Rugby Australia forced to suspend broadcast rights talks due to coronavirus

By Adrian Warren / Wire

Rugby Australia have postponed their media rights process and says coronavirus-related restrictions may place the code under extreme financial pressure.

Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle says ongoing government restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus could put extreme financial pressure on her organisation and they have suspended their media rights process.

Castle revealed the last two weeks of the Super W competition have been postponed while she couldn’t guarantee the three home Tests in July would go ahead.

She says talks are ongoing between the SANZAAR nations about how a reworked Super Rugby competition might look later in the year, after it was suspended following last weekend’s games and if that wasn’t possible there was the option of a domestic tournament.

The Crowd Says:

2020-03-24T01:37:18+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


Our peak commercial success was after expansion.

2020-03-24T01:15:49+00:00

Gloria

Roar Rookie


No I don’t. It was good once, but it has had its time and now very different. Expansion is one factor that has ruined it, and it has taken far too any resources away fro grass roots and has left us with no real domestic development.

2020-03-22T02:50:55+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


You try and paint Super Rugby as something that’s always been bad product. But the facts are that the greatest commercial success of Australian Rugby is tied to SANZAAR. The best attended NSW and QLD Rugby in history is Super Rugby. The most watched and attended Wallabies rugby is during the Super Rugby era. Super Rugby has helped ensure Aus were one of the Top 4 in World Rugby teams 1996-2015. The fact is Super Rugby as a product for the Australian market only became an issue in the last 5 years. At that same time our teams performance dropped as we lost more and more players to OS wages. The only way we don’t see the same thing happen in that time is if we only play Aus teams. And our national team still suffers anyway.

2020-03-22T02:44:21+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


Nothing...

2020-03-22T02:43:12+00:00

Gloria

Roar Rookie


True, but it is hard to imagine anything worse than the dying and unsustainable Super Rugby nonsense.

2020-03-22T02:36:59+00:00

Gloria

Roar Rookie


A legend. Yes, your right.

2020-03-20T20:36:34+00:00

soapit

Roar Guru


being flogged by the A team isnt nearky as bad as by the B team though

2020-03-20T20:33:59+00:00

soapit

Roar Guru


the truth based solely on how many times he's heard himself say it

2020-03-19T08:34:23+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


You knows. It’s the vibe

2020-03-19T08:07:44+00:00

Gus

Guest


I must be blind you're going to have to point me where it says it mate. I watched the whole press conference, even in the artice below she doesnt say they did. Find me the quote where she said they asked the goverment for the bailout.

2020-03-19T01:40:53+00:00

Lux Interior

Roar Rookie


2 games a week in an echo chamber. Yay.

2020-03-18T23:29:25+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


Or it won't be replaced by anything near as good (from a professionalism point of view) and Aus Rugby will be worse off. Change is not certainly for the better.

2020-03-18T23:28:39+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


Government funding should not. But it will be more likely controlled as to the use of the funds, rather than telling them to reform in a way different to what the states have already agreed to.

2020-03-18T12:16:29+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


They asked the bidders to propose what they’d want as part of the bid. It wasn’t added later. It was secured with the stakeholders prior to going to market.

2020-03-18T11:47:01+00:00

Kanggas2

Roar Rookie


Gloria Every website has got one,.. you’re it .

2020-03-18T08:22:55+00:00

LeftRight

Guest


The pause in "negotiations" or rather trying to get more than one bidder for RU broadcast rights, caused by the current "crisis" may give RU the opportunity to reassess their strategy to date. They may be able to think things through and put together a package that makes sense, represents real value to a broadcaster and from there get serious bids from several broadcasters. It seems to me RU were making up stuff on the run, starting with tests and SR as content and later throwing in a club competition .... Looked like a dog's breakfast to me. A pause will enable RU to regroup & hopefully come out of this with a better deal.

2020-03-18T07:48:02+00:00

Johnny J-Dog

Guest


OK I get it. She's awesome. It was a brilliant move on her part. RA is so much better off now.

2020-03-18T06:52:10+00:00

Gloria

Roar Rookie


Ummm, calm down, no one wants a single person to die and no one is celebrating that. And the sport will not ‘die’. Only Super Rugby will die. And it will be replaced by something better and more sustainable. It was already on the way out, this horrible crisis has only accelerated its demise.

2020-03-18T06:21:29+00:00

Train Without A Station

Roar Guru


Both are your opinion...

2020-03-18T06:12:07+00:00

Realist

Guest


It’s truth that the noted serious situations could have been handled better. It’s my opinion that they ‘should’ have been handled better.

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