When the NRL recently signed off on a TV deal worth $1.8 billion over five years, one of the sticking points to come out of it was the newly allotted Friday 6pm game.
The Friday 6pm game will be aired on pay TV channel Fox Sports from 2017. The new timeslot will replace Monday night football.
Of course at the time of the announcement of the TV deal, many NRL fans felt that the new Friday timeslot will be a farce. At that time of the week, many people are still coming home from work – or still there.
And for that obvious conundrum, many would say, who is going to watch a live NRL game in attendance at 6pm on a Friday?
Certainly that timeslot works for Warriors home matches, with New Zealand two hours ahead of Australia. That timeslot may have been perfect if the NRL had two or three teams based in NZ. But unfortunately, the NRL only has one team from NZ. This means NRL teams from Australia have to host the less desirable timeslot.
And to make things worse, in the first month of the season, NSW is still in daylight savings hours, therefore Queensland is one hour behind.
So in a nutshell, in the first month of the NRL season, a game will be televised in Queensland from 5pm. Now that is even more ludicrous.
In all likelihood, Queensland may not be hosting a match in March, but TV ratings for a 5pm could be a disaster.
Again, at 5pm people in Queensland are either at work, or commuting from work.
There’s a strong chance that many NRL fans in Queensland will miss the entire 5pm game in early stages of the NRL season.
Surely that’s not a win for the fans. It seems like the early Friday game is cooked up by men in suits without consulting the NRL fan.
Who is to blame? Fox or the NRL. In my opinion, both deserve rotten eggs and tomatoes coming their way.
Yes we know the usual rhetoric. The broadcasters pay the bills, but surely there is another alternative.
This Friday 6pm does face many challenges. Come 2017, when it is introduced, TV ratings will show its true indication. And that’s what it comes down to really – TV ratings, not crowds.
If it is not a success, then most likely there will be a change. In the current cycle, Channel Nine were forced to go live after taking a big hit in TV ratings with the delayed Sunday 4pm coverage.
There are three possible compromises. For the first month have a Sunday 6pm match, then the rest of the season, Friday 6pm. Alternately, for the first half of the season, a Sunday 6pm match then the second half, a switch to Friday 6pm.
The final option would be to hold a Sunday game at 6pm for the entire season.
Why wasn’t a Sunday 6pm game ever considered?
A Sunday 6pm game does make more sense as Sunday is part of the weekend. When a Perth team comes in, that timeslot would fit perfectly and also take advantage of various public holiday Mondays. It is certainly more logical then the so-called Friday ‘pub game’
But when it comes down to negotiating a $1.8 billion TV deal, sometimes logic is nowhere to be found.
Dr Yes
Guest
Referring to cattle as 'cows'. No doubt a lefto-greeno, southern, city-dwelling, frappaccino-mocha sipping, pressed-check-shirt-with-manscaped-beard wearing, crowd-source-funding, Walleed-Ally-tweeting, daylight-savings-loving hackathon organizer. They're cattle and they're managed by cattlehands and cattle musterers. Anyway, gotta go renew my cowboys membership. Go the cowboys!
Bronco Juggernaut
Guest
Considering 80% of the state is cattle properties, and 80% of the year the temperature is 30 degrees plus, it's no surprise there is no grass
Horace
Guest
Isnt the 6PM game a win for Foxtel so watchers will get to the pub???
Rodney Olsen
Guest
Yeah, NSW stands for Newcastle Sydney Wollongong, that's three cities and if you are not in one of them in NSW, you are camping out. Btw, some of the prettiest beaches you could ever come across are down the Wollongong/Illawarra way.
Elton
Guest
Is there anywhere else even worth going in NSW? maybe Byron bay. QLD has more than just one city to offer.
Rodney Olsen
Guest
I'm not talking about Daylight saying in regards to joining the rest of Australia, I'm talking about having Australia first followed by being a Qlder second, you know, like the rest of Australia? :)
Tom of Brisbane
Guest
When you say "rest of Australia" I'm assuming you mean to say "rest of Australia apart from NT and WA (who don't have daylight saving)" In fact the whole northern half of the continent doesn't have daylight saving. That would be the part that is closest to the Equator. See how this works?
maximillian
Guest
I agree, but as a Warriors fan Im glad for the change! 6pm Friday is 8pm over here so that's plenty of time to beat the traffic & organise yourself to get to the game in NZ. If we can secure a lot of regular Friday games like the Broncs traditionally do that would be a massive leg up for us.
Rodney Olsen
Guest
Qlders and their 25 hour Summer days, when will they finally dump this pretend proud Qld stuff and join the rest of Australia? Hmm, why would the NRL need to worry about SA teams Bakkies, the game is still banned on TV over their as far as I know, let them rot, they have nothing to do with 6pm kickoffs in another country in another sport and it's probably best it stays that way, the SA lot have the flair of an obese OX, RL would kill them, not up to it.
Realist
Guest
That is frustrating as well. Why is it that a "no" answer in a referendum is never taken as a final answer, but a "yes" answer is?
Bakkies
Guest
and also against Australian and South African teams.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
An hour extra sun after work? Whats not to like. I can see the other side for some. You can get up at 4:30am when the sun comes up and pop to the beach or do some exercise etc before work.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Union games in NZ? With only home NZ teams playing. Yeah works awesome. Lets get some more NZ teams.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Living in QLD now, and I can't believe from people I talk to how against it they are. Probably worried about the curtains fading faster
Tom G
Guest
precisely
Bakkies
Guest
Sun down at 5-6pm in Summer is shiite.
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
Perfect! Looking forward to it!
Mike from Tari
Guest
I'm in Qld & I would rather watch a 6pm game than a game full of adds at 10pm on a Friday night.
Pat Malone
Guest
Stop making sense
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Nice one, yep always up for a beer! If ok with you I'll contact Paddy to get your details, and shoot you an email