At just after 11.30am Nine CEO David Gyngell joined Australian Rugby League Commission negotiating chairman John Grant to announce Nine and Foxtel had again won the rights for the next five years to broadcast the NRL (including the State of Origin) for a total of $1.025 billion.
From a purely commercial standpoint the amount is a huge boon for the NRL; the figure doesn’t include the yet-to-be negotiated rights for the New Zealand broadcasting part of the deal nor the lucrative mobile and internet rights. The existing $1.025 billion includes $925 million cash (of which $90 million is to be paid prior to the first season) and $100 million in advertising.
But what about the fans? The most startling aspect of this deal is that, unlike its fierce rival and commercial competitor the AFL, not every NRL game will be broadcast live. Only one game will be live on Nine each round. For diehard supporters of NRL this is incomprehensible as they look to the calendar and see the year is, after all, 2012. There is also no high definition broadcasting (except for Origin and the Grand Final in 2014). But NRL is a TV game — the most watched sport on the box in Australia — and the NRL’s broadcast partners are protecting their investment.
Two Friday night games remain, including one that must features a Queensland team — to the chagrin of non-Brisbane Broncos supporters as the Queensland powerhouse is often featured in this prime spot due to its incredible popularity and, hence, undeniable ratings pull. Also, for the next five years the NRL Grand final will be a night grand final with a 7.15pm kick off — a key TV spot less preferred by the traditionalist compared to a Sunday afternoon. The new broadcast deal also sees the introduction of 13 Sunday night games which again are less enjoyed by fans compared to television executives.
As for the split between Nine and Foxtel, Nine will broadcast three weekly matches (two on Friday and one on Sunday) and Foxtel five weekly matches across Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
There were some wins however for the fans as the NRL will introduce a scheduled fixture (until round 20) and the last six rounds to be fixed by round 16. Importantly, for those unhappy with this deal, Nine, News and Fox have agreed to forgo conditions on future rights deals which means the next negotiations will be an open tender.
Other details include:
- Nine to broadcast three Thursday evening matches over the course of the season.
- A stand-alone Test and City v Country weekend will be broadcast on Nine.
- State of Origin matches to be broadcast on nine and on Wednesdays.
- Nine to broadcast the Roosters v Dragons Anzac Day match.
- Foxtel to broadcast the Storm v Warriors Anzac Day match (other than in 2014)
- Rugby League content on digital Channel 94.
- The Queensland In Trust Super Cup broadcast on Nine.
- Foxtel to show three non NRL matches each week (in conjunction with the Telstra Premiership game) which will be between Toyota Cup, NSW Cup and GIO Schoolboys Cup.
- Nine and Fox Sports will provide coverage of The Four Nations Tournament.
I assume this is all about north of the Murray and that fans south will continue to get their paltry free to air broadcasts programmed against the AFL.
Sorry, but the NRL selling digital rights to an Australian broadcaster is bad for the NRL and bad for the fans.
I recently had a similar conversation with the CEO of Cricket Australia James Sutherland in a discussion about digital rights.
Major League Baseball Advanced Media is the best blueprint for sport to truly increase the value, appeal, awareness, reach and engagement with their fans and importantly protect their brand and product. This could be achieved either as a joint venture with a media partner or the sport could do it on it’s own.
Too many sports are outsourcing their entire digital presence to media partners and sponsors and almost all of these digital experiences are terrible, which hurts the brand and misses valuable opportunities.
I’ve done a couple of workshops with a couple of major Australian sporting codes and so far they are still addicted to a single big fat cheque (short term view) from a single media organisation, broadcaster and or sponsor.
A number of years ago I did this mini case study on Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) – http://bit.ly/3Knam2. It includes a video interview with MLBAM CEO Bob Bowman.
Ironically MLBAM was setup in 2000 – that’s more than 12 years ago – specifically to exploit digital. Each major league team was to contribute USD$1m per year for 4 years to fund the new company. However they began to make money in less than 2.5 years and they now turn over more than USD$600m per year. It has not cannibalised viewers for any of their broadcasters or media partners and in fact has dramatically increased the global reach of MLB, increased the value and appeal of the brand and product and in turn has increased the value of the broadcast rights. This has also benefited the broadcasters, media partners and sponsors as the brand continues to grow. This is a medium to long term view and a great example of understanding your audiences, your future and the opportunities. Something we do not see in Australia.
Australian broadcasters simply don’t have a clue about digital, let alone IPTV and mobility.
In addition, they will always prioritise a very narrow and outdated free to air and PAY TV agenda which does little for increasing the appeal of the sport and or reaching new audiences.
Once again a bad mistake and once again the sporting code gets stuck in the 90’s and their brand and fans suffer – not to mention their revenue streams.
I meant to say in the first sentence ‘….to an Australian broadcaster, sponsor or Australian media organisation….’ not just an Australian broadcaster. *Telstra’s a good example of poor digital exploitation and execution of NRL and AFL Internet & Mobile rights etc. There are other examples of poor digital rights exploitation such as Vodafone and Cricket Australia and many, many more.
Martin, which digital rights are you referring to as being sold to a broadcaster? There is reference in other reports to an IPTV deal with Fox but the online and mobile rights have been excluded from the deal according to the story above?
Hi John,
I was actually writing it as a warning not to do it whether it’s a broadcaster, sponsor or media organisation (or Australian ISP / Telco for that matter) rather than an after the fact reference to all the digital rights actually going to Nine & FOXTEL.
I watched the media announcement and I think the NRL have their own rights messed up and confusingly fragmented. Patrick Delaney CEO of Fox Sports specifically talked about getting the IPTV & tablet rights. How can you separate IPTV & Tablet rights from Internet & Mobile rights?? Just crazy stuff.
Cheers……