The Awful Truth About The ARU's Financial Position

[Quick Hands]

True, but I'm not talking about prime time evening slots. I'm talking 3pm or 4pm Sundays in lieu of Elvis movies perhaps. (not that there's anything wrong with Elvis )

Quite a few minor sports pop up at these sorts of times and I wouldn't have thought there'd be a big audience for any of them.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

True, but I'm not talking about prime time evening slots. I'm talking 3pm or 4pm Sundays in lieu of Elvis movies perhaps. (not that there's anything wrong with Elvis )

Quite a few minor sports pop up at these sorts of times and I wouldn't have thought there'd be a big audience for any of them.

Damn right. Shortly I'll have the option of watching Logan Thunder on a Sunday arvo: no offence to the ladies but if women's basketball can get a Sunday arvo slot why the hell can't rugby, which is supposedly the sport of the elite in this country I.e. the guys you'd expect to be running the TV networks & controlling the advertising budgets of your big businesses. Makes no sense to me.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

@Waiopehu oldboy (or any other NZ Based Gaggerlander), how does it work in NZ for FTA coverage?

Aren't most of the games on Sky Sports Rugby channel including the ITM cup games and key 1st XV games?

Do club games get any TV coverage?

 

[Bruce Ross]

Damn right. Shortly I'll have the option of watching Logan Thunder on a Sunday arvo: no offence to the ladies but if women's basketball can get a Sunday arvo slot why the hell can't rugby, which is supposedly the sport of the elite in this country I.e. the guys you'd expect to be running the TV networks & controlling the advertising budgets of your big businesses. Makes no sense to me.

There is a massive amount of men's sport shown on TV, wo, and just a minuscule focus on women's sport. Aside from the Women's National Basketball League, in which Logan Thunder play, there is limited TV coverage of soccer's W-League and the Trans-Tasman Netball League.

Women's basketball has professional leagues in many more countries than does men's rugby; women's soccer may well be the fastest growing sport in the world; and netball is played by more young Australians than any other sport. But, taking care to give "no offence to the ladies", let's get rid of all this frivolousness. Women should be able to get more than sufficient regular exercise in the kitchen or sweeping and dusting.

Unfortunately, this reversion to the natural order will not mean that the time slots made available will be used to televise rugby; a sport so ineptly managed in this country that there is no TV coverage of the Brisbane Premiership and the Sydney Rugby Union has to pay the ABC to televise one game per week in the Shute Shield.
.

 

[wamberal]

Unfortunately, this reversion to the natural order will not mean that the time slots made available will be used to televise rugby; a sport so ineptly managed in this country that there is no TV coverage of the Brisbane Premiership and the Sydney Rugby Union has to pay the ABC to televise one game per week in the Shute Shield.
.

So, Bruce, if you were appointed CEO of the ARU tomorrow, what brilliant management initiatives would you introduce to make rugby popular enough to get its club competitions onto FTA? And while you're at it, keep in mind that Harold Mitchell, one of the most powerful media players in the nation bank-rolled the Melbourne Rebels. He has now bailed out (presumably having lost a heap of money).

Mitchell knows more about the media in Australia than you, or me, or anybody that the ARU is likely to hire, so his reluctance to stay financially committed to our sport tells me something. About our sport, not about those who are paid to administer it.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

There is a massive amount of men's sport shown on TV, wo, and just a minuscule focus on women's sport. Aside from the Women's National Basketball League, in which Logan Thunder play, there is limited TV coverage of soccer's W-League and the Trans-Tasman Netball League.

Women's basketball has professional leagues in many more countries than does men's rugby; women's soccer may well be the fastest growing sport in the world; and netball is played by more young Australians than any other sport. But, taking care to give "no offence to the ladies", let's get rid of all this frivolousness. Women should be able to get more than sufficient regular exercise in the kitchen or sweeping and dusting.

Unfortunately, this reversion to the natural order will not mean that the time slots made available will be used to televise rugby; a sport so ineptly managed in this country that there is no TV coverage of the Brisbane Premiership and the Sydney Rugby Union has to pay the ABC to televise one game per week in the Shute Shield.
.

I have access to 30 FTA channels across 5 networks. Even if none want rugby on their flagship channel there's more than enough for rugby & women's basketball to each get some coverage - but that wasn't really my point, which I'll repeat: if women's basketball can get on FTA why can't rugby?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

@Waiopehu oldboy (or any other NZ Based Gaggerlander), how does it work in NZ for FTA coverage?

Aren't most of the games on Sky Sports Rugby channel including the ITM cup games and key 1st XV games?

Do club games get any TV coverage?

Been living in Oz longer than some Wallabies (bazinga!) but Prime* which is FTA but owned by Sky has replay rights for all AB matches shown on Sky & at least 1 Super Rugby match per week. Also on Prime is a Sunday arvo Super Rugby highlights package & last time I was "home" pretty sure they had replays of Sky's Heartland (sub-ITM provincial) & Grassroots (club) Rugby shows. I've seen First XV footy listed for regional FTA e.g. CTV (Canterbury), not sure on how regular a basis, though, could be just high-profile matches e.g. Christ College v Christchurch Boys.

NZ'ers without Sky are no happier about their coverage than Aussies without Fox but then NZ doesn't have 5 FTA networks with 30 channels between them.

* if you ever get the chance check out Prime's sports "news" show The Crowd Goes Wild, featuring such segments as Smashed Em Bro, it's fully sick, eh.

 

[RugbyFuture]

if women's basketball can get on FTA why can't rugby?

Rugby falls in the space where its too popular to be cheap, but not popular enough for big money from the FTA's


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[beserker]

Trouble is we're not marketing along the grand narratives that compel people to watch. Better to have silvertails vs fibros than brand1 v brand2 or state1 v state-n. It's got to get more tribal. we need more koori players, more rags-to-riches, less branding.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Rugby falls in the space where its too popular to be cheap, but not popular enough for big money from the FTA's


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Surely it's only too popular to be cheap if the asking price is too high? Ask for 3, get offered 1, settle somewhere around 2... isn't that how it works?

 

[TOCC]

Surely it's only too popular to be cheap if the asking price is too high? Ask for 3, get offered 1, settle somewhere around 2. isn't that how it works?

This is comparing apples and oranges, firstly there are political and other issues in relation to women's sport.. ABC has mandate to promote sports which don't receive coverage through mainstream media, moreso in recent years this has turned to women's sport and also continued support of minority sports like lawn-bowls..


In reference to your negotiating process, yes that is how you negotiate however In this case Foxtel has deeper pockets for exclusive rights then any of the other channels.. If Foxtel offers $15million/annum and Ch 10 offers $10million, that is still a $5million shortfall in an already cash strapped sport.

 

[I like to watch]

Added to that, the ARU has two partners that are concerned about the best financial package calculated by net present value calculations.
Growth, exposure and warm fuzzy feelings in Oz,have no interest for them.

 

[wamberal]

We are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On the one hand, we need all the money we can bring into the sport. On the other hand, we have a product which is, frankly, not very popular. Last night's game between the Reds and Brumbies should have been a showcase. It was. A showcase for rugby loig.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Added to that, the ARU has two partners that are concerned about the best financial package calculated by net present value calculations.
Growth, exposure and warm fuzzy feelings in Oz,have no interest for them.

ILTW I'm sure the other SANZAR partners have the same desire for Australian rugby to be successful long term, because it's in their best interests too.

The issue is that we aren't talking about taking a small hit on the TV deal, with the view that the next one will be a considerably more in demand product. We're talking about taking a massive hit, in the hope that the product that fuck all people are watching develops massively before the next one. I'd say even if it was solely up to the ARU they'd baulk at that thought. Fuck I'd say right now, the ARU have more concern about pulling the highest deal for short term reasons irrespective of the best long term result, than the other 2 SANZAR Partners do.

 

[barbarian]

We are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On the one hand, we need all the money we can bring into the sport. On the other hand, we have a product which is, frankly, not very popular. Last night's game between the Reds and Brumbies should have been a showcase. It was. A showcase for rugby loig.

Let's not go too far.

Can you name me a Round 1 Aussie game in the last ten years that you could call a 'showcase'?? You can't judge the health of the sport by last night's game.

The top products our game can offer are still very popular. The Lions series proved this. This whole 'dying game' stuff is nonsense.
.

 

[wamberal]

Let's not go too far.

Can you name me a Round 1 Aussie game in the last ten years that you could call a 'showcase'?? You can't judge the health of the sport by last night's game.

The top products our game can offer are still very popular. The Lions series proved this. This whole 'dying game' stuff is nonsense.
.

Right. The Lions series comes around every twelve years, and much, maybe most, of the crowds were tourists or expats (judging from the colours). If that means everything in the garden is coming up roses, we need a bit more manure around the roots.

It's the old frog in the boiling water syndrome. Don't you think it would be better for us to get ahead of the curve a bit?

The top products that our game has to offer are few and far between, sadly.

 

[barbarian]

I am not saying the code doesn't have plenty of room to improve, and things could be done a lot better. And I am not saying the situation is rosy.

But the Lions series captivated the sporting public, and whilst much of the crowd was dressed in red the series lead news bulletins and dominated back pages.
.

 

[barbarian]

There was a really interesting discussion on this topic this morning on Offsiders. Have a look- http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/sport

 

[Braveheart81]

We are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On the one hand, we need all the money we can bring into the sport. On the other hand, we have a product which is, frankly, not very popular. Last night's game between the Reds and Brumbies should have been a showcase. It was. A showcase for rugby loig.

As far as I can tell from your posts you watch absolutely no rugby league but then complain that rugby union is terrible in comparison.

If you'd watched the Charity Shield between St George and South Sydney you wouldn't be talking about how bad the rugby was in comparison.

Rugby League is a different game and has a much bigger fan base but it isn't because the game is far more exciting or fast or played to a much higher standard.

 

[Westie]

Trouble is we're not marketing along the grand narratives that compel people to watch. Better to have silvertails vs fibros than brand1 v brand2 or state1 v state-n. It's got to get more tribal. we need more koori players, more rags-to-riches, less branding.

They don't want the bogans to play.