Picture this.
It’s another lazy Saturday morning in the UK with nothing to do. All the major sporting competitions have been halted as a result of the lockdown, and your craving for live sport has got so extreme that you’ve taken to watching the German Bundesliga, as it’s the only sport on.
This is the situation for many sports fans in the UK, and people who would never before consider watching German football matches are now turning in droves to watch them.
Like most sports, the Bundesliga matches mostly take place in the evenings. But you’ve just woken up, and you can’t wait that long. So you flick through Sky Sports to see what’s on – and what’s this? There are some men crashing into each other. Must be rugby.
And you’re interested, and it’s the only sport on at this time, so you carry on watching.
This is precisely the situation which, if utilised properly, could enable a miniature NRL boom in the UK.
I do not think it is much of an exaggeration to say that, outside of rugby league circles, the NRL has next to no presence in the UK. I can say confidently that the majority of the British public would be able to name an American football team faster than they could name an NRL team.
That’s not to say that rugby league itself doesn’t have a presence – it’s very much the opposite – but just that the NRL as a competition is largely unknown to those who do not actively watch or follow rugby league.
Even I only came to know of the NRL through my interest in rugby league and I cannot remember, in the years before I was interested in the sport, ever really noticing or hearing the NRL in the news or media.
This is a tragedy, because morning rugby is God’s gift to mankind.
It holds an exclusive time slot. No other major sport – save cricket – occupies the morning hours, and during the 2019 rugby union World Cup many – including me – enjoyed the refreshing and unusual experience of watching live sport as you ate breakfast. It kick-started your day and provided good entertainment while you were waiting for your other sports to play in the afternoon or evening.
In fact, it became something of a ritual – at one point, to watch the Rugby World Cup in the morning became almost as normal as watching BBC Breakfast.
(Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)
Even when other sports resume, the NRL will not have much competition for viewers – because the only other sport which occupies the morning slot is cricket, and even then, it has considerably fewer fixtures than rugby league.
And when you consider the prime time slot – 10 o’clock on a Saturday morning, when most people are beginning to wake up or are sitting around the kitchen table – it would form the perfect entertainment and serve as the entrée to a whole course of the day’s sports; morning rugby league, soon followed by the 3:00 pm football (soccer) kickoff, and finally the 7:45 rugby kickoff.
I do not think I am alone among British rugby league fans when I say I am frustrated at the lack of attention the NRL receives in the UK media. Most of the leg-work has to be done by journalists and fans themselves, and though a large portion of the blame falls to the UK media itself, I do think that the NRL could do more too.
A properly funded and executed marketing campaign could establish the NRL as a legitimate form of morning television, and more importantly – it could imprint it firmly into the public consciousness.
If the NFL could, through the power of cultural osmosis and marketing, have a sport as alien as American football grow so popular in the UK, then I am confident that the same could be done for the NRL.
Walter Black
Guest
"The NRL recently sold its international rights to Fox Sports with prospective broadcast arrangements funnelling through to the Fox UK and Fox US networks, as well as under the "Watch NRL" digital banner. The NRL knows that any potential deal with ESPN would require permission from Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany, such is the international rights deal in place" I assume that as Sky Sports streams NRL games (and plans to show all round 3 & 4 games) that they have bought the right to do so from Fox. Either way, my point stands that the NRL gains very little from advertising its wares in the U.K.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Sky UK already televises three NRL matches each weekend. As Foxtel here does with three Super League matches each week. In this covid era, the NRL might grab a bit of extra interest for a few weeks at least until the EPL gets going again .
Jwoody74
Roar Rookie
Sky U.K. have the rights to the NRL and at the start of the season were showing quite a few matches, they even showed the 9’s this year. Previously Premier Sports in the U.K. had the rights but it was a pay extra scenario. I may be wrong but I think Premier only had an SD channel. I’m not sure how long the contract is but as of 2020 Sky definitely have the rights to the NRL. It will probably be a case of one of the lesser Sky channels showing the matches once football kicks back into gear over here and with no Super Rugby I’d expect them to continue to show quite a few games a week.
Walter Black
Guest
I may have sounded overly negative on previous posts but I am not really. The time to expand and innovate is in a crisis. There are definitely opportunities for the NRL right now but you have to ask, where is the money ? Paying to promote sky broadcasts in the UK is is like just giving Fox money. The key is in promoting the NRL's own digital app. This is where the NRL gains money but I say again, the place to do that is in the U.S. not the UK. Whilst I think our sport is the world's best kept secret, and I think it is a sport that deserves a much bigger recognitionthan it gets and I even believe that promotion of the game is the way to do it, advertising in the UK right now is not the biggest bang for the scarce NRL buck.
Bob
Guest
I can’t seem to catch on why now is the time to be thinking about expanding the game to foreign tv networks. Wasn’t there a previous article written about the potential for nrl to quickly resume and gain new overseas tv deals? Hows that theory holding up? Doubt it would be such a hit for potential new fans to tap in bit way through a season and take serious a foreign league- if they aren’t fans allready i just can’t see it happening. I know that i would just hold out till my respective league start back in a few more weeks. nrl might get a few extra likes on a youtube highlights reel for a few weeks but thats a big difference between engaging new fans to pay money for viewing and/or a foreign tv network to start handing out new cash supplies which they probably don’t have at this point in time.
Up the Wahs
Roar Guru
‘ I reckon more people here in Australia could name a NFL team before a NFL team.‘ You’re right most people would name the New England patriots before the New England patriots.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
I miss watching live sports in the mornings.
Paul
Roar Guru
How much would it cost to promote the game in the manner I've suggested? A few hundred K? They just signed a huge deal with the networks. If push comes to shove they should be able to borrow against that if other sources aren't available. Sky broadcasts the games in England. It can't be that hard to buy commercial space, either with them or with other FTA broadcasters.
Paul
Roar Guru
totally agree Walter and I suggested exactly that a few weeks ago. I don't know why they won't promote and I suspect you're guessing about their reason as well. Maybe it's something as simple as trying to get the season going and then focusing on other issues later.
Boonterry
Guest
The NFL is a big sporting competition the NRL isn't.. fairly simple really. I reckon more people here in Australia could name a NFL team before a NFL team.
Big Daddy
Guest
To me it's probably only a short term proposition. I'd rather look long term. I don't have the answer. Bit if they want to go down that track , fair enough.
Dayer
Roar Rookie
BD so what as long as the NRL tried.it might get a percentage of interest. better then nothing.
Walter Black
Guest
"The NRL is broke but I see this suggestion as spending some money to make money." So where does the money come from ? It doesn't come from tv because Fox owns the International rights. The only way you get a return is from selling the NRL's app.
Walter Black
Guest
If the NRL were going to market itself in a foreign land, the place to do that right now is the USA not the dear old dart. Tap into only a tiny percentage of that market and you could be onto a winner. However the NRL won't do it because in these cash strapped times, there is no return for the NRL. Promoting its own Digital App has far more potential but it isn't spending much on that just now either. I wish it were different but its not.
Paul
Roar Guru
hi Catherine, this is an excellent first piece and I completely agree it's a market the NRL can and should do more to promote. Unlike many naysayers in this forum, I think we need to look at the bigger picture. Right now in the UK, the virus has claimed more than 36,600 lives ( some reports suggest as many as 41,000) while there were 2,959 confirmed over night. This is the grim reality right now and people there want a distraction from these sorts of issues. The NRL could provide that, as Catherine suggests, on weekend mornings and reach a wider target audience of it put more emphasis on telling people about it's product. Australia will have live sport very soon, but the UK will not, so why not promote the game? People in this forum have been complaining for weeks about having no sport to watch, why would the Poms be any different? I'd have also thought Catherine, living in England, is far better placed to know what the mood is like and whether this suggestion could be a goer. The NRL is broke but I see this suggestion as spending some money to make money. It surely can't be that hard to buy some time on TV and put on the new retro ad, we've all seen a gazillion times on the Roar? They could also get some well spoken former NRL players who are over there already onto radio, to talk up the game. In other words, for not a great cost, the NRL could put it's brand out there in a marketplace crying out for live entertainment. The return of the NRL is a great advertising opportunity. Sure there are many who may not watch it or may not even like the game, but I'd reckon there are plenty who would switch on, simply because it's sport and it's live. Good on you for throwing up the suggestion Catherine
Big Daddy
Guest
The problem is once European sports gets up and running it would be dropped like a hot scone.
Walter Black
Guest
If I remember rightly, GI doesn't start his Warrington job until next year. I agree that a good marketing job could be done around Inglis like they did around Williams.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
GI is supposedly a huge interest story over there with his Warrington signing. For whatever it’s worth commercially trending third on Twitter right now in UK. People want to watch him. Watch NRL online, owned by ARL, is $189 a year for selected outside Australia viewers or $33 a month if you like.
Walter Black
Guest
1. What is in it for the NRL ? 2. When would the jersey get worn ? - August ? 3 Who would see it ?
souvalis
Roar Rookie
How much would Warrington want for a ‘watch NRL online’ jersey sleeve sponsorship ? Which includes a stipulation of a tight shot on it during a Greggy Goanna..