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Are we seeing the first real signs the Australian sporting landscape is being forced to contract under market pressures, in another example that the ‘fringe codes’ are falling further behind the big boys, the AFL and NRL?
V8 Supercars signed off on its new free-to-air television deal with just 47 days remaining before the 2013 season-opener, forced to accept a condensed two-year deal (normal media rights deals are for five years) with long-time broadcaster Channel Seven for $10 million less than the previous six-year arrangement.
This comes at a time when V8 Supercars could take to the market the selling point of the arrival of two new manufacturers, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, for the first time in two decades, the arrival of motorsport giant Red Bull and the potential coup of MotoGP world champion and household name Casey Stoner joining its ranks.
Throw into the mix the big carrot that is an all-day Bathurst telecast that attracts a wider audience than any other event on the calendar, and it certainly appears worthy of at least matching its former deal
Conversely, though, there are question marks over key Australian marquee events, such as the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit finale and the poor uptake of international expansion.
Even though motorsport can be a tough sell, to an Australian market that questions whether a sport with an engine and without balls and goal posts can be considered a sport, Formula 1 has shown that motorised sports can rate strongly in a prime-time free-to-air slot.
However, how big of a factor in this disappointing result is the fact V8 Supercars was forced to entice the likes of Nine and Seven following their involvement in the billion-dollar deals for the NRL and AFL respectively?
What is left for the fringe codes, at a time when the likes of the Australian football and cricket have taken stronger products onto the market and when Channel Ten is shedding jobs and Nine faced its own financial oblivion last year?
Domestic cricket, once an afterthought, suddenly has a product, the Big Bash League, that can be paired with the international form of the game and provide huge dividends for a free-to-air broadcaster over summer.
With those rights coming up for grabs, and Ten and Nine throwing what they have left at the code, what hope do the likes of V8 Supercars have of drawing more money out of the networks?
V8 Supercars has, intriguingly, committed to a two-year deal partly to get off-schedule with the AFL and NRL and their next round of television rights deals. Though that means it must take its product back to the market in two years, banking on a stronger series to sell and a more vibrant media market.
But there are just three free-to-air commercial networks, two of which are in a consolidation phase; two government subsidized networks hardly flush with the cash to challenge the might of ‘the big three’; and a pay television outlet always eager for sporting content but with a third of the market of the free-to-airs.
With the AFL and NRL in excess of the billion-dollar mark, the days of an even spread of television revenue across all sporting codes appears numbered. The industry can’t keep up with the rate of Australian sporting expansion, which means there is going to have to be some belt-tightening for all codes.
Think of how competitive the sporting market now is as a result of recent expansion. In the summer, for example, the Big Bash League and an expanded A-League have been crammed alongside international cricket, tennis, golf, cycling, basketball and more.
Could the NBL, through its NBLTV subscription-based service, highlight the alternative second tier codes must look to in order to generate revenue while providing content to its fans?
If not, then sports lower down the pecking order are in trouble.