The sporting war between the NRL and the AFL is in full swing, with the AFL surging into the east coast with a promise of winning the hearts of Sydney’s sporting fans.
But from this weekends example, it is quite clear the AFL are kidding themselves if they want to win the war.
The AFL had potentially the biggest military weapon at their disposal and decided to let it fester on the sidelines.
The weekend’s epic St Kilda v Geelong clash was the perfect vehicle to capture non-AFL sporting fans in Sydney.
Two teams undefeated to this point in the season (which is a first in the AFL), who stood at 85-all with just 60 seconds remaining in a great match…and yet it was not broadcast on free-to-air television in Sydney. And even those with Foxtel may have struggled to find it on the reserve foxsports channel, Channel 518.
They missed a game that was the best regular season game in over ten years and a game that would have showcased the highest quality of skills and the brilliance of Ablett, Riewoldt, Selwood, Gardiner and Bartell to non AFL fans.
The AFL had a perfect lead in to the St Kilda-Geelong game as well with the Sydney v North Melbourne game concluding at 3.15pm, only three minutes after the St Kilda-Geelong game had begun.
Not only would have most AFL fans watching the previous game had stayed onto watch, but it would have almost certainly grabbed the casual sporting and NRL fans waiting patiently till 4pm for Nine’s Rugby League coverage to begin.
You could even argue that had the NRL fans indeed tuned in, given the quality of the 1st half from both St Kilda and Geelong, those fans may have just stuck around.
But it was not to be.
Instead they witnessed a gripping 38-34 game between Penrith and Parramatta, and ironically perhaps picked up a few AFL fans who had nothing better to watch in the process.
What is also ironic is that the AFL is attempting to win over the Western Sydney market, a low socio-economic area of Sydney, which indicates many can not afford such luxury’s as Foxtel and Austar and are confined to free-to-air television for their sporting fix.
Furthermore, the AFL’s spurning of AFL fans in Sydney is all on the back of the NRL’s record television audience in Melbourne for Origin 1, and a record crowd for an NRL game in Perth in the recent South Sydney-Melbourne Storm fixture.
It is early days in a war that will only intensify as the AFL get closer to introducing teams on the East Coast and in particular Western Sydney, but it is a war that the NRL is winning.
And the AFL has only got themselves to blame!
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July 6th 2009 @ 10:57am
sheek said | July 6th 2009 @ 10:57am | Report comment
Rodney,
Culture can & does change over time, especially if future generations don’t hold dear the same things as their parents, grandparents, etc.
The culture of Australia hosting Davis Cup rubbers on Boxing day was lost when Australia lost its pre-eminent competitiveness at tennis. Rugbly league moved its grand final from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening, & the game has managed to accommodate the change in culture this new time slot brought about.
The AFL might lose a lot of money establishing Gold Coast & Western Sydney, but I reckon they can “afford” to lose lots of money, & still come out on op.
July 6th 2009 @ 11:08am
Rodney McDonell said | July 6th 2009 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Time will tell. Many believe the AFL is already getting more than the rights are worth. It will be interesting to see what they can get from broadcasters by adding two teams that wont rate. I think the GC is a good move or better move than the Wests Sydney move. I think they could be profitable in the long term, but i believe the Western Sydney operation could be responsible, 20 years down the track for costing the AFL Hundreds of millions of dollars. Time will tell if that is money well spent.
July 6th 2009 @ 11:17am
Bill said | July 6th 2009 @ 11:17am | Report comment
I don’t believe people in NSW & QLD will become more engaged with AFL sitting at home watching on TV. To me AFL is not a great sport to watch on TV as it can be hard to know where the players are in relation to each other, the boundaries, goal posts etc. much better at the ground where you get to see what each of the 36 players are doing and you can view the whole oval.
If the AFL can promote getting new spectators to the game, perhaps by distributing plenty of free tickets for the Western Sydney team when it kicks off, this may help.
July 6th 2009 @ 11:22am
Redb said | July 6th 2009 @ 11:22am | Report comment
Rodney,
TV rights dollars can be debated to the death – the bottom line is TV networks look at week to week national ratings for AFL and know it is the biggest ratings puller nationally.
Total FTA ratings from the most recent round: AFL 3.3M, NRL 1.7M ( you have to add Foxtel ratings on top of both).
As for the proposed Western Sydney it is very early days, may not even happen if the bid team are unable to demonstrate to the AFL they can meet a number of criteria including sponsorship, community involvement, potential members,etc
These criteria have to be met for a decision for the 18th licence to even be awarded – everyone is jumping the gun including the increasingly furrowed brow of Paul Roos.
Therefore if WS18 stacks up the potential for losing hundreds of millions is very unlikely.
Redb
July 6th 2009 @ 11:28am
Michael C said | July 6th 2009 @ 11:28am | Report comment
Rodney -
AFL rights would probably be worth MORE if not for the AFL insistance on FTA coverage into Sydney. Roy Master continually forgets in his rants to factor that AFL matches provide 40 mins more game time than NRL matches (that’s 50% more). It’s a quaint little oversight that kills his argument.
re the Culture aspect:
Actually – in West Sydney with it’s 180 odd ethnic groups represented – the ‘culture’ is perhaps not as clear cut as might be imagined by those claiming ‘RL heartland’.
The AFL has been seriously working with multi-cultural organisations and have won NSW Govt awards for their work…….this might suggest the AFL aren’t so much seeking to ‘convert’ Rugby League diehards (why would you??) – but, are seeking to market themselves towards those NOT part of that claimed to be dominant RL culture.
And, the game itself is distinct. When people look at NRL in Melbourne, you have to remember that it’s position is weakened by it’s stablemate of RU. They, in the main, share a very similar market niche. Soccer is one bookend, the Rugby codes the other, and Aust Footy in the middle.
and it leaves us wondering why the FFA is pushing ahead with a 2nd Melb team (hardly needed and very dangerous) instead of a WS HAL team…….perhaps they reckon they’ll be a sure thing in WS whenever they go there.
July 6th 2009 @ 12:14pm
Cheezel said | July 6th 2009 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
Redb,
Those are pretty poor figures for AFL when all games are shown on free to air in all states compared to three NRL games shown on FTA in NSW and QLD at a resonable time and lucky to get on before 12am in other states. If that’s what your ratings argument is based on your clutching at straws.
“Total FTA ratings from the most recent round: AFL 3.3M, NRL 1.7M (you have to add Foxtel ratings on top of both).”
The AFL gets it’s back side smacked in the NSW and QLD markets (FTA and CABLE) when it comes to ratings. Vis Versa for Rugby League in the southern states.
The best example I can think of is the National Basketball league which has just had it’s two Sydney teams fall in a heap. The NBL made the mistake of thinking Basketball was popular due to participation figures in western Sydney. What they soon learned after the Sydney Razorbacks came into the comp that it is much harder to get people to the game and sponsers. In the end it also hurt the Sydney Kings and damaged the product in NSW. Why do you think Rugby Union has stayed well clear of western Sydney?
With no Kerry Packer around to drive up the AFL rights I think you will find that it is going to be tough going for the AFL to get the same sort of money and exposure they currently get next time round. Will having a team based in western sydney bring in more money for the AFL? Maybe just ask the NBL and you will have your answer.
The Australian FTA is finding it much harder to generate funds via advertising at present. This will have a flow on effect to all sporting codes. The AFL might have a whole stake of money now (Like the ARL did before the super league war) but as rugby league learned at the time, Money don’t last forever
July 6th 2009 @ 12:18pm
Rodney McDonell said | July 6th 2009 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
One round wont tell you anything. Especially this round, where arguably we enjoyed possibly one of the greatest AFL contests in history. The ratins the AFL gained this week wont hold up for an entire year. When you comparethe AFL and NRL together throughout the year, there doesn’t seem to be one clear winner, when taking regionals into account. The regional markets right now might not be a huge advantage to the NRL, but their importance in TV Advertising and Revenues are increasing as the regional tv audience well execeeds the 1million mark. Also, don’t forgetthe AFL has at least one more game on FTA than the NRL and two of the NRLs games are side by side on a Friday night, which no doubt hampers the Ratings but gives nine a washout on Friday nights.
July 6th 2009 @ 1:59pm
Captain Nemo said | July 6th 2009 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
Sheeks, i assume you are referring to the ARU in your comments “Besides, IMHO rugby union has lost the plot. They’ve slipped a long way behind, & have the devil’s job reclaiming any sort of equality with the other 3 footy codes.”
) The ARU this year will pull in hard cash from japan (Bledisloe) as well as its European grand slam tour.
IRB couldn’t give toss about AFL/ NRL ratings, Rugby is strong throughoutthe globe!!! North America has it as its fastest growing team sport, as well as significant gains in South America and the game going from strength to strength in Europe. Football and Rugby in Australia have the luxury of earning foreign currency, something league and AFL don’t (Kiwi currency doesn’t count in my books for league!!!
Sheek says “The AFL might lose a lot of money establishing Gold Coast & Western Sydney, but I reckon they can “afford” to lose lots of money, & still come out on op.”
and people say Americans are naive!!! seiously mate, you have a sport that has massive support esp in VIC and you come out with crap like that. I believe that if the AFL had an attitude like that, it would learn a tough lesson in life. I hope that the people that plan the AFL’s expansion don’t listen to brainwashed one eyed consultants!!!
July 6th 2009 @ 2:39pm
Redb said | July 6th 2009 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Cheezel,
AFL games are not all shown live or on one hour delay in all markets, especially Sydney/Brisbane. The Friday night game is regularly on at 11:30pm in the northern markets. The St Kilda v Geelong was not even shown on FTA in Sydney live.
Go to this site and educate yourself: http://www.talkingfooty.com/tv_ratings_2009.php
You are going to have to get use to this concept. Sydney and Brisbane provide maybe 10-15% of the AFL ratings the majority of big ratings come from Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. This has always been the case and will continue to be the case.
The packer myth keeps NRL fans cosy at night. Sweet dreams
Rodney,
I can quote most rounds which show a gap between AFL and NRL ratings on FTA. Maybe if the NRL didn’t give so much away to Foxtel it would do better?
I’ve said many times NRL fans should stop worrying about AFL ratings sources they’re chalk and cheese. Just becuase the Swans get out rated in Sydney by Iron Chef means nothing in the wider scheme of things.
AFL ratigns are about Melbourne which quite frankly is the biggest TV sports market in the country. Most ratings only talk about average audience not the peak, this lowers AFL ratings due to game time (3 hrs) but offers loads of advertising opportunities.
St Kilda v Geelong rated 626,000 average in Melbourne, it peaked at a whopping 983,000 and averaged 854,000 for the whole of the last quarter – pure advertising gold. This was a home and away game.
You will have trouble finding one NRL game with a Sydney audience that out rates an AFL game with a Melbourne audience on Friday night.
This is not a chest beating exercise just the simple fact that what NSW/QLD RL fans watch is of little relevance to the AFL.
Redb
July 6th 2009 @ 2:51pm
Redb said | July 6th 2009 @ 2:51pm | Report comment
Cheezel,
Don’t ever forget that without the tens of millions News Ltd has been forced to provide to prop up the Melbourne Storm they would have been dead in their 2nd or 3rd year.
It does take a lot of money to build teams in new markets, surely no-one expects the AFL’s second team (if it eventuates) to be profitable in the first ten years? If anyone is able to predict the landscape ten years from now, buy a lotto ticket your talents are wasted.
Redb