It was all smiles and back slapping at Rugby League Central in Sydney on Tuesday following the announcement of the long-awaited new broadcast deal.
ARLC chairman John Grant, whose legacy would be judged on this contract, basked in the glory of reaching the much-talked about billion dollar mark after persuading the Nine Network and Fox Sports to fork out for the richest television deal in the sport’s history.
But aside from the huge cheque, which more than doubled the previous deal signed in 2005, little will change for TV viewers, as the networks ensured they got exactly what they wanted for their money.
Delayed Sunday afternoon matches – despised by many fans – are here to stay on Nine, as is the ratings juggernaut that is Wednesday night State Of Origin – despite calls from players and coaches for stand-alone weekends to give them time to recover to play for their clubs.
Evening grand finals also return after two years of early evening kick-offs for the code’s showpiece game.
Monday night football – such a ratings winner for Fox and such a pain for clubs who fail to attract the numbers through the turnstiles for the 7pm kick-offs – also stay.
Coaches who complain about their players having to back-up from Monday to Friday can now look forward to them potentially doing it in four days with three games to be shown on Thursday nights from next season.
And don’t expect to be able to choose what game you want to watch live on Friday night in NSW and Queensland – with Nine supremo David Gyngell baulking at the idea of showing the two simultaneously on the network’s digital channel.
“Why would you have two games against each other?,” Gyngell said.
“In Queensland they want to watch Queensland teams and in Sydney they want to watch Sydney teams.
“If you put two games up against each other you start shrinking your audience.
“I sit here unapologetically. When you pay this sort of money to have the games you have to put programs into slots that you can commercialise.
“We’re broadcasters, not narrowcasters. Majority wins with us, niche doesn’t.”
Gyngell applied the same principle to Sundays where his network can cram in more adverts than in a live game.
“Television is free on Channel Nine, so every time you pay a billion dollars you need to show some ads,” he said.
While the NRL’s deal is slightly less than the $1.25 billion secured by the AFL from the Seven Network and Foxtel, Gyngell insists league is better off than its rival code with their new deal.
“Pound-for-pound they have struck a better deal than the AFL no doubt about it,” Gyngell said.
“Unlike AFL, when you put teams in the competition like they have done recently there is a goal scored every 30 seconds.
“You get an ad for 30 seconds in play for 30 seconds. In football, which is much more level you can get the ads away so you can’t commercialise these things.”
Devout Saint
Guest
I consider this very offensive to the fans, they are taking us for granted, everything is to suit 9 and foxtel. My solution is for the fans to go on strike. Only watch the games that your team is playing in. If your team is playing on Friday night at 7:30 wait until 7:45 before switching to 9, change the channel at halftime for 12 minutes and then back when the game restarts. Just remember this is a joint bid, foxtel and channel 9 are in bed together. The less games on free to air suits fox and only one game live suits makes fox look more attractive. Even cancel Foxtel subscriptions and don't even watch channel 9 unless you have too. If people stopped watching the game and cancelled Foxtel then 9 and Foxtel would actually really pay for their arrogance and disregard for us the fans. The ARLC should be sacked by the fans. There should be at least 6 or 7 games a week on free to air. That would be the best way to grow the game, attract more fans and sponsorship. The first thing that money should be spent on from the TV right is to upgrade clubs grounds to eventually haveing every ground being 30 to 40 000 seat, with most undercover, The game itself would be richer then and the fans would be better off, but so far that has not even been mentioned,
von Neumann
Guest
I know. But i think this was acceptable to the arlc for good reason. The clubs and the code need to expand their operations AND stay financially secure. The other big player was leaving us for dead there. This is a win for operations and the fans rewards will come next time. I do concur though. The Sunday game is unwatchable almost. If there is one thing i would want, that would be a decent streaming service without having to sign to fox even though i have fox, it needs to be available to everyone. But all in all this is good for the game. The coverage while ordinary still shows the game, and most die hards get fox, or goto the pub