The continued success of the BBL T20 cricket series over the summer holidays may have given TV executives pause to think about what other undiscovered gems are there to attract audiences in an ever fragmenting sports content market.
What games could the TV moguls either rebrand or update to provide instant entertainment at peak times to patrons whose attention span is shorter than the distance to the TV remote control?
Pay TV penetration is low in Australia because there is no compelling midweek sports events, unlike the US where there is baseball, basketball and ice hockey.
What are the perfect criteria for such a new enhanced sport? How about these?
The game should be played at night (live on TV in this instant-news environment) preferably between 7:30 and 10pm (following the attention-grabbing news programs) to allow children to be in bed.
The game should be three hours maximum, which not only allows workers to get to bed at a reasonable hour but people’s attention spans only reach so far – any longer and a one-sided game becomes dull.
The game should allow for regular, short commercial breaks. This was the reason Kerry Packer moved on summer Test cricket – it was a popular, cheap, summer TV product when fewer people were watching, but with little competition.
Keeping people near the TV with short breaks is important. The NFL moved out the point after touchdown (PAT) attempt spot back ten metres to make it less predictable, as a predictable conversion, then the scorer kicking off into the opposition endzone, plus ads, meant a viewer could leave for three or four minutes, miss lots of ads, but not miss any real action.
The games should have an element of ‘I score, you score’ rules to achieve close results and maintain interest until the end. This would mean equal ‘possession’ for competing teams, with the greater potential for close games.
History shows us that US sports rule-makers were clever in their design of games (okay, a Canadian invented basketball, but US administrators formulated the rules) to allow each side the same access to possession or at bat to maximise the chances of a close result.
Older British games (apart from football and polo) didn’t have such considerations, although handicapping in polo affords some levelling of competition.
Australian Super League tried scorer kickoffs (like Sevens Rugby and NFL) to make sure games were not dominated by one side, but found the non–scorer’s long kickoff was just as effective.
There should also be risk options to allow trailling teams to get back into games. The NRL trialled the option of going for another try instead of a conversion after a try to enable a trailling team to get back into a game more easily (same as NFL), but it didn’t catch on.
Low-scoring games are also important, as a trailling team is rarely out of it. This also means referees’ decisions are crucial, which is a win-win because refereeing controversies fill up papers. AFL struggles under this criteria, because rarely does one umpiring decision cost a team a game.
The game should be played in small stadiums to make them easier to fill, giving better atmosphere – small crowds are a big turn-off. Darts in England are a good example of crowd atmosphere, but with lashings of beer and dressing up it’s more of a party.
The game cannot be a poor cousin of the main competition – BBL cricket would survive in Australia even without the star imports, but that is unique. Meaningless competitions that detract from the main game don’t tend to last long.
The game needs interest across the genders. Cricket, AFL and football have or will have national leagues and an expected good performance of the 2016 RU Olympic Sevens womens team means that many sports are looking across the sexes to increase participation and interest. However in the short-term the new game will probably be male oriented to begin with to attract the big ratings that the TV networks need.
Any new league would needs strong Sydney and Melbourne teams to attract corporate interest, as we’ve seen in the A-League. Perhaps the new league bosses could even turn a blind eye to salary cap cheating, or give new clubs salary cap allowances, bu only when the new game matures could you afford to let the other cities be as strong.
This goes hand in hand with having a celebrity playing in a new team – think Dwight Yorke, Israel Folau, Karmichael Hunt or even Glen Lazarus in Melbourne. A celebrity signing will attract sponsors, fans and players from other clubs. Who could forget David Gyngell moaning about the Swans signing Buddy Franklin, so the NRL allowed the Roosters to sign Sonny Bill Williams as a counter.
Roarers – any other criteria needed for a new sport? What sport or modified sport appeals to TV executives?
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