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Opinion
I’ve never seen a world like this. I’ve never seen Australia like this. It seems almost shameful to be thinking about rugby league.
If you are reading this, then you to will likely have footy in your veins and our mindset is justified by thinking we are only human.
Every major sporting event has been cancelled or postponed, including the Tokyo Olympics, the US Masters and Wimbledon.
All world-class sporting competitions are also off, so the stage is set for our beloved rugby league to attract millions of incremental eyeballs from May 28, according to Wayne Pearce, head of the innovation committee tasked with putting isolation plans in place.
May 28, why not?
Can you imagine when Americans watch the footy with real tackles without crash helmets?
With our broadcast partners uneasy and unsure what to commit to, an opportunity will arise for the world’s biggest company Amazon to watch rugby league live and up close.
Google also will examine our game to broadcast over YouTube in the future.
Not only does this mean massive revenue, but importantly, the advent of a whole new demographic.
As a minimum, the game should derive a huge windfall from signing up every major sports network overseas who are clamouring for top-class sport – any sport.
(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Having a start date is great, but we still do not have any idea what the competition will look like.
Let’s say that all 16 teams will compete and we play every team once.
The problem is that we have already played two rounds, which will count, and in order for each team to play every team once, Rounds 3 to 15 will have to be scrapped and redone.
Costs can be saved by not bringing in an overseas mathematician to complete this task, but the jury is out on that one.
Given that the NRL intends to maintain the results for Rounds 1 and 2, there is a strong argument to also maintain the original draw and cut it off after Round 15.
There is no perfect model, but by maintaining the original draw to Round 15, we at least have a semblance of fairness, despite the fact that not every team will play every team once.
It is close but not a cigar. But a cigar could be smoked from a peace pipe, perhaps. Given our current environment, most sports fans will take it.
Clubland is in turmoil as they sign the players. They have no salary cap to work on for this year or the next or the next. This makes it difficult for players already signed and impossible to sign any future prospects as they do not know how much will be in the cap.
The publication of the salary cap for 2020 and the next two seasons should be a priority. That priority will be linked to the broadcast rights.
Our junior competitions are the future and they have been lost for this season. The ramifications await. The NSW and Queensland Cup competitions have been cancelled. The players want to know when they can play again. Will they have a contract?
The NRL has more than one problem, like when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and the world watched in awe.
Shameful will quickly turn to proud as our game could lead the world in social recovery.
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