Where to for Super Rugby?

[WorkingClassRugger]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby...-for-south-african-rugby-to-join-europe-scene

So the problem may be the RA sign up to another 4 year deal to a competition dead in the water.

I actually think they should. As long as the RC is maintained things won't change too much on the money side. We could then look to set Super Rugby up in our time zones in a logical 3x6 conference format.

Join with GRR. Move Samoa to the NZ conference and have Fiji and the Force join ours. Look to get 5 Top League teams involved alongside Hong Kong.

 

[dru]

I actually think they should. As long as the RC is maintained things won't change too much on the money side. We could then look to set Super Rugby up in our time zones in a logical 3x6 conference format.

Join with GRR. Move Samoa to the NZ conference and have Fiji and the Force join ours. Look to get 5 Top League teams involved alongside Hong Kong.

If the reality is a completely different comp then surely you re-brand and turf “Super”

 

[Brumbieman]

Trans Tasman comp -

5 from each of Aus and NZ (or Fiji in for the Force if they stay in GRR).

Two 'conferences' - IE Aus teams play a home and away against other Aus teams, Kiwis do the same against themselves, and then each team plays one game against the other 'conference'.

=

10 derby's + 5 other games = 15 week comp plus finals - old top four teams set up.

Simple. Familiar, good time zones, plenty of home revenue and easily expanded (add an extra team to each 'conference' when the time is right, eg Western Sydney)

 

[Dan54]

I actually think they should. As long as the RC is maintained things won't change too much on the money side. We could then look to set Super Rugby up in our time zones in a logical 3x6 conference format.

Join with GRR. Move Samoa to the NZ conference and have Fiji and the Force join ours. Look to get 5 Top League teams involved alongside Hong Kong.

I would strongly suspect if the SA teams moved to Europe, so would the Boks, can see them replacing Italy in 6N, and would leave the RC dead in the water! I know it'
And although it sounds quite good having island team in, but surely Fiji and Samoa are years away from competing in the Super (or whatever we called it), hell Fiji compete in the NRC and that is fairly average rugby. Stadiums and money, I suspect would be a huge problem too, although the usual reply is let them play out of Auckland or Sydney etc, so they would never get to play at home in front of their fans there!

 

[Boof1050]

After reading through the last couple of pages talking about timeslots etc. I still haven't seen any suggestions from people on how to make the game attractive so people will want to put their hand in their pockets and attend games in the flesh. One would think that bums on seats at games would make the game more easily sellable to broadcasters, but from previous experience the gameday experience is downright boring with a young family.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Trans Tasman comp -

5 from each of Aus and NZ (or Fiji in for the Force if they stay in GRR).

Two 'conferences' - IE Aus teams play a home and away against other Aus teams, Kiwis do the same against themselves, and then each team plays one game against the other 'conference'.

=

10 derby's + 5 other games = 15 week comp plus finals - old top four teams set up.

Simple. Familiar, good time zones, plenty of home revenue and easily expanded (add an extra team to each 'conference' when the time is right, eg Western Sydney)

Pretty sure that's only 8 derbies and 13 games.

 

[Brumbieman]

It's Monday.

 

[Braveheart81]

If you have a 10 team comp you definitely want home and away round robin for an 18 game regular season.

 

[Brumbieman]

Was just logging back in to say that - home and away v everyone. Simple.

Start of Feb to end of June, RC kicks off a few weeks later, all done by EO August.

Maybe even a June tour played alongside Supe, just pull out the Wallabies and play an arvo exhibition match @3pm.

Teams stacked with internationals get to give anyone not picked a run, teams not stacked get a chance to maybe snag a game they otherwise wouldn't have.

1pm - NZ v NH team

3pm - Wallabies v NH team

5:30 - first Super Rugby game

7:30 - Second Super Rugby game


Or shift some of the Super Rugby games (eg Canberra @ home) to the afternoon kick off and play the test in the evening. Could end up with a double header of Reds and Wallabies at Suncorp in the arvo.

Does me for a Saturday arvo!

 

[hoggy]

If the reality is a completely different comp then surely you re-brand and turf “Super”

Its hard to see things improving if your signing up for another 4 years to something that is dead in the water, how much engagement can you expect from fans & sponsors to a structure that has a huge question mark over it.

 

[kiap]

The costliest mistake in the history of Rugby​

​

Ben Smith​

12 January, 2:49pm​

​

It has been predicted that basketball will become New Zealand’s most participated youth sport by high school students this year, having overtaken rugby a couple of years ago.​

​

For a country where rugby has been interwoven into the fabric of society, it is a remarkable rise.​

​

When it comes to viewership, rugby is still king, with a Roy Morgan study showing that 1.3 million New Zealanders tuned in to watch rugby in 2018. But the concerning aspect is the aging demographic behind those numbers.​

​

The younger you were, the less likely you were to be watching rugby.​

​

Around 25% of the Super Rugby audience were Millenials (born from 1976-90) and alarmingly just 10% of Gen Z (1990-05) according to Roy Morgan’s report.​

​

Over 70% of the audience was 42 and older with pre-Boomers and Baby Boomers forming a large percentage of the viewership.​

​

When that older demographic no longer provides active viewership, the professional game in New Zealand will be a ticking time bomb towards extinction without the younger audience to replace it.​

​

…<snip … MLB (US baseball) is similar … >​

​

Money goes where the attention flows. It’s a simple equation for sports administrators – if you lose the attention, you lose the money. Listening to the lawyers is never a good plan when it comes to the long-term strategic survival of your core business. They certainly won’t be there to help revive your sport that isn’t commercially viable anymore.​

​

Rugby’s powerbrokers globally have persisted with a similar approach to the MLB across the first 10 years of Internet platforms.​

​

… Free exposure and attention for the game has been attempted to be removed, and in most cases successfully, from every corner of the most important platform in the history of mankind so far.​

​

The business model of broadcasters and the unions tied to it has created a tide of resistance, blinded by an inability to see the future that now jeopardises their positions in it as they can’t work out how to deal with it.​

​

…<snip … E-sports stuff … >…​

​

How many rugby teams keep spending money to advertise memberships, tickets, and merchandise when the game can promote itself and potentially reach millions of eyeballs for free, if you let it.​

​

…<snip>…​

​

Consider the Southern Hemisphere’s struggling Super Rugby competition that is set to kick off this month, where crowds are in a long-term trend of decline due to a myriad of reasons.​

​

The history of Super Rugby is nearly completely absent on the internet, where younger generations are most prominent, and only a few lone rangers from unofficial sources fight for its survival.​

​

…<snip>…​

​

Read more: https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-costliest-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-rugby/

 

[mst]

^^^ A good thought provoking article.

Again it comes back to highlighting the issue about being relevant so we can start to cultivate a new supporter base as the traditional one we have declines.

But alas, we will keep pushing doing the good old Aussie rugby thing. How does any "x amount of rounds of cross nation irrelevant product watched by the same few as a way of substitute for the other failed product" help cultivate new supporters base?

Hybrid Super Rugby, GRR, rearrange the deckchairs and call it what you will. Who will be watching it here in Australia?

Start at 0:35 seconds in.

And the results: https://dilbert.com/strip/2012-05-07

 

[Show-n-go]

but from previous experience the gameday experience is downright boring with a young family.

Should probably ditch the family then

 

[half]

 

[John S]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...ve-of-super-rugby-launch-20200123-p53tyi.html

Not sure where else to put this, but Nick McArdle given the pink slip by Fox. Article does state this:

His departure is an ominous sign for the game, which is about to go to market for a broadcast partner for the next five years, and is part of a raft of cutbacks for the 2020 season.
Two sources told the Herald that executives briefed staff there would be no dedicated mid-week rugby shows and only a skeleton staff, including veteran commentator Greg Clark and former Wallabies Tim Horan, Phil Kearns, George Gregan and Rod Kafer would be retained on contract, to work across the weekend games.

 

[dru]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-...ve-of-super-rugby-launch-20200123-p53tyi.html

Not sure where else to put this, but Nick McArdle given the pink slip by Fox. Article does state this:

“Where to for Super Rugby” indeed.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2020/01/23/rugby-broadcast-castle

So Fox getting ready perhaps for loss of rugby to Optus and FTA - cutting its cloth back ready for that.

Would be great outcome btw if they got content on FTA as only way rugby has a chance to grow its brand and get wider reach

 

[hoggy]

Oh FFS, The first thing they need to do is sort out Super rugby, whats the point of a so called Optus deal for a competition that is on its last legs. The SA's are having a laugh with pretty much Currie Cup teams.

The whole things is a fucking joke, if your not sure of the recipe, don't then bake the cake and forever wonder why its fucked in the middle.

 

[Proud Pig]

The problems though are easy to see it is the solutions that are a far harder proposition.

RA unfortunately are on a hiding to nothing.

The existing fan base of Rugby in Australia is not sufficient to support the financial needs of the professional game and the Super competition in its current form.

Rugby in Australia cannot grow the game while the domestic teams are consistently inferior to their direct competition. People don’t want to watch a competition where they believe that their team doesn’t have a chance of success and while the Wallabies are constantly getting their arses handed to them by the All Blacks that is the perception of the wider public.

The timing of Super Rugby games does not help in increasing the market share either. Only real diehards are going to sit up to 1:30 AM to watch a game in South Africa and this goes not grow the supporter base. Games in Australia and New Zealand are in great time slots for the diehards and is the best solution to grow the market. However, the current market share that Super Rugby holds cannot cover the necessary advertising revenue needed for the commercial stations to put the game on in primetime. The best that rugby can hope for is a delayed replay outside of peak advertising times and this is a real catch-22 situation as a game at 1:30 AM on FTA does not gain you any new supporters. The television stations will not pay big for a game that they cannot play in primetime because the viewing market is not there.

The other problem as I see it is that we have lost the fight against NRL and in particular AFL. We are now competing against basketball and the A-League for a slice of the remaining pie. Both of these other sports have recognized this and have cut their cloth accordingly unfortunately Rugby has not. RA it appears is still trying to play at the big end of town because the game has always pitched itself at that end of town. NSW and QLD rugby have almost gone out of their way to separate themselves from the riff raff that follow the, in their minds, lesser codes.

I only see one solution and it is not a happy one. Accept that Rugby is a second-string competition in Australia and set the stall out accordingly. Forget trying to compete with NZ and the Saffas. Rugby there is A grade in Australia it is definitively B grade. Wages need to be slashed, the 7 figures that Europe can pay Australian teams can’t afford. Let them go and earn what they want select the Wallabies from anywhere around the world. Sure the local comp will take a hiding and the quality will be dramatically diminished. Look at the A-League the best players are all playing overseas but they are still getting reasonable crowds because while the quality of the competition is not the highest it doesn’t matter when you are playing against players of similar quality. I am not talking going back to amateur rugby but perhaps semi-professional. Get rid of the huge costs of international travel, interstate is a lot cheaper and you do not need to stay for multiple days.

The harsh reality is I just cannot see Rugby surviving with its current spend supporting Super Rugby.

 

[wamberal]

I don't agree with everything you have said, but the general tenor is pretty right, I reckon. Just about everybody here understands that the Soup has outlived its stay, but there is very little appetite to accept that we need to bow to the reality that we are a niche sport in this country, except for brief periods when, for example, the Lions tour (or even Ireland), and of course when we beat the cousins.