Final Whistle: Money, money, money – and why rugby league has so little of it

[Rugby League World]

WHICH person in the world received the best Christmas present in 2024? If we think purely in terms of money, I suggest that the man...

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[Sports Prophet]

I was hoping to read an investigation piece to really make me ponder and learn more. I feel like this article hardly scratched the surface and it certainly didn’t reveal anything new to me. 

[Damien]

16 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I was hoping to read an investigation piece to really make me ponder and learn more. I feel like this article hardly scratched the surface and it certainly didn’t reveal anything new to me. 

It just offers nothing. Look at all these US sports, that are much bigger anyway and are in a richer and larger country, and why hasn't RL done that. Oh and Nigel Wood, he's fab. Again.

[JohnM]

MLB = 162 main season games per year, plus any post-seasons. 

MLB = something like 3 hours per game.

" Since 1992, there has been a steady decline in the number of viewers, starting from 21.98 million in 1992 down to 7.51 million in 2022 (Gough, 2022)"

https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2022/12/20/is-baseball-a-dying-sport

Baseball is in the American psyche in a way that Rugby League never will be in the English psyche.

There's no Philip Roth to write a story around rugby league like he wrote "The Great American Novel". No Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize author will ever write about rugby league in that way, selling millions of books.

America has who knows how many billionaires with baseball in the blood, with a passion for the sport, with a passion for their own City or State, for whatever the decline in spectator and viewer support, there always seem to well-heeled and committed owners.

We just don't have that sort of people in our sport....well, very few.  Certainly , no one that fits that description battling for control of clubs such as London.

One sport that does, it seems to me, is rugby union....and look what a financial mess hey are getting in to.

Here, it's soccer, socver, soccer and more soccer. In my view , we should also  remember that without Maurice, we'd be left with the rump of the sport, purely amateur, so fast was it going down the plughole.

Yes, we may be punching well below our weight but at least now, were doing something about it. If a club were to increase it's average attendances by 1000 per game, it could be increasing it's gross income by £200k to £250k a year. Mind you, they'd have to work at it by making sure that the stadiums were fit for purpose and the clubs were run like proper businesses. They'd have to work hard, too , to inform, energised and attract fans though social and other media.

Similarly with TV rights: if clubs looked good on TV, attractive to advertisers looking for pitch-side advertising, for just one example, it might help, too 

However, the skills, experience and power needed may not exist within the sport. Perhaps a long term relationship with a global player who can bring their capabilities to our sport may also help.

Of course, the matches themselves need to be attractive, exciting and must fulfill the expectations of the fans. 

All of that needs to be combined and driven forward in order to win TV rights that we feel the game merits. And for that, we should look for help from for a global player with a proven track record.

I think....

Edited December 28, 2024 by JohnM

[gingerjon]

8 hours ago, Damien said:

It just offers nothing. Look at all these US sports, that are much bigger anyway and are in a richer and larger country, and why hasn't RL done that. Oh and Nigel Wood, he's fab. Again.

I think he's saying we should spend more on marketing and developing a framework in which that marketing can be successful.

I wonder if there are any articles about the RFL not spending money directly on the game but spending it on such a thing. The writer would surely be in favour.

[Wakefield Ram]

7 hours ago, JohnM said:

MLB = 162 main season games per year, plus any post-seasons. 

MLB = something like 3 hours per game.

" Since 1992, there has been a steady decline in the number of viewers, starting from 21.98 million in 1992 down to 7.51 million in 2022 (Gough, 2022)"

https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2022/12/20/is-baseball-a-dying-sport

Baseball is in the American psyche in a way that Rugby League never will be in the English psyche.

There's no Philip Roth to write a story around rugby league like he wrote "The Great American Novel". No Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize author will ever write about rugby league in that way, selling millions of books.

America has who knows how many billionaires with baseball in the blood, with a passion for the sport, with a passion for their own City or State, for whatever the decline in spectator and viewer support, there always seem to well-heeled and committed owners.

We just don't have that sort of people in our sport....well, very few.  Certainly , no one that fits that description battling for control of clubs such as London.

One sport that does, it seems to me, is rugby union....and look what a financial mess hey are getting in to.

Here, it's soccer, socver, soccer and more soccer. In my view , we should also  remember that without Maurice, we'd be left with the rump of the sport, purely amateur, so fast was it going down the plughole.

Yes, we may be punching well below our weight but at least now, were doing something about it. If a club were to increase it's average attendances by 1000 per game, it could be increasing it's gross income by £200k to £250k a year. Mind you, they'd have to work at it by making sure that the stadiums were fit for purpose and the clubs were run like proper businesses. They'd have to work hard, too , to inform, energised and attract fans though social and other media.

Similarly with TV rights: if clubs looked good on TV, attractive to advertisers looking for pitch-side advertising, for just one example, it might help, too 

However, the skills, experience and power needed may not exist within the sport. Perhaps a long term relationship with a global player who can bring their capabilities to our sport may also help.

Of course, the matches themselves need to be attractive, exciting and must fulfill the expectations of the fans. 

All of that needs to be combined and driven forward in order to win TV rights that we feel the game merits. And for that, we should look for help from for a global player with a proven track record.

I think....

One of the biggest challenges in selling SL is that it's become a grinding war of attrition.

Based on taking minimal risks to avoid the crime of an "error", it's predominantly one man drives into a group of 2/3/4 players who try to take the opponent to ground as slowly as possible and then lie on top of him to further slow the game down. Do this 5 times and then kick where the receiving team will deliberately obstruct the chasers to reduce the chance of anything like a contested kick.

We must be the only sport where we actively have tried to remove excitement from the game and make it slower.

Don't believe me? Watch some of this 2000 Championship GF. 

 

Edited December 28, 2024 by Wakefield Ram

[Just Browny]

8 hours ago, Damien said:

It just offers nothing. Look at all these US sports, that are much bigger anyway and are in a richer and larger country, and why hasn't RL done that. Oh and Nigel Wood, he's fab. Again.

I'm none the wiser as to who got the best Christmas present this year either.

[M j M]

I struggled to get past the second para which uses "sports" as the plural in the American sense rather than "sport".

But beyond that it was just a list of huge sports with such dizzyingly different social and economic landscapes to Rugby League that we may as well be comparing it to Moon Hockey.

[Archie Gordon]

I think there is a good article to be written on how best to divvy up the Sky TV money.

[The Future is League]

17 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

One of the biggest challenges in selling SL is that it's become a grinding war of attrition.

Based on taking minimal risks to avoid the crime of an "error", it's predominantly one man drives into a group of 2/3/4 players who try to take the opponent to ground as slowly as possible and then lie on top of him to further slow the game down. Do this 5 times and then kick where the receiving team will deliberately obstruct the chasers to reduce the chance of anything like a contested kick.

We must be the only sport where we actively have tried to remove excitement from the game and make it slower.

Don't believe me? Watch some of this 2000 Championship GF. 

 

The insular RFL blew the biggest chance it ever had of getting a toe hold into the most lucrative sports market in the world.

In there wisdom they decide that a Super League team in France should pay the expenses of visiting Super League clubs, and their idea of expansion is to put another Rugby League club on the M62.

If a Super League can't afford a once a year trip to France they really shouldn't be in Super League.

Is it little wonder that there is so little interest in our game south of the trent

[Fly-By-TheWire]

It’s interesting just how much atmosphere and excitement that game from 2000 had.   And it was the lower leagues.

Imagine having a top tier competition of a summer sport which involved amazing flowing rugby and big hits.   It might be more marketable.   No wonder RU fans are finally able to claim RL is just five drives and a kick.

Shame.   I can’t see us going back to the true roots of RL, which was all about an open rugby spectacle aimed at attracting spectators.

[JohnM]

12 minutes ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

It’s interesting just how much atmosphere and excitement that game from 2000 had.   And it was the lower leagues.

Imagine having a top tier competition of a summer sport which involved amazing flowing rugby and big hits.   It might be more marketable.   No wonder RU fans are finally able to claim RL is just five drives and a kick.

Shame.   I can’t see us going back to the true roots of RL, which was all about an open rugby spectacle aimed at attracting spectators.

aimed at attracting spectators.

it missed.

[gingerjon]

14 minutes ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

No wonder RU fans are finally able to claim RL is just five drives and a kick.

What are you on about?

[OriginalMrC]

On 28/12/2024 at 07:54, Wakefield Ram said:

One of the biggest challenges in selling SL is that it's become a grinding war of attrition.

Based on taking minimal risks to avoid the crime of an "error", it's predominantly one man drives into a group of 2/3/4 players who try to take the opponent to ground as slowly as possible and then lie on top of him to further slow the game down. Do this 5 times and then kick where the receiving team will deliberately obstruct the chasers to reduce the chance of anything like a contested kick.

We must be the only sport where we actively have tried to remove excitement from the game and make it slower.

Don't believe me? Watch some of this 2000 Championship GF. 

 

Sorry but can't agree with that, and its easy to pick out one off games to back up your point. RL is faster than ever with lightning fast play the balls in comparison to 20/30 years ago. As a spectator sport its still great and viewing figures have held up pretty well on Sky. In some ways it actually punches above its weight in terms of coverage considering its mostly a regional sport with limited national coverage.

[Click]

On 28/12/2024 at 07:54, Wakefield Ram said:

One of the biggest challenges in selling SL is that it's become a grinding war of attrition.

Based on taking minimal risks to avoid the crime of an "error", it's predominantly one man drives into a group of 2/3/4 players who try to take the opponent to ground as slowly as possible and then lie on top of him to further slow the game down. Do this 5 times and then kick where the receiving team will deliberately obstruct the chasers to reduce the chance of anything like a contested kick.

We must be the only sport where we actively have tried to remove excitement from the game and make it slower.

Don't believe me? Watch some of this 2000 Championship GF. 

 

I watched 10 minutes of that match and have no idea what point you're trying to make.

They didn't do anything that you can't see in a usual RL game.

[redjonn]

1 minute ago, Click said:

I watched 10 minutes of that match and have no idea what point you're trying to make.

They didn't do anything that you can't see in a usual RL game.

Maybe, but I thought the PTB was quicker after the tackle, I noted that in general only 2 in the defensive tackle. I also thought the ball was moved wide more quickly.  Then again maybe the video was on a higher speed...

[The Future is League]

On 28/12/2024 at 14:46, gingerjon said:

I think he's saying we should spend more on marketing and developing a framework in which that marketing can be successful.

I wonder if there are any articles about the RFL not spending money directly on the game but spending it on such a thing. The writer would surely be in favour.

Does the RFL have a marketing department or does it contract marketing out. I honestly don't know?

[Dullish Mood]

Social, economic and demographic factors keep our game small and are in fact making it even smaller.  The end.

[OriginalMrC]

On the original article I'm not sure what it's getting at?! Surely it would have been better to compare to similar sized or competing sports in the UK. When you compare to Ice Hockey, Basketball or Speedway which were all on Sky sports at one time then RL is hanging on in there. Things could be much better for sure but comparing things to US sports is completely irrelevant 

Edited December 29, 2024 by OriginalMrC

[M j M]

11 hours ago, The Future is League said:

The insular RFL blew the biggest chance it ever had of getting a toe hold into the most lucrative sports market in the world.

In there wisdom they decide that a Super League team in France should pay the expenses of visiting Super League clubs, and their idea of expansion is to put another Rugby League club on the M62.

If a Super League can't afford a once a year trip to France they really shouldn't be in Super League.

Is it little wonder that there is so little interest in our game south of the trent

Why are you using "the RFL" in this context? Most of these things were not supported by them.

[The Future is League]

Just now, M j M said:

Why are you using "the RFL" in this context? Most of these things were not supported by them.

Who's idea was it for the Catalan Dragons to pay the travelling costs of visiting teams?

[JohnM]

In my opinion, club success or at least "sustainability"  is dependent on not just money, but in a sincere love, passion, determination, drive, belief, evavangelism of one or more of the following: owner/biggest donator, CEO, coach and fans....and of course,  making the right decisions. 

Not much to get right then: just the conjunction of all of those .

 

[Fly-By-TheWire]

3 hours ago, gingerjon said:

What are you on about?

I think you know what.    Traditionally, it would be an incorrectly attributed slur by RU fans based on the odd slogathon game of RL.   However, the actual entertainment on show in RL (in this country anyway) has slowly declined over the last two decades in order to accommodate a war of attrition.    There are still some games with amazing attacking speed and skill, just not nearly as many.  

This validates most of the comments from the RU fans I know and meet.   They’re improving the spectacle in their sport, we are losing it (in this country anyway).

All relative to what you prefer of course.    Some people are happier with wars of attrition than marketable moments of action.    Horses for courses.

 

[RigbyLuger]

38 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

On the original article I'm not sure what it's getting at?! Surely it would have been better to compare to similar sized or competing sports in the UK. When you compare to Ice Hockey, Basketball or Speedway which were all on Sky sports at one time the RL is hanging on in there. Things could be much better for sure but comparing things to US sports is completely irrelevant 

Especially when ice hockey does well for attendance figures with none of the media coverage we have!

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

I think you know what.    Traditionally, it would be an incorrectly attributed slur by RU fans based on the odd slogathon game of RL.   However, the actual entertainment on show in RL (in this country anyway) has slowly declined over the last two decades in order to accommodate a war of attrition.    There are still some games with amazing attacking speed and skill, just not nearly as many.  

This validates most of the comments from the RU fans I know and meet.   They’re improving the spectacle in their sport, we are losing it (in this country anyway).

All relative to what you prefer of course.    Some people are happier with wars of attrition than marketable moments of action.    Horses for courses.

 

It's just that I simply don't recognise the description of rugby league in this country that you are putting forward.