Rugby TV ratings 2015

[half]

I hope you are right Train.

As many before have expressed the timing of the NRC at the tail end and during the finals of the NRL and AFL means it will struggle in this calendar position. However were do you place it.

Further the one FTA match we have on 7 is played by our third tier players with coaches who also hold a job. Its difficult but I have always believed the answer comes from the Shute sides but Shute sides with international players. Lets not start on the politics of this like last time when the Shute sides almost declared war when they were not included.

 

[Train Without a Station]

It doesn't need to be an outright success now. Moderate success and building history would be a good starting point. To actually supersede Super Rugby as a decent breadwinner, it would need to move.

The answer doesn't come from Shute Shield sides. Mostly because building off them would be building off the biggest issue that the NRL and AFL have. Too many teams in their strongest market cannibalizing each other commercially.

 

[Braveheart81]

Its difficult but I have always believed the answer comes from the Shute sides but Shute sides with international players.

How do you achieve this in an era where the international players need to be paid?

I tend to think the way forward is still with Super Rugby. We don't have the depth here to have a national competition with enough teams that is still at a high enough standard to be the tier below test rugby nor do we have the fanbase to support it to make it financially viable.

 

[half]

How do you achieve this in an era where the international players need to be paid?

I tend to think the way forward is still with Super Rugby. We don't have the depth here to have a national competition with enough teams that is still at a high enough standard to be the tier below test rugby nor do we have the fanbase to support it to make it financially viable.

I was replying to Train's post where he said.

but this highlights that Super Rugby has a use by date and the ARU need an exit plan.

Train also said he hoped the NRC was part of the plan in response to a post from me.

So essentially the Super teams don't exist as the competition as train posted has reached its use by date.

My reasoning is if the only FTA TV we have is on 7 then why should this not be the best players we have +++ the best coaches. As it stands anyone who cares to watch will see 2 to 5 K crowd a poor ground and a game played by no where near our best players.

Personally I think a revised Shute competition is a better replacement than the NRC if Super Rugby goes..

 

[Train Without a Station]

A revised Shute Shield alienates 80% of your rugby regions and removes 80% of your TV markets. That would significantly reduce the value.

 

[Braveheart81]

If club rugby in Sydney and Brisbane were open to mergers, relegation etc. then they'd be far more likely to be part of the professional rugby setup now rather than being the last bastion of the amateur era.

 

[Highlander35]

For the Shute Shield to become the top tier of Australian Rugby, they'd probably have to cut half the teams, bring in 3 of the best from Queensland, then have rep teams from WA, VIC and ACT. That's the only way I could see that appeasing enough people to work, while still holding on to some semblance of Quality.

The shear number of people getting pissed off at that however, would still be enormous, just less than many other ways I've seen people suggest.

We've got 6 years to the next time the Soup can die. If the NRC continues to receive funding, but can't be of a good enough standard by then, you have to question what form professional rugby in Australia will have in the future.

 

[Train Without a Station]

So essentially, What Shute Shield needs to do, is have multiple teams align, then the same form Brisbane, then add 1 team from Vic, WA and ACT. Sounds familiar, doesn't it Highlander?

 

[Highlander35]

Yep. I wonder why that's the most feasible model for compromise. Hmmmm.....

 

[Braveheart81]

I reckon they could call this new competition either the National Rugby Competition or the Nationwide Rugby Championship.

 

[Train Without a Station]

The current model now is really the best compromise. The issues with the Sydney teams are from the Shute Shield clubs failure to accept a lesser piece of a bigger pie.

 

[Omar Comin']

I'm a big supporter of the NRC but I don't think a national competition should ever take over Super Rugby. Rugby just isn't popular enough and the Australian sporting market is over-saturated. Super Rugby falling over would lead to every single one of our top 30 or 40 players leaving Australia to play overseas, and the only time we'd be able to watch world class rugby in Australia would be for 6 or 7 Wallabies home games every year.

Super rugby is actually a great concept IMO, it has a unique point of difference compared to other sports and a lot of potential for growth. But I don't think it's promoted particularly well and there always seems to be competing interests among the unions that devalue the product. I have this thought that maybe it's a bit like a government enterprise that would be better off privatised. It needs to be run by people with who are solely invested in making the competition as good as it can be. Not by 3 organisations protecting their own interests and with competing goals that are more important to them.

 

[qwerty51]

The future is no doubt a Trans-Tasman comp similar to the NRL with just more participation from NZ.

Maybe something like 8 NZ teams and 10 Aus teams. The NZ players should come here to play like in the NRL, bigger stadiums, bigger crowds, better lifestyle.

If you're playing in the comp you can be picked for the ABs and Wallabies, no need to play inside your country. Having Kiwis and Aussies together in teams is the way forward, it attracts more interest.

 

[Train Without a Station]

It has to take over Omar.

Super Rugby is a great product. When it's great there is not enough product to sustain each country though. Creating enough product has meant it's no longer a great product.

 

[half]

Forum

My question about the only Rugby on FTA TV is Shute Shield.

How is this good for Rugby? to have third tier players and coaches on poor grounds in poor stadiums with crowds of 2 to 5K crowd?

Our only FTA TV product is nowhere near our best matchs or have our best players. How can we build ratings and the game unless we have our best on FTA TV.

 

[RugbyReg]

Forum

My question about the only Rugby on FTA TV is Shute Shield.

How is this good for Rugby? to have third tier players and coaches on poor grounds in poor stadiums with crowds of 2 to 5K crowd?

Our only FTA TV product is nowhere near our best matchs or have our best players. How can we build ratings and the game unless we have our best on FTA TV.

we do. The Wallabies.

 

[Braveheart81]

Well, the main rugby content on FTA TV are Wallabies tests.

Outside of test rugby, rugby in Australia doesn't rate well enough to be shown during prime time. This is the biggest problem we have with ever creating enough interest from FTA TV for any other competition.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Based on what 7 pay to show the Shute shield (nothing) you cannot afford to pay players to play in it.

 

[Omar Comin']

It has to take over Omar.

Super Rugby is a great product. When it's great there is not enough product to sustain each country though. Creating enough product has meant it's no longer a great product.

Well I don't agree that it's a worse product. There's plenty of great matches in Super Rugby every week. Maybe a problem is that Australian derby's are often so dire and full of conservative and cynical play. But that's been the case the entire time.


I just can't see a national comp being commercially successful enough. Players wouldn't get paid enough so everyone good would leave and what's left would be a barely professional development league for European comps. For all super rugby's problems at least we have 5 world class teams in Australia.

I think with the push into Argentina and Japan that there'll be enough product without having to dilute the present markets. I'm looking forward to seeing those teams play and think they'll eventually lead to separate conferences in Asia and South America.

 

[half]

OK OK I hear. But it does not change my questions what good does it do Rugby to have third tier Rugby on a commercial FTA in relation to building ratings and broaden its appeal.