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Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

T

TOCC

Guest
p.Tah said:
At the Sports Business Club Panel that Badger mentioned, the Head of TENs sports, David Barham said that his dream for rugby on TEN would be to have a Super Rugby game on a Saturday night.

You got the feeling that there is still a lot of negotiating to do before the new broadcast deal.
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If Super Rugby is to be broadcast on FTA, then this is probably the most likely course of action, one game a week on channel 10 would be sufficient initially to test the water for both the ARU and Channel 10, as well as retaining enough bargaining power with Foxtel to get a reasonable deal..

If anythings certain, it's that the next deal is one of the most critical since the turn of professionalism. Rugby Union in Australia can't afford to sign another deal replicating the last which barely exceeded inflation and remained exclusively on pay-tv.
 
p.Tah

p.Tah

John Thornett (49)
When you look at the history of broadcasting deals in Australia the big jumps have occurred when there was a bidding war, we've seen it in the AFL, NRL and now cricket's deal. The following outlines the history of the broadcast deals.

AFL
2002-2006 $500m ($100m/year)
2007-2011 $780m ($156m/year)
2012-2017 $1.25b ($250m/year)

NRL
2006-2012 $500m ($100m/year)
2013-2017 $1.2b (250m/year)

Cricket
2007-2013 $315m ($45m/year)
2014-2018 $550m ($110m/year)

Soccer Australia
2009-2012 $80m ($20m/year)
2013-2016 $160m ($40m/year)

Rugby SANZAR
1996-2005 US$550m ($55m/year)
2006-2010 US$323m ($64m/year)
2011-2015 US$437m ($87m/year) - increased content


AFL $250m/year
NRL $250m/year
Cricket $110m/year
Soccer$40m/year
Rugby US$87m/year but split three ways. Therefore Australia's take is about US$29m/year

As you can see rugby in Australia is way down the pecking order. The NRL and AFL have more teams and more games and they are more popular here, but are they worth nearly 9x a year more than rugby ($250m vs $29m)?

Several things:
Rugby is undervalued, especially when Soccer gets $11m/year more.
Rugby needs a bidding war. That's going to be harder seeing that Seven and Nine already have a winter sport.
How much will TEN offer compared to FOX? TEN have bid and lost on the NRL, Cricket and they passed on AFL. They need a sport and they are serious about supporting rugby. Can they and Foxtel combine to bring a substantially larger bid? I suspect they will. It should at least be on par with Soccer $40m/year in Australia. So could we get at least $600m (2016-2020) across the three countries, I suspect with the addition of an extra three teams (Lions, Tokyo and one other in the NZ conference) we could get that and more.
 
Thin Thighs

Thin Thighs

Ted Fahey (11)
Ten seem to have access to some sort of pool of cash, because according to the media, they seem to have gone close to getting Cricket.

Rugby needs to be on FTA.

Can Ten do something with a Rugby Sevens circuit over the summer, and take the caravan around the State capitals like the old World Series of Cricket used to do?

Maybe they could also invite RL teams, and some SAF and NZL teams.
 
Hugh Jarse

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Whatever happened the the $1m deal that Wokka from the Fanatics was going to do based out of the balmain Subbies club?

IIRC that had Channel 10 as the broadcaster. Maybe having lost Cricket they may be more interested.
 
p.Tah

p.Tah

John Thornett (49)
Thin Thighs said:
Can Ten do something with a Rugby Sevens circuit over the summer, and take the caravan around the State capitals like the old World Series of Cricket used to do?.
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I was thinking along those lines and then realised TEN got the rights to the Big Bash. They'd have to work around that schedule. Seeing the the BBL is on every bloody night basically it'd be tough.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
p.Tah said:
I was thinking along those lines and then realised TEN got the rights to the Big Bash. They'd have to work around that schedule. Seeing the the BBL is on every bloody night basically it'd be tough.
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The Big Bash is ironically a perfect example of how the ARU need to sell a national/trans-tasmanl 7's circuit...

The BBL started with a bang but ratings and crowds dropped off especially during 2012-2013.. However Cricket Australia stood by the competition, marketing it heavily whilst accruing heavy losses, and now on the back of broadcast rights and sponsorship have a self-sustainable competition providing extra depth and another development pathway for Australian cricketers.
 
Melbourne Terrace

Melbourne Terrace

Darby Loudon (17)
TOCC said:
The Big Bash is ironically a perfect example of how the ARU need to sell a national/trans-tasmanl 7's circuit.

The BBL started with a bang but ratings and crowds dropped off especially during 2012-2013.. However Cricket Australia stood by the competition, marketing it heavily whilst accruing heavy losses, and now on the back of broadcast rights and sponsorship have a self-sustainable competition providing extra depth and another development pathway for Australian cricketers.
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i'd support this, as long as it was with the existing teams and not shitty new franchises
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Channel 10's marketing campaign for Rugby Union

Theres a number of different videos similar to this getting airtime on 10 at the moment.
 
nomis

nomis

Herbert Moran (7)
So could we get at least $600m (2016-2020) across the three countries, I suspect with the addition of an extra three teams (Lions, Tokyo and one other in the NZ conference) we could get that and more.
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It might also be a bit better for FTA with 6 teams in each conference, because it would mean one or two local AUS derbies each weekend at consistent times.

On another note, even if the ARU did lose money in trying to get a FTA deal, do the costs really outweigh the benefits? Less income, players move overseas. But with FTA comes greater exposure and perhaps more income in the future. One step back two steps fwd.???
 
flat_eric

flat_eric

Alfred Walker (16)
Six team conferences are a must if the domestic product is going to attract significantly more money in the future.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
flat_eric said:
Six team conferences are a must if the domestic product is going to attract significantly more money in the future.
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Double edged sword...
A 6th team is also likely to significantly increase the annual running costs of rugby union in the country and burden the already stretched corporate sponsorship market.

Teams are already established in the 4 largest markets in Australia, the next city with a significant rugby union populace is the Gold Coast, but that's commercial suicide. So you're then looking at a second NSW team which would be staunchly opposed by a large chunk of those with NSW rugby roots(i.e the ARU heavies).

What's the other options, a pacific islands team? They don't have the corporate support.

A Japanese team? Maybe, it's an unknown quantity and wouldn't exactly contribute much to rugby in Australia.

A US team? Unlikely, yes it's a big market but the corporate support isn't there, they have little to gain from a team within Aus.
 
nomis

nomis

Herbert Moran (7)
I don't really know, but if there were say, 7 or 8 teams each, the running costs would be more expensive, but if it was only domestic flights until the finals, would that save much money? I know this idea is not about to happen, but I'm just wondering how much money would be saved on travel costs if the international flights only happened for the finals?
 
wamberal

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
Aussie D said:
Hong Kong? Ex-pat market, lots of corporate dollars.. good time zone.
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Forgeddaboutit. Yes, there are a fair number of expats in HKG. But there are a couple of problems. Firstly, not all of them are rugby fans (except for something exceptional, like the Sevens or a Lions/ABs Test match). Those who are rugby fans are spread across the various rugby nations.

As for the corporate dollars, they are not aimed at expats, they are aimed at the Chinese market. Who could not care less about rugby (except maybe the Sevens).
 
Pfitzy

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Streaming services into Australasia aren't always great simply because of speed concerns. Friends of ours get some FoxSports as part of their mobile data setup, but even though they're in a newer estate down in Camden (where NBN is only a few blocks away) their ADSL options are shite and 3G reception is not much better.

Hope those Coliseum Sports guys have their infrastructure figured out.
 
p.Tah

p.Tah

John Thornett (49)
Hawko

Hawko

Tony Shaw (54)
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Hawko said:
It would no doubt be an interesting read, but there is no way I'll pay Murdoch one single cent ever if I can help it. Links to subscription sites are not all that useful unless you already have a subscription.
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If you google search for the article name i.e. "like-the-wallabies-rugby-union-needs-a-game-plan" you should be able to click straight through to the article and read it without having a subscription.
 
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