NRL season structure

[franklin2323]

I don?t think a 3 week window would lessen the build up at all. In reality there is only 10 real days of build up anyways and that is from when the players go into camp and when the game is played.

At the risk of upsetting the lynch mob, have a look at the rugby, there was no lessening of build up between games, in fact it was heightened due to the events of each game.

Origin would be tenfold to that.

Use this week for example.

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Sat
Sun
Mon front and back page story
Tue front and back page story
Wed front and back page story
Thurs front and back page story
Friday still either whinging about refs or celebrating wins.

x 3

Now do the 3 weeks

Sun team named
Next Sun game
Sunday game
Sunday game
Tuesday.

24 days compared to 30 as it stands. 1 month coverage compared to 3 months. Also I flicked through the paper stories on Sandow getting the ass and Allgood's punch. No Club games mean no other news BUT Origin it would like an off season for a month of the season people would do other things

 

[franklin2323]

Its not just prices and schedule. With this 8 week origin buildup, people just care less about the club games.

Not only would a break stop these lower crowds, after the break people would be so excited to have their teams back you would see a good boost in attendance.

Really? Parra v Dragons would suddenly be more then a spoon build up? People will suddenly stay screw the rain and needing to work. I will go to Monday night games now? I can keep the kids up to almost midnight on Thurs nights all for the wonderful price of $30 to see part of the game. The rest watching on the screen.

Outside of Origin rounds we have 5-6 games of the round drawing poor crowds a mid season break wont fix that

 

[RLNY]

Nobody's suggesting we need to fix Origin - we have a flailing club competition during the period in which Origin is played to attend to.

Clubs are the lifeblood of the game and if they're not able to make some cash from fans during the Origin period due to shit crowds and low interest - that is something that needs looking at.

Ok, here is my crazy plan:
1. Scrap the test bye weekend. Mid-April is a weird time for playing a random test. In addition, City v Country is an outmoded concept. I have heard arguments about brush footy, but I am thinking clubs taking games to regional areas could alleviate those concerns. In addition, I think the effect of the game as a trial game for Origin is overrated. Queensland does not have a similar type of game and how many Origin series has it won in a row? (Just saying).
2. Have Origin Games 1 and 2 on standalone weekends. This way club games are not affected as much. In its place you can have a tournament among the PI nations (PNG, Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji) and a NZ game involving Auckland v Rest of New Zealand during the weekend of Game 1. During the weekend of Origin game 2, have the finals and 3rd place games of the PI tournament and have the SL take a break and have a England v NZ test match.
3. Have a two week break between Origin matches. That way, everyone can take a breather and allow changes to be made for game 2 of Origin. In the weekend between games 1 and 2 have a full round of historically low-drawing games. I would like to have a doubleheader of games at SFS, ANZ Stadium, and Suncorp Stadium. The other 2 matches would be played at expansion/regional areas.
4. Have the Game 3 of Origin played on Wednesday a week and half after Origin game 2. I don't think Game 3 should be on a standalone weekend because of the possibility of a dead rubber. On the weekends before and after have a split round of games played in regional/expansion areas of historically low drawing games. On the weekend after Origin, have a NZ vs Pacific Islanders Match.

5. I would not hold game 1 until the third/fourth Sunday in June. That way, there can be a blockbuster game played on Queens Birthday. (As an aside I would like to have a game between the Dragons and the Bulldogs at SFS/ANZ. I would love the Tigers, Roosters, Eels, Dragons, Bulldogs, and Rabbitohs each hold a blockbuster match at SFS/ANZ with the potential of drawing 30,000 people or more and Manly, Cronulla, and Penrith host 2 matches with the potential of drawing over 20,000 people.)

 

[LJC]

The game thrives on TV money. SOO as it is creates plenty of $ directly (tickets, merchandise) & indirectly (thru part of TV rights).

No good complaining about it because if it gets moved, Ch 9 might reduce their TV rights bill. Players have to suck it up too if they want more & more % of what the game's income is, which is predominantly TV rights as we all know.

A week off here & there for byes is good for most players anyway i would think, not 3 weeks off in a row & no other breaks.

On channel 9. I've noticed that Saturday afternoon games will feature in the final 6 rounds.

This is a good thing.

I know that FOX has the rights to these games but geez it would be great if channel 9 actually looked to cover an afternoon Saturday game on free to air as this would negate the AFL garbage that is being beamed to our kids on Saturdays!
The amount & type of TV exposure the AFL gets compared to the NRL is amazing. Given that this sport(AFL) does not hold a candle to RL as a TV product, the benefits of giving RL more free to air exposure should not be ignored.

 

[RLNY]

Really? Parra v Dragons would suddenly be more then a spoon build up? People will suddenly stay screw the rain and needing to work. I will go to Monday night games now? I can keep the kids up to almost midnight on Thurs nights all for the wonderful price of $30 to see part of the game. The rest watching on the screen.

Outside of Origin rounds we have 5-6 games of the round drawing poor crowds a mid season break wont fix that

For the next tv contract, scrap most Monday night games.
Here is what a typical weekend schedule of games should look like from 2018 onwards (assuming of course, the NRL expands to 18 games):
Fri: 2 games FTA, both starting at 7:15-7:30. Have one game on a FTA channel and the other on a secondary channel. On 9:30, switch to the other game.
Sat: 1 game FTA 5:30, Pay tv
1 game FTA 7:30 Pay tv
Sun: 1 game Pay tv, alternating between noon (NZ home games) or 5:30PM (WA home games)
1 game Pay tv or 2 games FTA on 1:30 (depending whether or not a FTA channel bites on a Sunday Night game or not).
1-2 games, FTA, starting on 3:30 PM.
1 game, FTA or pay tv, kicking off at 7:30PM.
I would do a flexible schedule for Sunday games only ala Sunday Night NFL games on NBC. That would be a compromise between a completely fixed schedule and a schedule determined a couple weeks in advance.

For ticket prices, I would have the NRL subsidize some of costs for tickets.

As an aside, Parra v Dragons should be played at ANZ on Easter Sunday.

 

[Springs]

Regardless of who or what wrote the article, the point is valid.

We need to look at a mid-season break for Origin rather than the ridiculous 7-8 week drain it currently places on the club competition. For all the arguments about how it would lose the interest of people, the return round after the test break is a good indicator that people attend more when it's been away for a bit.

I'd like to see us go R1-12, three weekends of SOO, then R13-24.

Test footy I just don't know, but it doesnt make sense to have it BEFORE Origin.

There's no point to the ANZAC test. Get rid of it and City-Country and have more tests after the season. The Pacific countries and NZ can play tests on the same weekends of Origin.

Have something like:
March-May: NRL
June: Origin
End of June-September: NRL
October-November: Tests

And if they are worried about burn-out then reduce the NRL season and the trials.

 

[franklin2323]

For ticket prices, I would have the NRL subsidize some of costs for tickets.

Yep. GA tickets should all be something like $10 for all. Terrace and Grandstand let them be as is. You want to be sure of entry get memberships or pre pay. It will end the days of 6k crowds. Makes the game affordable for those that may go to a few games a year to go more often.

Though we fix the crowds bitches like Rothfield will still complain about something

 

[Card Shark]

Little chance of seeing a fight, little chance of seeing a big hit in defence & little chance of seeing sweeping backline movements resulting in 50m tries.....+ all games on TV

No wonder people don't come.

 

[GAZF]

23 rounds of origin broken up by three weeks of regular season games.

 

[Card Shark]

23 rounds of origin broken up by three weeks of regular season games.

As long as the blues get a 10 win headstart.

 

[Billythekid]

The game thrives on TV money. SOO as it is creates plenty of $ directly (tickets, merchandise) & indirectly (thru part of TV rights).

No good complaining about it because if it gets moved, Ch 9 might reduce their TV rights bill. Players have to suck it up too if they want more & more % of what the game's income is, which is predominantly TV rights as we all know.

A week off here & there for byes is good for most players anyway i would think, not 3 weeks off in a row & no other breaks.

It's not just the players, it's the clubs that get f*cked over. If you want to talk about the ratings SOO brings in you also have to take into account that ratings for the regular NRL matches take a big hit in this period. Not to mention the huge drop in crowds.

You're also making the huge assumption that being on a weekend would suddenly kill the viewership for SOO. I strongly disagree with that. I also disagree that being over 3 weeks would kill the hype. I think if anything it may actually add to it.

We can't keep f*cking over the club game like this.

 

[madunit]

Here's my idea for the NRL season structure

http://andrewrlp.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/my-new-nrl-structure-draw-2012.html

 

[Stormwarrior]

Crowd averages have gone from ~17k to ~13 k. Lets look at it in perspective. Would 37k down to 33k during origin look as bad? Having super cheap tickets for the 7-8 weeks origin is on to help the clubs, might be good. But if overall memberships are up so will crowd numbers. Everyone is trying to change the structure.... Just leave it ffs!! The season won't change at least until next tv deal...

 

[Card Shark]

You're also making the huge assumption that being on a weekend would suddenly kill the viewership for SOO. I strongly disagree with that. I also disagree that being over 3 weeks would kill the hype. I think if anything it may actually add to it.

Yes it is an assumption.

As a rule, do more people watch TV on Friday / Saturday / Sunday nights compared to midweek?

 

[The Voice of Reason!]

The doom and gloom here is the same every year:

- Elation for the first five rounds when there are some big crowds, hungry for some action
- Questions asked when the crowds level off until Origin
- Suicidal pessimism when crowds drop off a cliff in Origin. It is at this point that everyone compares the current average to date with the end of last seasons average
- Joy when they pick up again running into finals
- Elation as the semis pack 'em in after the first round of finals

The season structure is fine. If I was to tweak it, I would go back to two weeks between Origins instead of three.

 

[Timmah]

This year was slightly different - the drop off wasn't as bad between R5 & Origin. It does seem that the Origin dropoff is worse than before though.

 

[CC_Roosters]

The doom and gloom here is the same every year:

- Elation for the first five rounds when there are some big crowds, hungry for some action
- Questions asked when the crowds level off until Origin
- Suicidal pessimism when crowds drop off a cliff in Origin. It is at this point that everyone compares the current average to date with the end of last seasons average
- Joy when they pick up again running into finals
- Elation as the semis pack 'em in after the first round of finals

The season structure is fine. If I was to tweak it, I would go back to two weeks between Origins instead of three.

If I was Greenberg I would be doing the 2 week origin break as of next year. At least 6 weeks of interruption Is a vast improvement on 9 while a proper solution is found.

 

[LJC]

Crowd averages have gone from ~17k to ~13 k. Lets look at it in perspective. Would 37k down to 33k during origin look as bad? Having super cheap tickets for the 7-8 weeks origin is on to help the clubs, might be good. But if overall memberships are up so will crowd numbers. Everyone is trying to change the structure.... Just leave it ffs!! The season won't change at least until next tv deal...

The weather has been worse this season than in past seasons for this time of the year!

 

[Cumberland Throw]

Why exactly did they change from 2 week to 3 week gaps ?

With a 2 week gap origin is over within 28 days

It used to run may 6 to June 4

You have 3 depleted rounds and that's it move on


I would not be mucking around with the golden goose to0 much

 

[hutch]

I just don't see a need to have rounds played with weakened teams, rounds with teams having byes and players having to back up 2 or 3 days after an origin game. There are better scenarios and opportunities for more rep games, tests and tournaments which benefit the sport overall.