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The former NRL CEO, Dave Smith, obviously didn’t plan it exactly this way, but his decision to cut Rupert Murdoch out of the first part of the television rights deal still had the desired effect of getting the game more money when the rest of the deal was eventually done.
The only thing was, the extra money ended up coming from Murdoch anyway. Surely someone in power down at the NRL is giving quiet thanks to Smith, even if they would never do it publicly.
Doing the original deal with the free-to-air element, Channel Nine, alone and not the pay television element, Fox Sports, angered Murdoch.
He reacted by splurging a fortune on the pay-TV element of the AFL rights and even turned up for the media conference to announce the full free-to-air and pay TV deal.
There was a belief the AFL got more than the rights were worth.
But then along came the curve ball that really shook up the sporting television rights picture, which we were told would happen in some shape or form eventually.
Optus snatched the rights to the English Premier League football away from Fox Sports starting next season, leaving a massive hole in Fox’s programming and making it critically important that it retain the major sports still on its schedule.
Fast forward to this week and Fox Sports ended up paying a massive amount for the rugby league rights anyway.
Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth, as the bald-headed gentleman from Hot Chocolate once sang. Younger readers, go to Youtube.
When he secured the AFL rights, Murdoch famously declared at the media conference: “We have always preferred Australian rules but, I guess, we will engage with the NRL in time. However it ends up, this will be a much bigger investment. We have always believed this is the premium code in Australia. It is the national game and we are putting our money where we believe but we are also committing all our platforms’ support in AFL everywhere in every state. We are very happy to be doing this. We believe in the strength of the game and we will do everything we can to make it stronger.”
In the NRL’s media release detailing the rights deal on Friday, it included in bullet points:
“News Corp Australia will use its local media and newspaper resources to promote the game wherever it is played.
“And it will use its worldwide resources to take NRL on to the global stage where we believe over time its incredible appeal will see an army of new fans emerge.”
And News Corp Australia chief executive Peter Tonagh was quoted saying: “This is a truly outstanding deal that will, for the first time in the history of the game, give fans live coverage of every game each round. It’s a big win for the fans and a big win for the clubs, and News is delighted to be a part of it.”
Looks like Murdoch is back in love with rugby league again. No word, though, on whether he rates one ahead of the other out of AFL and NRL or he has them neck-and-neck.
The AFL rights have cost a bit more than the NRL rights overall, but when you take into account there is one more game of AFL per week and the AFL games run for longer and therefore offer increased opportunities for advertising, there is not a great difference between the two deals.
All parties have gone home happy.
There will be plenty of discussion about the make-up of the NRL television scheduling and whether the parties involved have got it right.
Next year, for example, each round will be spread over five days, from Thursday to Monday. That doesn’t give the fans much time between taking a breath and going again, but maybe a lot of people will like it that way.
Monday night football will be gone in 2017, when there will be a 6pm game on Friday as well as the usual prime-time Friday night game. The 6pm timeslot is a strange and interesting choice at the same time.
From next year, Fox Sports will show all eight games live each round, including simulcasts of the three live Channel Nine games, and it will introduce a dedicated rugby league channel in 2017, bringing it in line with the pay TV AFL model.
There is an opportunity on that dedicated channel to come up with some new ideas for shows, as opposed to just endless repeats of games and the existing programs.
All in all, the NRL has done a pretty good deal on behalf of the game.
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