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As rugby league fans, we must be held accountable. So much emphasis had been placed on the magical one billion dollar television rights package and to rival the AFL.
The announcement by the Australian Rugby League Commission has just confirmed that people, in particular us fans, can put a price on our souls.
Rugby league fans and the games officials, became so addicted to the prospect of beating the Australian Football Leagues’ massive $1b television rights package that it is all we commented about, all that we wanted, something slightly more so we could proudly boast to being the superior game here in Australia.
But what has it got us?
Nothing! We have the same broadcasters that we have had over the past decade with Foxtel/Fox Sports carrying their five live games a week, while Channel Nine continue their three games a week (only one of which is live).
So set in our ways for the magical billion dollar mark we became we ignored the smaller portions of the deal, we wanted better coverage, we wanted the fans to feel like they had achieved something with the new television rights deal – and the only feeling fans have now is the realisation that we achieved the sole feat of selling our souls for one billion dollars.
Sure it sounds great to say that we earned one billion, but as a consequence of it we have missed out on forcing networks to take our game to the next level, something the AFL actually achieved out of their television rights deal.
We get a planned draw where we know where and when our teams are playing well before hand…well almost. We get it for the first twenty rounds with the other six rounds of matches being announced in round sixteen.
At least we get better coverage. Do we?
It’s the same coverage, by the same broadcasters. Let’s not forget Channel Nine is the channel that preferred to show an episode of The Block and A Current Affair over showing the Australia versus New Zealand Test match earlier in the year.
Let’s not forget this is the same channel that just received 100,000 complaints on Social Media websites about their poor and pathetic coverage of the Olympic Games. This is the same channel that runs off to ads every two minutes, and the same channel that although has rights to three matches per week only manages to show one of them live.
At least the NRL can now focus on expanding?
True the Australian Rugby League Commission can focus on expanding the game now, however they have never said they would open the doors for bid teams.
If they were serious about the expansion of the game they would have ensured that broadcasting stations such as Channel Nine would show our games live or at least at reasonable times in Perth and Adelaide.
So really what have we achieved from this? The players get paid more, which takes them further away from the working class Australian.
Clubs have more money, but they will still grab the last dollar on your credit card to attend a game to have a cold pie and hot beer to watch the players run around, but we are still stuck with the same-old same-old.
Who do we have to blame for all of this? Us, rugby league fans.
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