Australian Super Rugby broadcast deal signed just in time for New Zealand comp

It's a pretty clever idea though. There would be plenty of people like my son, who was watching a game with some mates, had a few beers and thought it would be funny to send in a pic of his dog. Now we're glued to every game waiting to see his dog on TV!

I still love the idea of pooling NRL and Union resources. Don't merge the games, but make the league players available for Wallabies selection for a price, and union players available for league clubs. Do a Brad Thorn, Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor, Sonny Bill, Michael Cheika etc etc and cross back and forth! NRL benefits from the spoils of international money particularly the RWC. Rugby gets the NRL talent. Merge streaming/broadcasting under one offer - have a national union comp going at the same time instead of super rugby (or even just a trans tasman comp). Lower the number of wallabies tests each year so they are coveted, like they used to be - one game against the AB's, Springboks, touring northern hemisphere side, plus a northern hemisphere tour (NRL players have finished their comp by then in November). The Wallabies become internationally relevant again, thus getting more interest in union in Aus. League fans get to join in the international buzz of games that are close. Top league players get to play in a world cup. Union players ride alongside. I like many enjoy both league and union. We gotta do something - the Wallabies are at rock bottom... both codes are struggling financially - the status quo couldn't get any worse...

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Great to see some rugby happening again! It's a credit to New Zealand and Australia that it has come to this. Reports from other parts of the planet about the public health emergency are simply dire. As for the state of the game in Australia, I have done some research. Everyone agrees that growing the grass-roots is super-critical to the game's future. Also there's a pretty large body of evidence that locking a sport away from those who *might* be engaged by it, is detrimental to that sport's future. An obvious look-no-further example is the decline in English cricket since it stopped being broadcast free to air. I mean, they have to rely on a lad from Christchurch New Zealand coupled with duff umpiring to win their silverware, so impoverished are their local resources nowadays. Foxtel of course only have rugby's best interests in mind. I have looked for free to air rugby broadcasts this coming weekend here in Melbourne and it is nada from Foxtel. Not even breadcrumbs. Meantime private equity looms on the horizon. I've worked for private equity. If you think they are a white knight then I have a bridge to sell you. Then I'll buy that bridge back off you after it's depreciated to nil value, arrange loans subsidies and management fees to bring it back up to standard, float it on the share market again when the bridge looks schmick (and make sure the float include five years of forward payments of "returnables" to come straight back into my pocket upon sale) and I'll use the returnables to buy up the shares when they hit rock bottom after the true value of the asset is discovered. With any luck I might do this loop three times before I'm rumbled, but I'll count on twice. As for rugby supporters, you shouldn't count on having a game at all when I'm done. Sorry and all that while I laugh all the way to the bank, but it's a free market.

Agreed Mark. That game showed that Japan was a serious force in rugby. To be sure due to average size within the Nihonjin population it's highly unlikely they will have the overall size and beef to win the RWC. But they play a fast-paced wide running game to make up for the lack of a power forward game. And any team off their game will get done like last night's dinner by the Japan Blossoms. Just ask Ireland and Scotland at RWC2019. They have done this all within 24 years. One or two still-firing neurones in my head recalls a record RWC scoreline involves Japan, perhaps AB vs Japan in RWC1995? I think that score was something like 143-3. And just in case you are wondering, NZ won. . :silly:

Cheika is spot on! Even the RA board and R.Castle could see this and were trying to get a FTA deal going. However the media-driven putsch put paid to that so rugby just sinks further. What's a big worry is media barons (here's looking at the old git Murdoch) are at the government to relax the local big sport events FTA rule. What hope for rugby if all test matches showing the WB are solely on Foxtel. :angry:

G'day Brett, hope you, family and friends got through CoVid-19 pandemic and lockdowns ok. And how good is it that soon we see a welcome back to rugger Oz Style. As an aside, a wag within the WR organisation said after the recent re-election of Billy Beaumont et al to their board that "there were more Brett's on the board than female board members." Upon reading this I wondered "has our own Mr McKay shown the NSWRU how to effectively take over an incumbent board?" :silly:

Mango, I'm at the opposite end. I detest the canned crowd noise as a childish distraction. I have switched off the tv commentators and went to the ABC call who try their hardest to avoid it by lowering the sound or talking over the pretend noise. Sure I get a 2 second delay but it's not really an issue and tbh I find it's better as I don't miss a sudden piece of action now. But what really is jaw-dropping is how many people are willing to stump up their hard-earned for cardboard cutouts to make a fake crowd. I honestly think the human race is rushing to extinction by stupidity. :sick:

Non-Realist, Ms Castle AND the RA Board tried to break away from the Foxtel shackles and get rugby onto FTA. The fact that an almost-broke Foxtel were willing to stump up $40M for what's effectively a closed shop says someone saw a fair bit of value in rugby. The upheavals does not take away what they were trying to do, get away from being run by Foxtel for Foxtel and do something about the continuous falling off the cliff numbers in rugby crowds and viewers. Castle got shafted because of a mix of weak-kneed RA board members, state RU political games, a vicious media campaign, certain toady ex-captains pushing barrows for who-knows-who and the timing of the Coronavirus pandemic. You don't have to look past Darling Harbour and Sydney's Camperdown to see who were behind much of the campaign to get rid of her and gain control of the board. Take a look at the NRL. They struggled to move forward under the yoke of Foxtel. In 2012 they changed their corporate structure to remove Foxtel from running the show and have boomed since with Mega Buck deals and greater FTA viewer numbers. Meanwhile rugby stays under the control of Foxtel and sinks further into the mire. :angry:

What a Clown !! He systematically destroyed the Wallabies. Dave Rennie has to rebuild his damage.

They can't give access to the broadcast of the games - somebody has paid for that exclusively. They can't give any idea on attendance - that's dependent on what the government allows, which they have not communicated. All sports are in the same boat. The asking for refunds seems to be more prevalent in NRL and Super Rugby fans than AFL fans though.

If course I hope for a fairy tale where Cinderella walk away with the title to an event her ugly sisters and stepmother didn’t invited her. She had to slip in through the back door. If Cinderella does win the title, it doesn’t mean much as she long as she enjoyed the dance.

You might think so TWAS, but it's not about the money back in my pocket. The Reds have made Zero comment to their members, little thanks for continued support, no suggestion that I could be given a code to lock into streamed vision if I'm locked out of the stadium. Nothing, except the little e-newsletter telling me how tough it is for them. I'm a long term member of the Reds, 21 years. I just don't like being treated as a branch of the Keep The Reds Afloat Bank without some meaningful communication.

I agree. I’ve watched Super rugby for 20 years and it was great when it first came out, but it is just boring now. Has been for the last 5 or 6 years. It’s a dead concept, and needs proper change. The provincial idea is just not exciting, and it’s proven from viewing and spectator data. The ARU should have made a bold decision to turn club rugby nationally competitive against AFL and NRL. They should have gone with a Euro soccer champions league model, with top two or 3 club teams from each state play in a knockout competition. This would help the rugby base, the clubs, the players and the Wallabys and ultimately the fans. Much more exciting. You could then have a one off 6Nations style Aus states comp also. Super rugby is not the way forward and it’s just unfortunate that Aus rugby didn’t have the courage to make a big change and take advantage of the C19 perfect opportunity.

Well it is when you consider Optus was at $20 million and confirmed they were never a realistic chance to get to $30 million which was Castle’s target in desperation from alienating Foxtel. Anyone else?

It also mentions in the Sportbusiness article the $40 m offer followed the current deal which was $57 m/year.Was it good business sense to just accept a lower offer,Realist?

I don’t know about all the people who are writing off the start of the Rugby comp but I for one can’t wait! I felt Auz rugby was one the rise on the field and there were some good signs to the start of the Super rugby year and even though off the field may be a different story, I’ll still hold the view that the next generation of stars will step up and I can’t wait! If we want to be the worlds best again we have to start believing in our boys! Bring it on!!!!

from OTB Sports Rugby Rugby in Australia has been damaged by "easy money" | Michael Cheika 10:11 21 May 2020 @ArthurJamesOD In the third episode of Keith Wood's State of the Union on Thursday's OTB AM, former Australia head coach Michael Cheika outlined where rugby is going wrong in the country. Michael Cheika's five-year stint as head coach of Australia ended in Japan as the Wallabies were roundly beaten by England at the quarter-final stage of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. It came in stark contrast to the World Cup final his side scarcely 12 months after he taken charge four years earlier. Joining Ireland's Keith Wood and New Zealand's Andrew Mehrtens on OTB's State of the Union, there was very little he had to say of the on-field events throughout his tenure, however. In an exploratory discussion about the state of rugby in the southern hemisphere, Michael Cheika, equipped with a precise knowledge of the off-field business, outlined the troubling direction rugby union has taken in Australia. "I don't think there is a guiding philosophy or direction around the two sides of the business: the business of business and the business of sport," he assessed. "We've gone for that easy money sometimes and I understand why. It's not easy to give up that nice lollipop, the big TV money. "Ultimately though, I believe our issue here has been with how we measure success. Traditionally, the success of the game was measured by participants. That may not seem like the most 'business' thing to do, but those participants are your customers, at the end of the day." In a country besotted by sport as Australia is, Michael Cheika believes that in the hunt for fast money rugby union has lost crucial ground on its national competitors: rugby league, Australian football, etc. On a worldwide scale, rugby's relevance is primarily driven by the interest which can be stimulated in national teams. Unlike football where the biggest and most successful brands are the clubs, the international game remains rugby's "unique selling point", according to Cheika. Nevertheless, to fully empower one's national team, there needs to be a strong base of foundational support across the many tiers that make up rugby as a whole. Even at the relatively high level of Super Rugby, he has identified numerous issues at play. "What we've done is start to focus too much on revenue, TV deals, ticket sales, etc," argued Cheika of the growing disregard for anything beneath the elite-level in the Australian game. "These things are extremely important, but it is much easier to achieve good outcomes there when you have a strong participant base. "Not all of your participants will end up playing elite-level rugby, but they can become fervent spectators and fans. If you're going out for a test match into a half or three-quarter full stadium, that can almost be a disadvantage for the home team because you're quite deflated going out there. "Participation is key. The expansion side of the game is important and brings in good revenue, but it has to be underpinned by strong participation and involvement rate. And it's not just grassroots, because I get that whole thing, but if we're authentic in how we deliver the game as a whole to our participants, they will be there to support us. "This is where I would have fallen out with people during my time with the Wallabies. When they were making an arrangement around what the next Super Rugby package was going to look like, I was adamant that it should be changed toward trans-Tasman, and Japan as well. "We need to rebuild the supporter base here [by enabling clubs to play more home games in Australia]." Michael Cheika's ideal scenario for Australian rugby, the reality is far removed from this as he went on to explain. Crucially, a disconnect between prospective fans and the sport of rugby union has been exacerbated by way of the club game's exclusive existence beyond a television pay-wall. In much the same way that cricket in England compromised its playing pool due to the lack of visibility after it became a pay-per-view event, rugby union's willingness to exist primarily as a sport for the few and not the many in Australia is harming its potential for growth. As Cheika demonstrated, the decision of other sporting bodies to maintain a presence on free-to-air television has only served to compound rugby union's issues. "During my tenure with the Wallabies," he recalled. "I would have had younger players of 14 or 15 who I would invite down to training to try and entice them to rugby. "They literally wouldn't know any of the players bar the ones who had come from rugby league. They were the guys they had seen on free-to-air television."

Cookie, if money wasn't an issue I would like to see a Trans Tasman competition on all levels: 1st 15 Schools Comp incl. GPS,NZ Nat. 15's - Junior Boys & Junior Girls Club Competition e.g. Ponsonby v Ranwick - Men's & Women NRC & Mitre 10 Cup - Men's & Women Super Rugby 10 Teams - Men's & Women Rep Rugby TT comp U18's, U20's - Men's & Women All Blacks v Wallabies v Fiji v Japan v Samoa v Tonga - Men's & Women And that would make me a very happy man.

So not aimed at me. Apologies for jumping in