The Broadcasting and Business side of the NRL.

[Sports Prophet]

What a great news story this is @The Rocket.

More high profile investments like this would be great, although I am not a fan of club ownership. In my perhaps outdated opinion, a club should be owned by its members, in turn satisfying what I interpret the true definition of “club”.

[DC77]

https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nrl-nine-tv-broadcast-rights-rugby-league-australia-foxtel/

NRL $445 million (£330 million) for five years on Nine.

 

I’ve seen the status of the NRL in Aus compared to the Premier League here, but is that accurate?

NBC in the US are paying the Premier League $2.7 billion over 6 years, roughly six times what a domestic broadcaster in the form of Nine is paying the NRL. That’s probably an unfair comparison as it’s a different market size (still blown away by the difference mind).

A better comparison, Optus in Australia are paying £43 million per season (so £215 million over the same length of Nine’s NRL deal) for the Premier League.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/16784688/premier-league-nbc-sports-australia-contract/

So, £215 million, for a foreign league, vs £330 million for a domestic one. 

That comparison doesn’t suggest the NRL has anything like the status the PL does here. Accurate?

[The Rocket]

The NRL receives from its` broadcast partners ~ $400m(AUS) per annum for 8 games per week. 

Optus are paying $80m(AUS) per annum for 10 games per week.

The EPL also consists of 380 matches cf. ~210 for the NRL. That`s including finals and SOO.

 

[unapologetic pedant]

5 hours ago, DC77 said:

https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nrl-nine-tv-broadcast-rights-rugby-league-australia-foxtel/

NRL $445 million (£330 million) for five years on Nine.

I’ve seen the status of the NRL in Aus compared to the Premier League here, but is that accurate?

The most recent figure I`ve seen is that 66% of NRL TV revenue comes from Foxtel. Could be higher now following the Dolphins-related upgrade.

To all intents and purposes, NRL is broadcast to roughly half the Australian populace. That fact, and other demographic variables influencing value, make direct comparisons tricky. 

But if you could isolate per capita the funds from the respective NRL and PL deals which are exclusively correlated to their domestic markets, there probably wouldn`t be much between the figures. The major difference is the interest from overseas, which is out of all proportion.

[The Rocket]

NRL approaches Bulldogs and Tigers as governing body looks to build and own new stadium (smh.com.au)

The NRL has made preliminary enquiries about building its own stadium in south-west Sydney, approaching the Wests Tigers and Bulldogs to gauge their appetite in playing out of a potential new venue in Liverpool or Rossmore near Western Sydney airport.

The Herald can reveal that ARLC chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo spoke to both Bulldogs and Tigers officials this week.

Sources with knowledge of the situation said the NRL, which announced an $80 million profit in 2021 and is close to striking a new free-to-air broadcast deal with Nine Entertainment Co worth between $550-$600 million, recently approached the NSW state government about funding for a new stadium in south-west Sydney.

The NRL was met with resistance given Penrith, Brookvale and Sydney Olympic Park were about to be announced as the beneficiaries of the $800 million investment pledge into Sydney stadia underpinned by a long-term commitment to keep the grand final in NSW.

V`landy`s has made no secret of his desire to increase the asset base of the NRL. Currently the NRL own no physical assets although it has been argued that it`s on-line site may be worth several hundred million dollars given its` popularity.

V`landy`s has pointed out that the new stadium could host both Tigers and Bulldogs games, A- League soccer and other entertainment events in western Sydney.

Does this bloke ever stop, he relentless.

 

 

 

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

The NRL was met with resistance given Penrith, Brookvale and Sydney Olympic Park were about to be announced as the beneficiaries of the $800 million investment pledge into Sydney stadia underpinned by a long-term commitment to keep the grand final in NSW.

If this new stadium happens, Stadium Australia might as well be demolished. What would it be used for other than the NRL GF and SOO?

But then that would mean the NRL GF at the new SFS - capacity 45 000.

Edit: Maybe the Fumblers might buy Stadium Australia. 

[The Rocket]

8 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

If this new stadium happens, Stadium Australia might as well be demolished. What would it be used for other than the NRL GF and SOO?

But then that would mean the NRL GF at the new SFS - capacity 45 000.

Edit: Maybe the Fumblers might buy Stadium Australia. 

From what I`ve read after scrapping the idea of tearing it down and building a new one they are now putting on a retractable roof but I`m not sure whether the plan of bringing the seats in closer to the action is still going ahead.

I suppose every big city needs an 80 000+ seater if they want to bid for big events and there will still be plenty of soccer internationals ( don`t they have some), the bigger union matches and League big events to justify it.

One thing I do remember is that it`s now going to have an 120 metre by 30 metre screen down one end, one of the biggest in the world and the biggest in the southern hemisphere. The previous biggest one was installed on `you know whos` ` initiative at Randwick race course. That should be sensational.

In relation to a previous post by yourself, Channel Ten have really doubled down on the soccer thing, $200m (Oz) for five years and one FTA match every saturday night and loads of promotions. All the headlines are calling the dawning of a new age for Oz soccer.

Coincidentally it kicked off on friday night with 7000 at AAMI park, they did get 23 000 at Parra last night, unfortunately the game was a damp squib and that was the view of the commentators. The crowd does do a commendable impersonation of an English soccer crowd though, it`s quite bizarre, far more action in the stands than on the ground with lots of dabbing around and stoppages while players get an ankle massaged.

I`ve got absolutely nothing against soccer, in fact I like to think that one day soccer and League could form a nice duopoly dominating winter sports world-wide, but I`m not convinced it`s going to take off here in a hurry. They need to speed the whole thing up.

Getting back to Channel Ten a lot of people believe Ten`s problems began when it lost the League all those years ago. You need that big sport anchor. They really did think they had it in the bag when Lachlan Murdoch was there a few years ago only to be gazumped by Nine. That`s the occasion that really upset Rupert and earned the fumbleball a few extra hundred mill.

I still think they could run the League and the soccer although there would be an overlap at the beginning of our season and the end of theirs; they mightn`t like that given it coincide with the run into and then their final series. I suppose they`re going to have the same problem any way and if they had the League they could at least have control over the scheduling.

Anyway will see how the soccer thing plays out; I`m not confident though.

Late edit: Ratings released for Saturday night no sign of soccer in top 20 programmes. Car racing on Ch. 7 came in 20th with ~150k, That`s a disaster for the soccer, opening match and all.

Late Late Edit : 102 000 Metro 44 000 Regional. Terrible. A rerun of Jumanji got 400k+; Grantchester 475k. Ch 10 execs. will be feeling sick this morning.

[The Rocket]

The latest F.T.A. broadcast deal extension between Channel Nine and the N.R.L. is expected to be signed off on by the A.R.L.C. at its` next meeting in early December. Nine have made it clear they are keen to maintain the rights but there has been some haggling over the final price.

An article in last weeks Australian Financial Review, owned by Channel 9, said:

Nine will want to be at the table when NRL’s pay TV rights, currently stitched up with Foxtel until 2027, become available to see what it can do for a major sport across free-to-air, ad-funded broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) and subscription streaming.

Mike Sneebsy, new head of Channel Nine added further fuel to the speculation that Nine may a whole game bid in 2027 by being quoted as saying:

 "the power of Nine being the home of the NRL full-stop is a powerful proposition."

Current anti-syphoning laws prevent some sports, in this case the NRL, from being hidden completely behind paywalls. The rise of streaming and the infiltration into Australian homes of smart TV.s has raised the possibility that a broadcaster like Nine may be able to purchase all NRL broadcast rights put the games of their choosing on F.T.A. and the balance of the games on Stan - their streaming broadcast service - behind a paywall.

Alternatively Foxtel may make the same play for total broadcast rights, to satisfy anti-syphoning laws they could place some games in front of the paywall on their streaming service Kayo, the balance being behind a paywall either on Foxtel or their streaming service Kayo.

Would the N.R.L. dare cross Foxtel and go with a whole game Nine bid, especially after Foxtel revealed their intentions by upping their current deal by $20m/yr to fund the new team - it would seem unlikely. Alternatively a whole game Foxtel bid relying on games in front of a streaming paywall may seem too risky for the NRL given the importance of F.T.A. exposure.

Either way, as The Electric Light Orchestra sung in 1973: " we`re heading for a showdown".