Hearns (again)

[Lewis]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-league/2018/05/11/players-superstars-eddie-hearnlooks-bring-magic-touch-rugby/

Please merge with the older threads if necessary. I know we have seen similar stories in the press in recent months. 

I just wonder if the Hearns potential involvement in the sport is with an eye on the new TV / streaming rights deal which is going to a big issue facing the game over the next 18 months?

I think Barry would be a good fit for Brian Barwick's role and I think that would be appealing to him.

[Kris]

He wants the Crown Jewels to promote 

the opportunity to promote is all we should let him have and if he is as good as he says he is that would create significant revenue for everyone involved

if he promotes individual players watch out for match room central player contracts 

[Southerner80]

I would like to see the Hearns involved. I feel they can do a much better job with Magic and the CC Final than the RFL have. 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

19 hours ago, Kris said:

He wants the Crown Jewels to promote 

the opportunity to promote is all we should let him have and if he is as good as he says he is that would create significant revenue for everyone involved

if he promotes individual players watch out for match room central player contracts 

Will that only be for players with personality and that generate media interest? Jake Connor would be the first one on one... ?

[Man of Kent]

 

[Southerner80]

On 5/14/2018 at 12:15 AM, Johnoco said:

I can understand some peoples reservations on this guy getting involved in RL. I certainly don't think he has a magic wand and can make RL huge overnight. He might turn out to be a total disaster.

But the sad fact is that RL needs to take the risk as frankly it's going to disappear from the wider conscience in the not too distant future. Honestly, the only people who know what's happening in RL...are RL fans. I don't know who is top of SL right now. My excuse is that I've got more serious stuff going on but if someone like me doesn't know, then how is Joe Bloggs going to know?

Wake up, RL needs to do something. (even if it's the wrong thing)

Agreed.

[The 4 of Us]

10 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

 

Ralph Rimmer appears to be wanting to tie the hands who wants the gig at the RFL and acting as there’s no overview of him. Oh wait a minute!

[Mark S]

11 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

 

It must be serious, they have splashed out on a meeting room in a Holiday Inn Express.

[West Leeds Riviera]

On 11/05/2018 at 7:37 PM, Lewis said:

I think Barry would be a good fit for Brian Barwick's role and I think that would be appealing to him.

You think he'd be good at sitting around doing jack

[EastLondonMike]

More from Eddie.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/28/eddie-hearn-aims-to-revolutionise-rugby-league-with-ambitious-plans

 

[Lowdesert]

57 minutes ago, EastLondonMike said:

More from Eddie.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/28/eddie-hearn-aims-to-revolutionise-rugby-league-with-ambitious-plans

 

Yes, I read that.  Just seems more Hearns stuff from the past regurgitated. 

[DoubleD]

59 minutes ago, EastLondonMike said:

More from Eddie.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/28/eddie-hearn-aims-to-revolutionise-rugby-league-with-ambitious-plans

 

Nothing really of surprise or substance there, and I'm not sure abolishing the salary cap is a good move.

Most interesting thing was the last paragraph that Widnes were to get a £500k parachute payment - it looks like this is now the standard?

[LaneCoveTiger]

Maybe it’s time to just give the Hearns a go. The lack of crowds at most games is a real turn off. At the risk of being labelled a crowd watcher, their is just something compelling about a game played in front of packed house. It’s as if the atmosphere can make an average game seem like a great one.

[Tre Cool]

Don't mind taking a bit of advice from them and bouncing a few ideas, always sensible in any business, but personally wouldn't let them near running any of the sports competitions / events.

[Man of Kent]

Have the Hearns suggested any ideas for rugby league in public other than removing the salary cap (which is hardly a novel idea)?

[Southerner80]

::I feel the sport needs them. They have a good relationship with sky and crucially speak of casual fans and how to attract them..... They should be given a chance. 

The point about salary cap... I feel it has merit. While I'm not sure no cap at all is a good idea the fact it's gone up only 30% in 20 years is not enough for the sport to keep top talent 

3m would work. With no marque allowances on top. 

Without the dominant wigan of the 90s would the sport have had the fame it had back then? 

[Damien]

I would certainly welcome Hearn's help in developing and marketing the Magic weekend and Challenge Cup Final. Magic weekend in particular is tailor made for Hearn but at the moment it is preaching largely to the converted and if he can revitalise that and reach a new audience it would be fantastic. Its much the same with the Challenge which is in desperate need for a boost and Hearn certainly knows how to create a buzz and put on an event and has done so repeatedly at Wembley. 

As for the salary cap I agree too and he makes some good points. If I talk to anyone new about Rugby League they invariably mention either Wigan or Martin Offiah and people like Ellery Hanley. The game is certainly lacking in stars and profile to the extent that its hard to even imagine any of the stars of today even having personal sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and featuring on advertising billboards like Offiah did. I don't know if I would scrap it completely but it does need a substantial lift and not just the cosmetic often below even the rate of inflation that we have seen since its inception. Even a rise to £3 million doesn't even gets us back to where the salary cap should be if it had simply kept up with inflation, that is how far we have fallen behind in our ability to attract stars. This is also at a time when the NRL and Rugby Union have substantially increased their salary caps, even in real terms.

[Agbrigg]

55 minutes ago, Damien said:

I would certainly welcome Hearn's help in developing and marketing the Magic weekend and Challenge Cup Final. Magic weekend in particular is tailor made for Hearn but at the moment it is preaching largely to the converted and if he can revitalise that and reach a new audience it would be fantastic. Its much the same with the Challenge which is in desperate need for a boost and Hearn certainly knows how to create a buzz and put on an event and has done so repeatedly at Wembley. 

As for the salary cap I agree too and he makes some good points. If I talk to anyone new about Rugby League they invariably mention either Wigan or Martin Offiah and people like Ellery Hanley. The game is certainly lacking in stars and profile to the extent that its hard to even imagine any of the stars of today even having personal sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and featuring on advertising billboards like Offiah did. I don't know if I would scrap it completely but it does need a substantial lift and not just the cosmetic often below even the rate of inflation that we have seen since its inception. Even a rise to £3 million doesn't even gets us back to where the salary cap should be if it had simply kept up with inflation, that is how far we have fallen behind in our ability to attract stars. This is also at a time when the NRL and Rugby Union have substantially increased their salary caps, even in real terms.

I wonder how we can get enough money to double or preferably treble the salary cap. Even at its present level the mighty Wigan lost £400k . 

Then consider Huddersfield, it cost Ken Davey about £1m per season to meet the present cap, how much money do you think the silly old ###### has left?

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

So what's stopping SLE from getting the Hearns on board to help them promote themselves?

[Agbrigg]

1 minute ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

So what's stopping SLE from getting the Hearns on board to help them promote themselves?

Probably hearns himself, he knows his own limitations and the task ahead. 

[Damien]

17 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

I wonder how we can get enough money to double or preferably treble the salary cap. Even at its present level the mighty Wigan lost £400k . 

Then consider Huddersfield, it cost Ken Davey about £1m per season to meet the present cap, how much money do you think the silly old ###### has left?

Well every time the TV contract has gone up the salary cap continues to go down in real terms. Same when attendances or ticket prices rise 

Owners will always cry poverty and pay the bare minimum, clubs already get more TV money than ever before but yet strangely losses aren't reduced at some clubs by the same amount.  Clubs aren't there to make money and it is often convenient to post a loss, if those losses are covered then it really is no big deal. If Huddersfield can't cope without additional input and the owner doesn't want to put in any more then they need to cut back and find their own level where they are sustainable. Same for any club. I am sure Toronto  will be happy to  replace them.

The game has to decide if it genuinely wants a Super League or a tarted up Championship being played to the lowest common denominator.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

I’d be open to giving them an event, either the Magic Weekend or the Challenge Cup, maybe both, to market and to fill the grounds they're scheduled in. 

Can they do worse than a crowd of, IIRC, 19k on the Sunday at Magic and a 50-odd thousand Cup Final crowd (granted that had its reasons)? Probably not. 

As for the abolishment of the salary cap, what would that change? Probably little. The usual suspects would still be the dominant forces in Super League and the rest of the current sides would probably still be in similar positions to where they are now. I don’t think an abolishment would suddenly mean Huddersfield would surge to the title. 

I do have my worries that we’d possibly get more situations of teams going big for a place in Super League and paying the price if they don’t get close, ala Leigh and Fev. 

[Agbrigg]

Anyone tuning in last night and seeing the empty Salford ground and hearing that pathetic "We will rock you" riff playing over the PA, will realise the game needs far more than a raised Salary cap and some contrived star players.

[MyMrsWouldPreferSinfield]

Make no mistake the Hearn’s/Mathroom go hand in hand with Sky. We absolutely will not be employing Matchroom to improve the marketing and then tender the rights out to the likes of BT Sport to get the best deal.

The Hearn’s have proved to be exceptional at taking something average and getting a premium for it that’s for sure.

I admire what they have done for boxing from a business perspective but as a fan of boxing I feel massively cheated.

They are total hype merchants; they spin and spin and spin until people get dragged along into believing their spin and then they force the punter to pay over the odds.

The British public generally are mugs really as they pay through the nose in their numbers (me included). I remember watching an IFL interview with Hearn a couple of years ago and he was talking about Pay Per View (PPV) boxing events and he said that he couldn’t put another on so soon because he couldn’t ask the public to ‘go to the well too often’.

He has since then moved the goalposts as he keeps pushing the boundaries with more and more frequent PPV shows on the boxers he has hyped. He realised that the hype train overwhelmed the fear of too many PPV events and people still dig deep for many bang average fights cards that should really be based on the already premium paid for Sky Sports platform.

The most concerning element of getting the Hearn’s in, is that they will want to take some or all of the pie. They will not accept being employed consultants but will rather insist that they own some or all of the pie. So if they hype the game into bums on seats they reap the rewards and not automatically the clubs.

Their priority will then be themselves first, Sky second and the game third and whilst in the main all three stakeholders priorities will be aligned, when they are not we will be the ones that suffer.

Given the correct circumstances they could be good, I just fear we will sell our soul getting them on board.

 

 

 

[Man of Kent]

1 hour ago, MyMrsWouldPreferSinfield said:

Given the correct circumstances they could be good, I just fear we will sell our soul getting them on board.

They could be good. But they have said very little on the means to achieve the financial ends.

Would they want to mess about with the rules and trivialise it?

Is it about hyping games and players like with boxing? Or is it about providing entertainment off the pitch like with darts?

How might they change things?