The Las Vegas Thread

[wittyfan]

Lol! Fitzy didn't let those underwhelming figures slip by without a shot.

 

[Vlad59]

Lol! Fitzy didn't let those underwhelming figures slip by without a shot.

Miserable feck is watching his code implode.

 

[docbrown]

FS1, in the Saturday evening timeslot, has an average audience of 140K.

Now considering FS1 has the rights to College Football, which averages over 500K in the timeslot, plus a number of high drawing MLB games, it shows that FS1 must have its fair share of low drawing Saturday nights.

Using the week before as an example, in the same time slot, the Women's College Basketball game between UNLV and Nevada had an average audience of 68K.

So with that info, what the NRL drew at that timeslot, for one of the non-major sports, was pretty status quo.

Now for me, the concerning part about those numbers is it does raise questions around how much growth can the NRL realistically achieve if it's locked to FS1 on a Saturday night in March? Despite the potential reach of FS1, clearly people aren't switching onto it in huge numbers then and how realistic is it for the NRL to influence that behaviour?

Ideal scenario would be that the NRL could get syndicated across the Fox network in some capacity, even if it was only into certain markets or even on delay, the numbers watching that channel is far higher.

Considering Fox & Fox Sports are owned by different companies these days, not sure how much influence the News connection could pull there though.

Exactly. I posted similar in the ratings thread. 100k-150k was the bar on FS1. Keep in mind though that on Fox main they only pulled 1.3 million in that slot. The only way Fox will show NRL on the main is either a Murdoch pays for it or the NRL pays for it. Murdoch might if he thinks they can see subscriptions to overseas viewers and get a slice for giving access to something that he doesn't have to pay any extra production costs on.

Honestly, you'll never get clear air against other sports in the states. But I'd rather be against college basketball though than college football though.

 

[Canard]

Exactly. I posted similar in the ratings thread. 100k-150k was the bar on FS1. Keep in mind though that on Fox main they only pulled 1.3 million in that slot. The only way Fox will shown on the main is either a Murdoch pays for it or the NRL pays for it. Murdoch might if he thinks they can see subscriptions to overseas viewers and get a slice for giving access to something that he doesn't have to pay any extra production costs on.

Honestly, you'll never get clear air against other sports in the states. But I'd rather be against college basketball though than college football though.

Correct me if I'm wrong but showing it on FS1 once a year for five years, probably isn't going to get it done either.

The biggest complaint I saw from geniune Americans watching, was how the broadcasters made absolutely no attempt to explain the rules (not the NRLs fault), and how difficult it was to follow in the stadium for a casual fan.

Once again this is not the NRLs fault, but they need to be working with broadcasters to do this in 2025. And no, a 5min Youtube video isn't it.

 

[kurt faulk]

I think we might be looking at this all wrong.
So for a first appearance NRL drew low viewer numbers but it wasn't nothing, it was watchable content... sports channels need content..
So it wasn't a smash hit but it could be a staple.
Still be very interesting to see what comes out of it.

True. All it needs is someone in power at the network to like what they saw. And do some research to see if viewers liked what they saw Then they might give it a bit of a push so more people can be exposed to the game. The NRL has said from the outset that the first game wasn't going to be the outbreak for the sport in the USA. It will take time.

.

 

[Wb1234]

Owners like that would change the game

 

[Bukowski]

I hope Penn doesn't show them brookie oval

 

[Bukowski]

Correct me if I'm wrong but showing it on FS1 once a year for five years, probably isn't going to get it done either.

The biggest complaint I saw from geniune Americans watching, was how the broadcasters made absolutely no attempt to explain the rules (not the NRLs fault), and how difficult it was to follow in the stadium for a casual fan.

Once again this is not the NRLs fault, but they need to be working with broadcasters to do this in 2025. And no, a 5min Youtube video isn't it.

I thought Ginnane attempted to explain the game a bit as it went. But he had to keep in mind actual fans of the game aswell.
Maybe a two different calls next year.

 

[docbrown]

I hope Penn doesn't show them brookie oval

Takes them to Suncorp instead: "Yeah mate this is Brookie, it's quaint but it's ours and we sell out every week."

 

[docbrown]

Correct me if I'm wrong but showing it on FS1 once a year for five years, probably isn't going to get it done either.

The biggest complaint I saw from geniune Americans watching, was how the broadcasters made absolutely no attempt to explain the rules (not the NRLs fault), and how difficult it was to follow in the stadium for a casual fan.

Once again this is not the NRLs fault, but they need to be working with broadcasters to do this in 2025. And no, a 5min Youtube video isn't it.

funny you said this. I've made a reply but posted it as a new thread because I thought it would get lost in the shuffle. But it's basically my go big or go home plan for Vegas.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Correct me if I'm wrong but showing it on FS1 once a year for five years, probably isn't going to get it done either.

The biggest complaint I saw from geniune Americans watching, was how the broadcasters made absolutely no attempt to explain the rules (not the NRLs fault), and how difficult it was to follow in the stadium for a casual fan.

Once again this is not the NRLs fault, but they need to be working with broadcasters to do this in 2025. And no, a 5min Youtube video isn't it.

They spent a HEAP of time dumbing down and explaining it

 

[Canard]

funny you said this. I've made a reply but posted it as a new thread because I thought it would get lost in the shuffle. But it's basically my go big or go home plan for Vegas.

I saw that, I like the thought that's gone into it.

My questions

1. Are fans, especially neutrals, going to sit there for 3 games straight?
2. Is doing this once every 12 months really going to get any serious traction?
3. Why do you propose to go to so much effort to appeal to Australian TV, when you can do this now, for a tenth of the cost?

 

[Canard]

They spent a HEAP of time dumbing down and explaining it

I missed that, got any examples?

On Fox, I felt like I was watching a normal NRL broadcast.

 

[kurt faulk]

Miserable feck is watching his code implode.

The last people on earth that can throw stones at the NRL are Union Nimrods.

.

 

[docbrown]

I saw that, I like the thought that's gone into it.

My questions

1. Are fans, especially neutrals, going to sit there for 3 games straight?
2. Is doing this once every 12 months really going to get any serious traction?
3. Why do you propose to go to so much effort to appeal to Australian TV, when you can do this now, for a tenth of the cost?

1. Australian rugby league fans will. We already do it for Magic Round. This is a 1 off event in the US and they're flying over to the states for the experience. They may leave their seat for a beer or a leak just like a cricket one-dayer that also goes that long, but they're not going to walkout on en masse. I'm not sure if you've ever been to an NFL game, but people will spend the whole day at the actual stadium doing things like tailgating, even though the game is only 3.5 to 4 hours of that experience. You also have people used to going to High School Football on a friday to watch both the sophomores and senior sides, and that takes a good 5-6 hours.

2. It has to be cross promoted with subscription passes.

3. It literally costs nothing extra to select teams to maximise Australian TV audiences and it will cost nothing extra in this exercise, so why wouldn't you do it?

 

[Chins get the wins]

I missed that, got any examples?

On Fox, I felt like I was watching a normal NRL broadcast.

They explained simple shit the whole game. It was annoying but I understood why

 

[Cheese sandwich]

They spent a HEAP of time dumbing down and explaining it

Gotta remember these are Americans we're talking about. The players need to be replaced by monster trucks for them to understand.

 

[Colk]

Gotta remember these are Americans we're talking about. The players need to be replaced by monster trucks for them to understand.

Needs more Jesus and guns talk

 

[ColdWetPanther]

They explained simple shit the whole game. It was annoying but I understood why

Gigane did it better than Vossy.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Next year they should send the Dolphins, Penrith, Warriors and Canberra.

I can’t see why, over 5 years, some teams get to go again and again.