For years, rugby league fans have been treated to “NRL Super Saturday” on Fox, with three games across the evening. However, with the first match kicking off at 5:30pm, there have been no Saturday afternoon matches.
In the past, Saturday afternoon football was broadcast on ABC TV live and uninterrupted. However, with lack of crowds and ratings, Saturday afternoon football was put to bed in the late nineties, around the time of the Super League war.
However, as the new TV deal is currently being negotiated, the NRL are considering a return to Saturday afternoon football. If this was to kick of at, say, 3:30pm, there is the possibility of three consecutive live afternoon matches.
This maximises ratings. League fans can watch all three games, instead of choosing which 7:30 match to watch.
However, there have been suggestions that NRL clubs won’t want to play in that timeslot.
But here is my strategy that could establish successful Saturday afternoon matches that would get the clubs on side.
There could be up to 20 matches staged in that timeslot per year. There will be no Saturday football where rounds include teams having a bye.
Also when there’s public holidays, like ANZAC, Queens Birthday and Easter, there would be no games.
The NRL should initially pick just two clubs that they think would handle the timeslot successfully. I would pick the Melbourne Storm and New Zealand Warriors. With Melbourne Storm, people flock to watch AFL on Saturday afternoon, so you would think that at 3:30pm or 4pm on a Saturday would not be a problem for Melbourne folk.
The Warriors are an obvious one due to the time difference in New Zealand. The draw should ensure that the Storm and Warriors only play Sydney teams.
Another thing the NRL could do is provide options for the rest of the NRL clubs. The options are, clubs could play a couple of their home matches either Saturday afternoon or Monday night. If an NRL club chooses Saturday afternoon football, then that club won’t host a Monday night game.
Vice versa for clubs that host Monday night games, where they don’t host any home matches on Saturday afternoon.
It would be even more beneficial if the NRL expanded to 18 clubs by 2015, that way you could spread the load evenly among those two questionable timeslots, Saturday afternoons and Monday nights.
Then again, with Saturday football, you may get decent crowds at 4pm, rather than in the past at 3pm. One hour could make a difference. Or to put it at another angle, the 5:30pm game is brought forward by an hour and a half.
And if Saturday football grows in crowds and ratings, than you can have normal flexible scheduling taking place.
Whether my strategy is something the NRL could employ remains to be seen, although I wouldn’t count on it.
As far as broadcasting is concerned, it would be nice if there was a free to air match on Saturday. However, word is that Fox would be reluctant to relinquish it’s successful “Super Saturday” programming. Also, Nine probably isn’t super keen to televise a free-to-air game on Saturday.
While the television stations may not want to change the Saturday status quo, the NRL has an interest in Saturday afternoon matches. This is especially as the Saturday afternoon timeslot is a strong one for the AFL.
The beauty about the NRL going to the open market with Channel Seven and Ten coming into calculations is that if Nine doesn’t want to broadcast a match on Saturday, but Seven and Ten do, the NRL could sell this game to one of those stations. They are guaranteed to get more than they would from Fox for the game.
Basically, the NRL needs to play hardball with the networks.
Nine could look at broadcasting a game from 4pm live, right up to the news. While Saturday evening news isn’t as big as the Sunday edition, at least you have viewers get used to watching the network news at least more than once a week.
Then, Fox can still have their normal football from either 5:30pm or 6pm. They’ll still get the prime time audience. But of course, with one game on a FTA, it would reduce their “Super Saturday” matches from three to two.
Unless Fox simulcasts all of the NRL matches, that is. Simulcasting would be a great thing for rugby league fans, both outside the league states and within.
NSW and Queensland viewers could watch the Friday night match of their choice live. And viewers in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia wouldn’t have to stay up to watch replays of the games.
Nine may not be happy with that part of the agreement with losing the exclusivity of Friday nights, but if it helps them get the NRL rights, than they may be willing to a compromise.
The sweetner for Nine and Fox is that the NRL is considering staging up to four Thursday night matches, including the season opener, and a few Sunday night games. So in some respects the NRL is also willing to compromise.
I think Saturday afternoons should be given a chance. You would have a genuine “Super Saturday” in place with games on at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm, all live. If the NRL can promote Saturday football, and if all the clubs are supportive of it, rather than whinging about it, there’s a good chance that it could be a success.
If that happens, the NRL would gain a new timeslot. If Channel Seven and the AFL can have two games of Saturday afternoon footy at roughly 2pm, I’m sure the NRL can manage one at 4pm.
By 4pm, you would think that majority of children’s sport would be finished and the majority of people would have finished their work.
If the NRL wants a free-to-air on Saturday afternoon, it must balance the wishes of the clubs, fans and broadcasters.
However, if they achieve this, they will have done a brilliant job.
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