- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The biggest talking point that will come from the NRL this year is the upcoming television rights deal, that will shape the code’s future the next five years and beyond.
Currently, Channel Nine and Fox are in an exclusive three month window of negotiations which will expire in May.
From there channels Seven and Ten will officially enter the bidding war for the NRL TV rights. Channel Seven would love to drive the price up for their bitter rivals, but would also want to purchase the rights to State of Origin and perhaps Monday Night Football to fit in around their weekend AFL coverage.
Out of the three free-to-air networks Channel Seven is in the superior financial position, where Nine is in debt to the extent that they need to sell assets like Ticketek. Channel Ten is not exactly flush with funds, but isn’t in as perilous a financial state as Nine at the moment.
Ten for so long have been rated the third free-to-air commericial network, and is in a phase of cost cutting (like getting rid of OneHD) but also seeking and investigating a wise investment (NRL).
There has been talk that Channel Ten would want all of the NRL games to be on FTA. I think that’s highly unlikely, but who knows.
Channel Ten does have one advantage over the other two networks. Ten have their news at 5pm, while Nine and Seven have theirs at 6pm.
Which means if Ten were to get the rights to Sunday football, they would have a live game at 3pm, rather the delayed game at 4pm with Nine at the moment.
For Ten, it fits perfectly for their lead-in to the 5pm news, but Ten can also stage a live 5.30pm Sunday night game, which would lead in to their normal Sunday evening programming from 7.30pm.
In New South Wales and Queensland, the match would be on the main channel, while in the southern states, it would be on One. They could also give The Project a rest, since it already screens Monday to Friday.
At Nine, their problem is not only their 6pm news, but their traditional Sunday flagship 60 Minutes, which is always on at 7.30pm.
If Nine wants a Sunday night game, it has to start at 6.30pm after the News. But Nine would have to move or abandon 60 Minutes which I doubt will never happen.
Early Sunday evening games have the potential to attract a good TV audience. As for crowds, it wouldn’t affect it the majority of them.
If a Perth franchise came in, you could have seven or eight matches live from Perth to the east coast. In the first month in March with daylight savings in place, Queensland teams could host three or four matches at 4.30pm Queensland time (one hour behind)
Also you have five different public holidays on Mondays which would help teams stage home Sunday evening matches thanks to the day off the next day.
March 12: Victorian Labour Day (Storm)
April 9: Easter Monday (Sydney teams)
May 7: Queensland Labour Day ( Queensland Teams)
June 4: New Zealand Queen’s Birthday (Warriors)
June 11: Queen’s Birthday (Sydney teams)
WA have various Monday public holidays like Labour Day March 5th and Foundation Day June 4th. Those days could be used for Perth to host Monday night games.
As far as scheduling matches is concerned, the early Sunday game could be moved from 2pm to 1pm, and than you have the 3pm and 5:30pm matches to follow.
So whichever network gets the “possible” double header on FTA on a Sunday, it could give them a nice platform for not only their normal Sunday evening programmes, but for the week ahead.
Channel Nine may well get the Sunday football, along with the Friday night games, however, this time Nine does face stiff competition. Whether Nine has the finances and scheduling to appease the NRL remains to be seen.
By the middle of this year, the TV deal will be signed, sealed and delivered. Whatever the outcome, it will be talked about for days, weeks and months to follow.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.