I find amazing that the NRL boasts of providing free to air coverage of the last six Saturday night games in the season proper and has still ignored the "18 round free kick" they are giving other football codes for the season leading up to the final 6 premiership rounds? If you note the ratings figures for other codes, particularly the AFL, are always in the top 10 or 20 free to air programs for each Saturday. The NRL are remarkably incompetent or deliberately gifting other codes a free kick on Saturdays for most of the season on free to air TV!
What should have occurred was that all Thursday night games should have been axed and a regular Saturday free to air TV game put in its place. Their is room for a 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm game timeslots for Saturday. The Warriors home games can be used more smartly in catering for a 2pm timeslot on the East Coast as their game time kick off is 5pm in NZ and would be shown live 2pm on the East coast of OZ?(But this has not been adeptly used by current schedulers)
As it stands at the moment the NRL are "pissing off" many people whom used to genuinely look forward to their recreational weekend of football starting on a Friday and ending on a Sunday!
I'm ok with the 6pm and 8pm Friday evening game times. Just need to select where the 6pm game can do well. For instance, Newcastle drew a crowd of over 21,000 for a 6pm Friday evening game and this should be taken note of. Friday 6pm does work at the right location. Their is also opportunity to have 2pm, 4pm and 6pm games on a Sunday. At the moment the NRL seems to be 'drip feeding' the general public(particularly free to air viewers) with their timid approach to free to air Saturday evening coverage. The grand final should be on at 4.30/5pm. Last year's AFL grand final ratings figures debunked the myth that the night time grand final timeslot is more effective for ratings. The whole family , including the very young are able to view the grand final due to an earlier timeslot and this has positive effects for whatever the code into the future.(Something the current NRL administrators are not addressing!)
No matter how you put it most people look forward to their weekend and the weekend starts on a Friday and ends on a Sunday. Let our footy follow suit and you will have a much more happier viewing and attending public.
What should have occurred was that all Thursday night games should have been axed and a regular Saturday free to air TV game put in its place. Their is room for a 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm game timeslots for Saturday. The Warriors home games can be used more smartly in catering for a 2pm timeslot on the East Coast as their game time kick off is 5pm in NZ and would be shown live 2pm on the East coast of OZ?(But this has not been adeptly used by current schedulers)
As it stands at the moment the NRL are "pissing off" many people whom used to genuinely look forward to their recreational weekend of football starting on a Friday and ending on a Sunday!
I'm ok with the 6pm and 8pm Friday evening game times. Just need to select where the 6pm game can do well. For instance, Newcastle drew a crowd of over 21,000 for a 6pm Friday evening game and this should be taken note of. Friday 6pm does work at the right location. Their is also opportunity to have 2pm, 4pm and 6pm games on a Sunday. At the moment the NRL seems to be 'drip feeding' the general public(particularly free to air viewers) with their timid approach to free to air Saturday evening coverage. The grand final should be on at 4.30/5pm. Last year's AFL grand final ratings figures debunked the myth that the night time grand final timeslot is more effective for ratings. The whole family , including the very young are able to view the grand final due to an earlier timeslot and this has positive effects for whatever the code into the future.(Something the current NRL administrators are not addressing!)
No matter how you put it most people look forward to their weekend and the weekend starts on a Friday and ends on a Sunday. Let our footy follow suit and you will have a much more happier viewing and attending public.
