Next TV deal discussion 2028 -

[Vlad59]

Leaving aside capacity of venue there is no greater measure of a clubs level of interest than people willing to pay, leave home and go and sit through a game. Thats a true measure of fan interest.
This is live sport not a tv soap opera after all.

Not really if you live in Hobart or Perth

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Leaving aside capacity of venue there is no greater measure of a clubs level of interest than people willing to pay, leave home and go and sit through a game. Thats a true measure of fan interest.
This is live sport not a tv soap opera after all.

Kind of my point mate. The NRL will never surpass a 25k average with the venue sizes we use. Doesn't mean it's not the most popular sport in the country.

We dominate TV ratings and 7 of the top 10 Australian population centres are RL areas.

 

[Perth Red]

Kind of my point mate. The NRL will never surpass a 25k average with the venue sizes we use. Doesn't mean it's not the most popular sport in the country.

We dominate TV ratings and 7 of the top 10 Australian population centres are RL areas.

bit of a furphy, or chicken and egg.
We dont have the venue size as we have never had the demand, or we dont have the demand as we dont have the venue size?
Given the amount of revenue that can be generated from game day I'd suggest demand has held back crowds, not venue size.

Yep, like I said we dominate one of the 4 key metrics of popularity and size. The other 3 AFL are streets ahead. noting the fudging of membership numbers by both codes).

 

[Billythekid]

As sports grow in size and interest TV viewership becomes a more and more dominant metric. SOO for example will attract less fans than the kings birthday game but the interest level is night and day. Likewise the soccer World Cup will attract billions of viewers but crowds aren’t necessarily all that much bigger than the bigger sporting comps.

Also the wider the interest in your sport is the less crowds start to matter. For example if your sport has interest from multiple countries and across a large landmass you can’t expect all those people to come and watch at the ground.

The AFL has an advantage of being a sport that is good to spectate in a large stadium and generally favours the game day experience. The NRL has the advantage of being a superior TV viewing experience.

There’s also the practicality of having bigger stadiums in so many different locations and so a sport which is more spread out is going to end up in smaller stadiums.

I don’t say anyone of this to dismiss crowds, they do matter. The NRL should absolutely continue to push crowds as an important way to increase revenue and show to fans and advertisers this is a game people want to be a part of.

I just don’t think all these key metrics are equal. In the past the extreme lopsided nature of crowds between the NRL and AFL has showed a difference in the level of interest and despite what some may think I definitely think that has played into the bigger TV deals and sponsorships the AFL tends to get.

As that gap slowly closes and the TV gap widens it’s hard to argue that metric makes that difference.

At the end of the day I will always say these fanboy dick measuring competitions are mostly worthless. The AFL and NRL have long been the 2 big dogs in Australian sport and that ain’t changing in our lifetime. It’s possible at times one or the other has a slight lead but it will always be arguable. That’s why I tend to just focus more on how the NRL is doing, rather than wishing the AFL will suddenly decline. The NRL can keep growing regardless of well the AFL is doing.

 

[Trifili13]

At the end of the day I will always say these fanboy dick measuring competitions are mostly worthless. The AFL and NRL have long been the 2 big dogs in Australian sport and that ain’t changing in our lifetime. It’s possible at times one or the other has a slight lead but it will always be arguable. That’s why I tend to just focus more on how the NRL is doing, rather than wishing the AFL will suddenly decline. The NRL can keep growing regardless of well the AFL is doing.

Totally agree with your last paragraph above. It's like arguing if Coles or Woolworths are the biggest or best. We basically have a duopoly in winter sports. Both can survive and thrive independent of the other.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Leaving aside capacity of venue there is no greater measure of a clubs level of interest than people willing to pay, leave home and go and sit through a game. Thats a true measure of fan interest.
This is live sport not a tv soap opera after all.

Yeah like I said, memberships as a success metric is already covered off on by revenue and attendance

 

[titoelcolombiano]

bit of a furphy, or chicken and egg.
We dont have the venue size as we have never had the demand, or we dont have the demand as we dont have the venue size?
Given the amount of revenue that can be generated from game day I'd suggest demand has held back crowds, not venue size.

Yep, like I said we dominate one of the 4 key metrics of popularity and size. The other 3 AFL are streets ahead. noting the fudging of membership numbers by both codes).

Manly & Sharks in Sydney, Dolphins (Kayo), Warriors and Storm all have access to bigger venues in their city that could probably draw bigger crowds than they do now. But they choose to forsake slightly larger crowds for the sake of community and/or tradition. Doesn't mean RL isn't the most popular sport.

Total audience and revenue Id agree with.

 

[Perth Red]

Manly & Sharks in Sydney, Dolphins (Kayo), Warriors and Storm all have access to bigger venues in their city that could probably draw bigger crowds than they do now. But they choose to forsake slightly larger crowds for the sake of community and/or tradition. Doesn't mean RL isn't the most popular sport.

Total audience and revenue Id agree with.

I'd argue those clubs choose smaller stadiums as: A) they dont have demand for a bigger one (Storm) or B) they arent confident they'd get more fans at a bigger stadium (Warriors) to justify the extra cost or C) some clubs (Sharks, Dragons, Tigers) are so mired in the past they are cutting their nose off in the name of tradition.
Dolphins at Kayo is just plain weird and defies any real logic.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

I'd argue those clubs choose smaller stadiums as: A) they dont have demand for a bigger one (Storm) or B) they arent confident they'd get more fans at a bigger stadium (Warriors) to justify the extra cost or C) some clubs (Sharks, Dragons, Tigers) are so mired in the past they are cutting their nose off in the name of tradition.
Dolphins at Kayo is just plain weird and defies any real logic.

Storm and Dolphins get bigger crowds at Docklands and Suncorp. Sharks and Manly almost always fill their venues.

 

[Perth Red]

Storm and Dolphins get bigger crowds at Docklands and Suncorp. Sharks and Manly almost always fill their venues.

Like I said dolphins defies logic. Storm for one offs but given the capacity of aami is rarely challenged moving to an oval seems unwarranted. I’m sure if they if thought they’d get 40k marvel every game they’d use it more.

 

[shadowformz]

MSN

 

[Brutus]

Why is Fox League showing the AFL version of the McDonalds ad today.

f**king ridiculous.

I'll bet it's never happened the other way round.

Maybe they can sort that out during the next tv rights discussions.

 

[insert.pause]

MSN

Here’s another one, they seem awfully worried about little old rugby league lately…

‘We need to lift our game’: How the AFL is bracing for an NRL invasion

The NRL has announced a new team in Perth. Both codes are playing it cool, but they will not let each other out of their sight.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Canard]

Seems a lot of people tieing themselves in knots to justify poor crowds.

As League fans we shouldn't accept the current situation. We need to do better

 

[Billythekid]

Seems a lot of people tieing themselves in knots to justify poor crowds.

As League fans we shouldn't accept the current situation. We need to do better

But the NRL is literally doing better. We’ve see crowd numbers explode in the last couple of years. A few teams are dragging us down but overall it’s hard to argue with how crowds are going.

The current situation isn’t actually that bad at all.

 

[newc18]

Seems a lot of people tieing themselves in knots to justify poor crowds.

As League fans we shouldn't accept the current situation. We need to do better

The main thing is we are improving year on year. Some clubs need a real kick in the ass but overall we are heading in the right direction.

I agree with you that we should keep pushing for improvements though.

 

[Perth Red]

I think its the gap between the good and the bad that's the issue. The overall climb is very positive.

 

[The_Wookie]

Here’s another one, they seem awfully worried about little old rugby league lately…

‘We need to lift our game’: How the AFL is bracing for an NRL invasion

The NRL has announced a new team in Perth. Both codes are playing it cool, but they will not let each other out of their sight.

www.smh.com.au

If they are worried about anything, its complacency. I wrote an article last week that seems to have spawned several of these articles in mainstream media. The AFL has had several failures and has been passed in tv ratings, and while they still lead in many areas, they risk losing it all if they cant find a path forward.

 

[The_Wookie]

The main thing is we are improving year on year. Some clubs need a real kick in the ass but overall we are heading in the right direction.

I agree with you that we should keep pushing for improvements though.

Every code should. And it should be meaningful improvement. This is where the AFL have lost themselves.

 

[i0Nic]

The results so far this year are going to help PVL’s case even further that rugby league deserves a massive media deal. Not to mention the further growth potential, blind charlie can see that the NRLW is on a massive growth trajectory, pacific championship and pacific in general is going from strength to strength, massive audience expansion opportunity in WA and NZ, international growth, nrl Europe / super league partnership, etc etc

There is a significant potential opportunity for both increasing viewership of existing content and new content opportunities that other codes will find difficult to keep up with.

in 2024 rugby league was already the most watch code and in 2025 the gulf is growing. The trends are clear. Social media is also growing further in favour of rugby league. Everything is set up for a massive rights deal.