Tonight the Melbourne Storm are playing in a final at home.
But the number of Victorians who'll be exposed to the match will amount to three-fifths of bugger all.
That's because it's being shown on Channel 9 in Victoria at midnight.
If you're lucky enough to have Fox you can see the match at 10:30pm.
The Swans have developed a decent niche in Sydney because they have had exposure on TV. The ratings might not be huge, but their matches are on free-to-air and they are now part of the furniture.
But 10 years on we still can't guarantee that a Storm final will be shown at a decent hour into Melbourne.
I understand that there is an AFL semi-final on in Melbourne tonight and that going up against it head-to-head would only result in a ratings disaster.
But this brings me to another one of the deficiencies of the the McIntyre system. There's no flexibility with the draw. The games have to be played in a certain order to avoid dead rubbers.
It means we can't move the matches around. Last year we were lucky that the Storm were minor premiers and played on the Sunday. That would be the best timeslot for them again this year, but we have already locked ourself in to an inflexible schedule.
Put simply, we need to get smarter if we are serious about gaining any sort of a foothold in Melbourne, but I wonder whether the powers-that-be really care enough to try.
But the number of Victorians who'll be exposed to the match will amount to three-fifths of bugger all.
That's because it's being shown on Channel 9 in Victoria at midnight.
If you're lucky enough to have Fox you can see the match at 10:30pm.
The Swans have developed a decent niche in Sydney because they have had exposure on TV. The ratings might not be huge, but their matches are on free-to-air and they are now part of the furniture.
But 10 years on we still can't guarantee that a Storm final will be shown at a decent hour into Melbourne.
I understand that there is an AFL semi-final on in Melbourne tonight and that going up against it head-to-head would only result in a ratings disaster.
But this brings me to another one of the deficiencies of the the McIntyre system. There's no flexibility with the draw. The games have to be played in a certain order to avoid dead rubbers.
It means we can't move the matches around. Last year we were lucky that the Storm were minor premiers and played on the Sunday. That would be the best timeslot for them again this year, but we have already locked ourself in to an inflexible schedule.
Put simply, we need to get smarter if we are serious about gaining any sort of a foothold in Melbourne, but I wonder whether the powers-that-be really care enough to try.
