Fans can no longer be ignored on live football

 

Columnist

By Michael DiFabrizio, 25 May 2010 Michael DiFabrizio is a Roar Expert

Tagged:

 AFL, AFL broadcast deal, Broadcast deal, Broadcast rights, Channel Nine, Channel Seven, Channel Seven AFL coverage, Collingwood Magpies, Friday night football, Geelong Cats, Live streaming

52 Have your say

Email

Last Friday’s much-hyped Collingwood and Geelong clash was the highest-rating home and away match since Ben Cousins’ Richmond debut against Carlton in Round 1 of last year. It’s ironic given both games were originally slotted to be shown on delay.

It took people power to have them shown live, but the broadcasters can’t have walked away disappointed.

Despite Seven’s resistance to showing Friday night’s clash live outside of Melbourne, the game averaged over a million viewers nationally. It peaked at 784,000 in Melbourne.

The figures won’t mean we’ll see more live footy from Seven any time soon, of course. They are quite comfortable having Better Homes & Gardens lead in the footy in order to maximise ratings across the evening, and it’s not as though they have a history of moving around their schedule.

Remember when they had the AFL move back the start time for the St Kilda-Geelong clash last year to keep it as a lead in to the 6pm news?

So the only place left for fans to look – other than Channel Ten, who generally look after fans when given the chance – is the next broadcast deal, which may still fetch as much as $1 billion for the AFL.

Since the last deal was signed, a number of changes to the landscape offer hope for aggrieved supporters.

The first we have known all along – Channel Seven will not have the right to bid last this time, which means the AFL will have a little extra power at the negotiating table. If one network is unable to offer live football on Friday nights, it will be easier to then turn to another network who is willing and able to do so.

The possibility of this scenario is increased by the AFL’s indications it may sell individual timeslots to broadcasters, rather than package all timeslots as a whole.

The stumbling block here is how hard the AFL are willing to push for live football on Friday nights. They certainly sympathise with the plight of fans, but will they back it up if it means it could cost them in broadcast dollars?

It remains to be seen.

Another important shift is the relaxing of restrictions on advertising for betting companies. It emerged last year in The Age that live Friday night football could become mandatory in the new deal and that it was included in the prospectus handed to potential rights-holders.

This was because a trade-off to broadcasters came about in the form of increased revenue from advertising “live odds” at the start of each quarter, as Fox Sports already do. It is likely a fierce bidding war would ensue between betting companies to be aligned with the Friday night coverage.

The downside here is that it places gambling fairly prominently during broadcasts, a path the AFL mightn’t be too comfortable going down.

The final shift isn’t as tangible, but it’s one that simply cannot be overlooked. The public push for live football is stronger now than perhaps it has ever been.

At the time the last broadcast deal was being negotiated, Channel Nine went live on Friday nights wherever possible. Interstate games and sell-outs were almost always live on Nine. It wasn’t the best possible scenario, but footy fans were kept happy.

This time around, football fans are suffering through the treatment handed to them by Channel Seven, and it’s having a noticeable effect. The advent of many Facebook groups and live online streams – two other things that weren’t around last time rights were up for grabs – are clear indicators of fans’ unhappiness at Seven’s coverage.

The momentum is shifting towards live football and there are few excuses left for both the league and broadcasters come the next broadcast deal.

The only worry is that coverage outside of Melbourne will be overlooked.

As mentioned above, viewers in other states weren’t as lucky as Victorians on Friday night. Adelaide viewers typically have a one and a half hour delay for games out of Melbourne, and the gap is three hours for those in Perth.

Time zones do make it difficult, but more of an effort needs to be made to look after fans to the west.

Oh, and as for that final concern – that live football affects clubs at the gate – 88,195 turned up on Friday night. It was the biggest home and away crowd Geelong have ever played in front of.

The excuses really are running out.

Follow Michael on twitter @mdifabrizio

The Turkey 10

The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.

Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!

Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.

Find out more.