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Vegas TRIPLE header

docbrown

Coach
Messages
11,842
Youre speaking to someone who is from there, but my all means you lived here for a few years...

I don't think you fully appreciate how big broadcast TV is here. On that Saturday, Michigan St played Purdue in college basketball on Fox at 8pm EST. Now mind you college basketball regular season is not must see TV, its almost a niche product, and it still got 1.3 million viewers. NRL is going to have to fork over a crap ton of money to Fox to air a sport that has no commercial breaks and that got less than 6 figures on FS1 if they want to be on broadcast TV.
Of course thats all before you factor in the 10 pm news.

And I thought this was about growing the game in the US? When the NFL plays games in London, those games start at around 9 am or 10 am in the East coast. Why? Because its about spreading the game. When the Dodgers and DBacks game to sydney, those games where played at 4 am EST/1 am PST, why? Because it was about spreading the game.

If the focus is to have an ideal kick off time for Australia good luck getting anyone east of the rockies to watch.

Also, NRL or Fox (whoever runs it) needs to lower the price of watchNRL, how can they expect to grow the game by showing a double header late on a saturday once a year then go behind that giant paywall for the rest? At the very least, offer one game per week for free.

In the end Im very skeptical that NRL will make any serious inroads simply because of the time difference. The rest of this weekends game times are 130 am, 330, am, and 1200 am for the east coast. Thats why I think Superleague may have more success.

Hopefully, IMG is watching and thinking they can have their own doubleheader on the east coast at more friendlier times. They could play in on saturday afternoon in the US and then try to find a tv or streaming partner to show weekly games, as their kick off times are more US friendly.
Well altogether it was 15 years working in the media itself, meeting regularly with FBC execs. I've ran hundreds of campaigns there but I'm not going to go in circles with you when I've essentially said the same thing already about the market size and its diversity. You're only arguing with yourself there.

It seems like you're adamant in your thinking that playing games in the USA can only serve one specific purpose. If you expect the NRL to play games at terrible Australian times to only serve American goals, it likely won't ever happen. I've already said the ideal time to balance both Australian and East Coast American goals.

If the NRL doesn't follow through with regular content then I don't think it will happen either. I also agree that Super League is a part of making this work. I'm in favour of the NRL buying Super League so that they can create those kind of global expansion and penetration strategies.
 

emesssea

Juniors
Messages
101
Well altogether it was 15 years working in the media itself, meeting regularly with FBC execs. I've ran hundreds of campaigns there but I'm not going to go in circles with you when I've essentially said the same thing already about the market size and its diversity. You're only arguing with yourself there.

It seems like you're adamant in your thinking that playing games in the USA can only serve one specific purpose. If you expect the NRL to play games at terrible Australian times to only serve American goals, it likely won't ever happen. I've already said the ideal time to balance both Australian and East Coast American goals.

If the NRL doesn't follow through with regular content then I don't think it will happen either. I also agree that Super League is a part of making this work. I'm in favour of the NRL buying Super League so that they can create those kind of global expansion and penetration strategies.

If NRL isnt going to make the games taking place in the US at an ideal time for the majority of the US population then it shouldnt be a shock that I think growing the game isnt their priority. I kind of understand, NRL is the top rated program in australia I beleive, while having poor attendance at many clubs, almost all their eggs are in the TV basket. Meanwhile the behemoths that are the NFL and MLB are so big, its no big deal to attract new fans with games that are at ideal times for said fans. Heck NFL has even marketed football with breakfast as a fun thing for east coast and central fans.

"I work in the media so I know more than you" argument is a dime a dozen on forums and social media. If you really did work in the media for 15 years in the US, then you would realize how unrealistic it is to get the NRL on Fox at the expense of their biggest college basketball game of the day and the news.
 

docbrown

Coach
Messages
11,842
If NRL isnt going to make the games taking place in the US at an ideal time for the majority of the US population then it shouldnt be a shock that I think growing the game isnt their priority. I kind of understand, NRL is the top rated program in australia I beleive, while having poor attendance at many clubs, almost all their eggs are in the TV basket. Meanwhile the behemoths that are the NFL and MLB are so big, its no big deal to attract new fans with games that are at ideal times for said fans. Heck NFL has even marketed football with breakfast as a fun thing for east coast and central fans.

"I work in the media so I know more than you" argument is a dime a dozen on forums and social media. If you really did work in the media for 15 years in the US, then you would realize how unrealistic it is to get the NRL on Fox at the expense of their biggest college basketball game of the day and the news.
What you might want and what the NRL is planning are two different things. The NRL aren't going to sacrifice massive parts of their timeslot schedules to solely satisfy American audiences. For the foreseeable future, the majority of the money the NRL makes is here and if you were running the show I'm sure you'd do exactly the same thing. Yes, the NFL and MLB can do sacrifice more timeslots. Likely the best case scenario for the time being is the 2pm games running at 9pm West Coast. I suspect part of the push for the NRL buying Super League is to program those UK night games as day games in the US under some type of unified banner, so that 'NRL' content can be marketed more easily globally. That would be a way of adjusting for poorer Australian timeslots in the interim. As for the NRL airing the Vegas games on Fox main next year, I hate to burst your bubble but there are already reports that Vlandys has met with Lachlan Murdoch to discuss exactly. Will it happen? Time will tell. I'm sure though that the naysayers will get their panties in a twist about it in the interim.
 

emesssea

Juniors
Messages
101
What you might want and what the NRL is planning are two different things. The NRL aren't going to sacrifice massive parts of their timeslot schedules to solely satisfy American audiences. For the foreseeable future, the majority of the money the NRL makes is here and if you were running the show I'm sure you'd do exactly the same thing. Yes, the NFL and MLB can do sacrifice more timeslots. Likely the best case scenario for the time being is the 2pm games running at 9pm West Coast. I suspect part of the push for the NRL buying Super League is to program those UK night games as day games in the US under some type of unified banner, so that 'NRL' content can be marketed more easily globally. That would be a way of adjusting for poorer Australian timeslots in the interim. As for the NRL airing the Vegas games on Fox main next year, I hate to burst your bubble but there are already reports that Vlandys has met with Lachlan Murdoch to discuss exactly. Will it happen? Time will tell. I'm sure though that the naysayers will get their panties in a twist about it in the interim.

And thats why I think the NRL will never be anything but late night filler for a cabletv channel. If the NRL for two games isnt willing to adjust, then whats the point?

Thats cute that just because Vlandy discussed that with murdoch you that means its going to happen. Generic spin psyching up investors and supporters for next season. First off Fox isnt going to sacrifice a million plus viewers of a basketball game for Vlandy.

Second they have a contract with their college basketball partners to fulfill.

Third, and probably just most important, local Fox stations are going to cut off the game at 1000 pm so they can show the local news.

Are you sure you've worked in the US media before?
 

docbrown

Coach
Messages
11,842
And thats why I think the NRL will never be anything but late night filler for a cabletv channel. If the NRL for two games isnt willing to adjust, then whats the point?

Thats cute that just because Vlandy discussed that with murdoch you that means its going to happen. Generic spin psyching up investors and supporters for next season. First off Fox isnt going to sacrifice a million plus viewers of a basketball game for Vlandy.

Second they have a contract with their college basketball partners to fulfill.

Third, and probably just most important, local Fox stations are going to cut off the game at 1000 pm so they can show the local news.

Are you sure you've worked in the US media before?
And maybe it will never be more than just late night filler. I'm not saying that's not a possibility. But your relentless pessimism is, frankly, just boring.

And despite what you've said, nothing you've claimed is provable one way or another. It's all just the opinions of a random loud mouth yank. So you watch television. Who cares? Clearly, you are not an expert on this topic.

You've said that Fox execs will NEVER entertain the possibility of airing NRL on the main Fox channel -- yet they're having meetings on that exact topic already. So you are just plain wrong there. I'm not saying that's a guarantee of anything but it highlights that your negativity is blinding you from actual reality.

I also find it laughable that you think there's no room to adjust schedules in college basketball broadcasts when sports on Fox are already bumped to sub channels for all kind of events. "Hey audience, the president has been shot and we'd love to show it, but college basketball is so powerful and the contract is so airtight that we have to stick with Syracuse vs Wake Forest! Please don't change the channel!" You're talking out of your ass!

Sports on Fox ALREADY GET BUMPED for other sports because it's literally written into their contracts that final broadcast decisions on the day of broadcast are at the behest of the networks and not the sports themselves. And if you don't understand this, IT LITERALLY f**kING HAPPENED WITH THE NRL GAME IN VEGAS, which got bumped to Fox Sports 2. Fox can advertise one sport on their schedule and then change it on the day. Even if it's just because Rupert or Lachlan said so. And if you don't understand this, then you are an IDIOT.

There are already dozens of clashes every year at almost every network between sports they bulk purchase the rights for. There are allowances built into the contracts for when when games from rival sports clash in the same timeslot because broadcasting contracts are drawn YEARS before schedules are made and long before timeslots for particular games are locked in. In these events it is typically the network's decision as to what airs and on which channel, in some case there may be compensation like for NFL, but that's only going to occur on the rarest of occasions because no one is bumping sports like the NFL. But yeah, I'm sure college basketball has all the power in this agreement and Fox are scared of them lol. Keep telling yourself that.

And yes the local affiliates will jump to the news at 10! But if you could actually f**king read, that first game on Fox main would end at 10pm Eastern BECAUSE I ALREADY TOOK THAT INTO ACCOUNT.

At this point I just suspect you are mentally challenged and I am no longer going to waste any more time on your stupid nonsense.
 
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emesssea

Juniors
Messages
101
You call me a loud mouth yank while confidently saying you know more because you worked in the media field for a long time in the US, while getting basics about the US sports media wrong. You tell me theres no way theyll adjust the tv times because it doesnt work in Australia and now youre saying the first game will be over by 10 pm, which is it?

I think we can agree temporarily bumping the NRL to FS2 because the current game has gone over its time is a little different then removing a game like Michigan St v #2 Purdue from prime time entirely for a sport no one has ever heard is a little different. No way Fox nor their local affiliates will sacrifice the revenue loss from that, and no way Fox strains its relationship with the Big10 (which also happens to be one of the two elite college football conferences) for that.

Big whoop theyre having a meeting where FTA will come up. I can have a meeting with my boss about give me a 100% pay raise, and he can listen to me and say I make good points, doesnt mean Im getting the raise. Thats just PVL running his mouth to get people excited, and good for him, he knows how to sell. I dont doubt he can maybe convince Fox to show one of the satuday games instead of young sheldon at 400 am.
 
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