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Joined November 2014
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Experienced rugby writer that knows about BOTH hemispheres.
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Eddard,
With all respect you are not being realistic. You are comparing a Super Rugby match and a World Cup which comes around every four years. There will be 15 Super Rugby matches every year so the numbers won’t be anything like world cup numbers.
Going further the 2014 Super Rugby final got these TV figures – Fox Sports (357k), SKY Sport NZ (319k) SuperSport’s audience (298k). Generally speaking these were 10% up on the year before.
Collectively the SANZAR nations didn’t even get 1 million viewing for the final – and you are hoping to get twice that from one new nation per match ?
2 million viewers in Japan is not going to happen.
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
RobC , that is 4am in the morning GMT which means that the bulk of the world’s viewing eyeballs will not be watching.
Broadcasters will pay more for matches that are closer to primetime. The prime audience is Europe given the population and Japan is well out of that time zone which is why they will play half their matches in SA and a quarter in Singapore.
Does that make more sense ?
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
In Round 1 Japan play the Lions at 4.15 GMT in Tokyo.
In Round 3 Japan play the Cheetahs at 10.50 GMT in Singapore.
Yes playing games in Singapore makes a material difference.
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
The Japan thing is being blown out of proportion. Time Zones. Europe (where the real TV numbers are) is not going to get up at 4AM to watch a Japanese side get pumped by the Lions or vice versa. Thats why they will play half their games in Singapore – so that the time zones are more broadcast friendly.
Don’t forget that SANZAR has increased their broadcast money from this new deal BUT the increases were almost entirely from SKY in the UK. They got in quick with a massive offer as there is a TV rights battle going on with Football thanks to BT Sport starting up. Rugby got a fraction of the money but in reality the increase was down to riding on the coat tails of a Football rights war than ANYTHING Sanzar did. They thought they had to up the anti but in reality they could have left it as it was and they would have earned more money. However something had to change in SA who insisted that the Kings would be included.
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
South Africa did insist on getting another team as in the mid 2000’s SARU wanted backing from the government for their 2011 Rugby World Cup hosing bid. The govt had already been awarded the Football World Cup and had plans to build a stadium in Port Elizabeth so the Govt said they would back the 2011 bid if SARU promise to put a team in that stadium.
Political pressure and the stadium becoming a white elephant added govt pressure on SARU to fulfill their part of the deal. Once SARU got the govt backing whether they won the bid or not they had effectively sold their soul in Port Elizabeth to the govt. THAT stadium and the Football World cup is a massive reason why Super Rugby had to change.
So, you see its all Sepp Blatter’s fault 😉
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
Players are earning more today than ever before and TV rights in Europe are bigger than ever before. That means European clubs can play their players more and the knock on is that Unions like the ARU have to pay a lot more to keep their players at home. The national Unions in the Southern Hemisphere can’t compete with the clubs in the North. Finanically the Northern Hemisphere are leagues ahead of the Southern hemisphere due to TV rights. For example the TV deal for France’s domestic competition the Top14 is worth more than the whole of the last SANZAR deal which had to be split three (four with Arg) ways.
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
You have to realise that this is all about money. Its all to get more broadcast money in for more content. Unfortunately this time it looks like they have gone too far. Greg Peters knew it so he jumped ship and now works for Argentina and their Super Rugby side.
Biltongbek is right though, SA are on their way out. This could be the last Super rugby term for SA as the broadcast money is worth much more in Europe and SA are in the right time zone.
A lot of new broadcast deals will be renegotiated in 2021. If SA get a fraction of European money they will be better off and lets be honest – half of the Boks are already there so they will have greater control and access to their players if they are involved in the competitions.
SA will however remain in the Rugby Championship and that will make it a lot more exciting as it wont be the same old players week in week out.
2016 Trans-Tasman disguised as 'Stupor Rugby'
You have completely forgotten about the value of the Rand. ALL of those players left for a better currency.
Why not six South African Super Rugby teams?
Come on people,
SANZAR want more games to sell to broadcasters for more money. A Champions League would mean less matches. Less matches means less money. Less money means more players leaving.
SANZAR needs innovation to make Super rugby exciting whilst keeping the quality up.
Is SANZAR a workable model for Australian rugby?
Owen, your comments on grassroots aside are way off. Firstly you need to get up to speed. Argentina and Japan WILL be in Super Rugby next year. Not possibly but definitely. Australia can’t afford to run five teams and they certainly don’t want eight teams. NZ don’t want eight teams either.
No one in SANZAR wants a longer season. They want more matches.
The SANZAR model is not working for anyone in reality. It is a stop gap system and time is running out on it. SANZAR will increase Super Rugby to 18 teams in 2016 which WILL reduce the quality of the product. Ironically SANZAR did this to get more money from the broadcasters but the battle for Sports rights between SKY and BT Sport in the UK has led to SANZAR’s monet being increased and not due to the expansion. Why the SANZAR model is not working is down to two reasons.
1.) There is no competition for TV rights in NZ and SA. Only Sky and SuperSport are in a position to buy the rights so they can offer what they want and get away with it. They want to see the sport continue but at the end of the day its business.
2.) The money that SANZAR can earn is limited due to the time differences. By the time the third match is broadcast on a Saturday New Zealand is asleep and by the time the fourth match of the day is broadcast in Aus, Australia is asleep. A product like that is severely limited in what it can generate domestically. Yes games can be played in Aus and NZ friendly time zones but you are then cutting out the time zone that has the biggest rugby friendly market.
While this battle is going on the French and UK rugby bodies have signed TV deals with sizes that SANZAR can only dream about. If you thought they were cashed up before just wait for another year or so when the money really starts coming in. SANZAR cannot compete and there is a not a drop of creativity in the organisation. They are so busy fighting each other (NZ, AUS and SA Rugby unions) that there is no energy left to think of something innovative that could go some way to saving the product. This new model from 2016 is truly appalling. It is going to reduce the quality of the product and it will confuse fans so they will turn away. It will also not be a fair and even system to reach the final so this too will help to kill off the product as its champion will lack credibility.
SANZAR’s days are numbered. When the next deal is done (2021) South Africa will most likely join Europe as literally half of their Springbok players are already playing there and the Union can earn considerably more money playing there.
That said I do think they will remain in the Rugby Championship and they will only pull out of Super Rugby. Luckily Japan and Argentina may be able to help make up the numbers in Super Rugby but sadly the products best days are behind it.
Is SANZAR a workable model for Australian rugby?
Boy it gets my goat when someone makes a prediction and says stuff like “Analyzing both teams the All Blacks just look superior in all facets” and they haven’t even looked at the team sheets.
In this case the final score may be right or the winning team may be right but once a mistake this big has the whole thing lacks credibility.
It’s really sad that so many Southern Hemisphere fans know so little about Northern Hemisphere players and the teams. They just seem then as opposition to batter and show them no respect. Rugby on the whole is better than that.
Time to bury the hatchet: It's time for SANZAR vs The World
This is the worst article ever on Roar.
The English players are at the end of their season and didn’t have a three month break after the RWC. They played in the Premiership while the world cup was going on as it started at the quarter final stage. Sure they they played three games less at the WC but they have played for three months more!
The Wallabies are too tired to sprint