjoy watching it on FOX, i dont go to any of the games though

just get rid of Laurie Daley off the coverage plz

 

[StormChaser]

Hate it. Rarely go to Monday night games, and don't really watch it either unless my team is playing, I think it's overkill. Fri, Sat and Sun is enough.

 

[Mickyd39]

Somehow i don't think MNF will be dropped anytime soon.

The viewing figures from last night's game as reported on TripleM's twitter page states that there were 339K viewers.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

I love it — except for it gives me another game to lose money on after the previous three days...

The same people that hate MNF and want Saturday afternoon footy are the same ones that yearn for the return of all-cotton jerseys and leather footballs and the like.

If we want the sport to continue to grow, we need more games in prime-time, and crucially, more ways to get people to those games (eg. public transport links, 7:30ko etc).

Precisely the reason to bring back Saturday arvo games Tom.
Good for blokes to meet up before going out on a Saturday night. Good for families too.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I'd like it a lot more if it was free to air.......



http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/03/nrl-sets-new-fox-sports-record.html

 

[bartman]

Sooner they get rid of Monday night games/telecasts, the better imo.

At least Friday night feels like part of the weekend. Monday night's just a rubbish time to schedule a footy game.... Hope the clubs rise up about the losses and get it canned in the next TV rights agreement (swap it to an extra game on Saturday arvo or on Sunday).

 

[hellteam]

The fact that last weekends Monday night game (Tigers v Bulldogs) was the highest EVER rating show (any genre) on Foxtel just shows it has to stay.

 

[bomberman]

Love Monday night footy.

 

[anjado]

Why are people calling for saturday afternoon football ? most children have sports on a saturday afternoon, It was consistently the lowest attended match of the round.

Maybe it's just nostalgia talking people miss abc's coverage of the game etc there is no reason to have a game on saturday afternoon and if there is one surely it's better to move one of the two 7:30 games to the afternoon.

Saturday afternoon's were canned for a reason i seriously don't remember there ever being a big turn out for a saturday afternoon game in Sydney in the past 20 years excluding finals which sell themselves and are after the junior rugby league season.

Seriously can anyone think of one ?

 

[Dr.J]

MNF just shows what a disastrous deal the current TV deal has been for the NRL.

Not only does the AFL deal pay way more cash for lower ratings, the NRL deal includes a whole lot of extras which are great for TV ratings (but cost the clubs money):
- Monday night football
- Non-fixed dates
- U/20s

Basically Nine & Fox got the ratings for half price last time with all the extras in their favour as well. Gallop is the man who signed off on the deal and - whenever he talks about it - talks the NRL down and sounds like a guy working for News Ltd rather than for the NRL.

News Ltd are doing everything possible to prevent an independent commission being in place before the next deal gets done, in the hope that they can shaft the NRL again.

What Richo was effectively saying is that for the hit that clubs take in crowds (and inability to sell corporate boxes at the start of the season when you can't tell companies what days the matches will be on) the TV stations should pay extra. Instead they are paying less because News Ltd is on both sides of the table when the rights are sold.

NRL will get shafted again. MNF will stay and Fox will not pay full fare for it.

 

[Dazraider]

More footy more days the better, dont get rid of monday night footy if they did this this would make it less interesting for people to watch the games as there is nothing else on Mondays so why rid of something that attracts people

 

[BunniesMan]

Lol @ the idiots defending MNF. MNF only makes money for Fox. We're losing 2m a year and not getting suitably paid. Either get our fair share for MNF compared to other slots or tell Fox to shove MNF up their arse.