While the Parramatta Eels were playing the South Sydney Rabbitohs last night, the Wests Tigers hosted the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs just 10 kilometres away at ANZ Stadium.
Why didn’t they play a doubleheader at ANZ Stadium in front of a huge crowd?
ANZ Stadium could have been divided into four sections. Wests and Canterbury-Bankstown on one side, Parramatta and South Sydney on the other side.
Wests would get the gate-takings for the Tigers-Bulldogs section, while the Eels would get the takings for the Eels-Rabbitohs section.
Wests versus Canterbury-Bankstown would be played at 6:45pm, while Parramatta would take on South Sydney at 8.45pm. Sure, an 8:30pm start is a bit late however, we saw it happen a fortnight ago at Remondis Stadium when Cronulla hosted the Broncos.
Channel Nine would screen a half-hour bulletin and cancel A Current Affair for the night. Queenslanders would have an early news bulletin at 5pm. The NRL and Nine Network would then have to ensure that kick-off was on time.
More fans would turn out, which is a good look for the NRL who are struggling with crowd figures, currently at their lowest in years. These four clubs have some of the biggest followings in Sydney, with all clubs posting good crowd figures at the Olympic ground. Did the NRL think they would run at a loss by hosting a doubleheader?
As for the pitch, we get through Holden Cup matches before each NRL game, and on grand final day we play two games before the big one. Last year Suncorp Stadium hosted a Four Nations double header, and the Sydney Football Stadium hosted an NRL finals doubleheader in 2013. There will be no problems with the pitch.
The Tigers would take their NYC match against the Bulldogs to Leichhardt Oval as a curtain-raiser to the Tigers-Mounties NSW Cup match, and Parramatta would take their youth match against Souths to Ringrose Park as a curtain-raiser to the Magpies-Cutters NSW Cup match.
Roarers, would you rather watch one big match live and have the other delayed? I’d rather watch them both live, without the spoils of social media.
I am not suggesting that Nine should have double headers every Friday night, but whenever there are two big matches featuring four of the biggest teams in Sydney, why wouldn’t you play a doubleheader at ANZ Stadium?
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
Eels fans don't want games at ANZ. I'd much rather the game at Parramatta than at that cavernous ANZ.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
Well if we're having a whinge about ch9, what about the big song and dance that Sunday games would be live. Not in sunny Queensland they're not. Evidently the good folk believe there must be thousands of people who can't tune in at 3pm but suddenly find time at 4, to watch an ad riddled delayed telecast.
steveng
Roar Rookie
And another is that I hope Ch9 will not get NRL's next contract. I think allot of fans have had enough of their bad coverage for far too long. Last nights so called "LIVE" telecast was unbelievably bad, whenever the game was at an exciting stage Ch9 would put its so called live coverage picture at the bottom right hand corner (which you needed a binoculars to see) and the main screen would be filled with someone/something totally irrelevant or not wanted to be seen by fans in the game, pathetic and very annoying.
Muzz
Guest
Agree with point 2) Scott. Why would the Eels want to for-go such a strong home ground advantage against a team that loves playing at ANZ?
Scott Pryde
Expert
There wouldn't be extra gate takings. Did you see the crowd at Parra last night?
The Barry
Roar Guru
Hadley and Lewis were painful. Lewis must be the dullest expert commentator in history. I fell asleep just after half time at 6 all for about 15 minutes. Woke up at 24-6. WTF? Great use of the word soporific...
up in the north
Roar Rookie
It doesn't really matter does it? Ch9 get their income from advertising revenue, we footy fans have to accept whatever they dish up. The NRL made their deal with the devil and are in no position to complain about it.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
You could have saved some typing Scott by simply stating: 1 big problem with this 1. Channel Nine
james
Guest
mate, u mean Channel 9 is destroying the game. Have u seen the crowds this year?! They are worse than last year which were worse than 2013...which were worse than 2012! i wish i was making this up, but its true. Id like to know how the NRL is rating in these past couple of years.
Scott Pryde
Expert
2 big problems with this. 1. Channel Nine - They would never allow Friday Night Footy to start before 7:30pm... And kick off is never on time. They also have a deal to get a lot of ads into the second game. That's a bit hard if it's live. As much as I don't agree with it, its the way it is going to be. 2. Parramatta Eels - They are not specifically the problem here but if I am the Eels board, and we haven't beaten the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium in something like our last 7 encounters, im not shifting my game to ANZ Stadium, when they have a good record against the Bunnies at Parramatta. And did you see the crowd at Parramatta last night? Would have got half that with a late kick off at Homebush. Sorry Riley, But I can't agree.
Breeze101
Roar Rookie
Totally agree Parramatta Stadium home of the Eels it will always remain that way!! It's not the Eels fault these teams play at ANZ or don't actually have a Venue of their own to play at like I said those teams just need to relocate!!
Breeze101
Roar Rookie
Double headers would never fix the crowd problems the Nrl are having. Now when you make comparisons to the both games last night it was clear Parramatta Stadium would always out do ANZ during club rounds!! As Parramatta Stadium has the atmosphere & the right Seating Capacity at the moment being far superior to Homebush & a much closer view to the action as well. ANZ Stadium is only suited for finals footy & major sporting events, Nrl double headers will never fix anything for any club it never will. We all know ANZ is just not suitable for club games in any code as the Stadium is just to big!! Tigers, Rabbitohs & Bulldogs seriously just need to relocate or keep being victims to playing in front of a empty stadium with no atmosphere!!
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
Actually, all four teams play home games at ANZ Stadium. Tigers would get 50% of gate takings, Eels would get 50% of gate takings. I'm sure both the Tigers and Eels would be very happy with extra gate takings.
Jimmmy
Guest
Why would Parramatta ever consider moving this game from Pirtek? I think Parra fans are right at the Top of the tree as far as loyalty to their team goes. Pirtek is worth 10 points to them every game they play there. I congratulate All the Parra fans that go to their home games.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Not sure I follow jamesb. With 9 selecting the Souths v Eels, Dogs v Tigers and Warriors v Broncos games, Fox then picked up the next best. And decided to put the Cowboys v Storm on Monday night, as from my understanding that is their best ratings timeslot. Of course a lot of scheduling for this w/end would have been influenced by the Cricket WC Final. Selecting the Warriors game on Sunday meant they can show it early with NZ 2 hours ahead of Syd (12pm kick-off for Syd)
steveng
Roar Rookie
It could have been and I think it would have been a very successful venue, but sides that are included in a double header do complain that their home game was taken away from them because this type of a double header would always be played at the ANZ stadium and that would have been Souths (and not Parras) home ground.
ferret
Guest
Channel 9 indeed. I'm in Briz and watched a very exciting Eels v Bunnies game with my brother. Then the Dogs v Tigers delayed telecast. From what I read this morning the latter was a very exciting game. Neither my brother or I got past half-time. Ray Hadley and Wally Lewis must be the most soporific commentary team ever! Ray Warren may be frequently inaccurate but at least he puts some vigour into his call. Hadley?!? What are Ch9 thinking? Plus throw in 17 ads per break and we were both asleep about 30 minutes in. So even when Ch9 get what they want they kill the enjoyment.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
I was pretty surprised that of the three QLD teams none were playing last night. But as has been well said before ch9 can and will do whatever pleases themselves.
duecer
Guest
Don't you think the NRL has to accept some of the blame? They were also a party to the negotiations and could've made changes. Hopefully they've learnt from this deal and will do better for the fans in 2017
Wayne
Roar Guru
Problems with Members seating would be nightmare. If you have set seat for Tigers ANZ games which clashes with Parramatta set seating how do you resolve?