News: NRL keen to know value of longer season

[ManlyBacker]

THE NRL has asked consultancy firm LEK to put a dollar value on lengthening the regular season to 30 weeks as it steps up preparations for the most important round of broadcast negotiations in the code's history.


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[Fluffy]

roblem with that is there is likely to be 2 more teams come in soon, they should price that up too.

 

[ads]

26 weeks already drags in the middle!

 

[Cameron]

as a fan i would love the idea of 30 weeks playing a standard season where u play every team at home and away. But i think you would find if they even attempt it the players will strike they are already saying the season is too long with rep footy and all.

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

off season 4 weeks shorter sounds good to me

 

[WAMF]

They really can't start the season much earlier.
It's too hot in Feb and if they were looking at admitting a Perth team, it can be 40+ degrees here during Feb. Even at night on those sort of days, it's still insanely hot.

 

[Wolfpack]

The only way they could get away with it is by giving every team another bye & allowing for longer breaks between games during the rep season. Won't be worthwhile IMO.

I've thought for a while that they should try & introduce Thursday night football either as a substitute to MNF or to try & muscle in further on the mid-week sports market. In terms of crowd numbers I think it would do far better than MNF as well.

 

[eagles2win]

Create a preseason knockout comp. Wallah you have a bigger season and 'trials' that actually mean something.

 

[jbb/james]

for me, firstly you reduce trials. Clubs can arrange any type of trial they want, whenever they want it over the off season amongst there training. Why we have an official trial window is beyond me,

Rep footy should have stand alone spots.

Firstly origin, both teams should select a 35 or 30 man squad ( but not fianal)They should go into camp for 2 weeks
Origin 1 = friday night
Origin 2 weds night
Origin 3 sunday afternoon or night around queens bday weekend.
2 weeks , 3 games, no team interuptions
Through this origin period we should introduce other games as follows to keep the footy on the box
2 kiwi sides play as origin
city v country
emerging NSW and qld Under 20's
qld brisbane v qld north
possibly invite 2 pommies sides over to play games on a tender process, still part of the superleague fixtures but they play in oz and are guests to an aussie team train with them and make documenty style shows to identify the difference between the 2 nations
aboriginal team to play someone else
So plenty of extra games could be found at this 2 week period all of which bring new revenue to the game

Then we have 1 week where all teams have a bye.On this weekend the NRL runs other events such as a player exchange similat to draft but covered. The season half way point when all the analysts can go crazy, clubs have effectively had 3 weeks off but some of there players will be involved in other games.show the documentry on the poms

They can spend a large chunk of that time helping the community where the TV shows can have the young sharks and the young eagles helping out communities in real stuff, backyard blitz ****, helping flood victems and rebuilding stuff, massive tear jerking ratings **** that the networks love and it helps to restore the NRL's credability and battering it takes in the media
A league olympics can be held as well and televised
fastest, strongman, kicking, scrum, contests
The NRl could televise some segments such as the state of the game they had on fox ( is thst still on)
Teams could go train with weaker nations like PNG aetc to help raise the quality of international footy ( again make a show)

I would love to see some of this stuff on tv

Then season resumes, with a fair draw, its business,..... its business time. The player grind is reduced, we have heaps more interesting stuff, the nRL gets some brand help and we get more cash in the game. Surely it isnt impossible

 

[eagles2win]

The English thing is interesting James someone mentioned somewhere could an English team play in the NRL. Not your established one like Wigan or St Helens but a new entity.

But it would take someone like Nathan Tinkler to make it a reality.

 

[jjai]

off season 4 weeks shorter sounds good to me

exactly what i was going to say mate.. lucky i read through every ones post`s 1st.. yeah longer season means more money in the NRL coffers & a shorter offseason for us ,, i like that

 

[Rusty]

SOO should be played on a separate week.

To fill in the week they should play a few other rep games as well. A good idea is an indigenous cultures cup, where they have Pacific Islanders, Australian Aborigines, Maoris, and PNG Natives (Sorry don't know the correct terminology.) As well as this on the sunday they should play City v County (Both a NSW and a QLD version) out of the players not selected and a North v South game in NZ. Throw in a SOO Toyota cup version and you have a great weekend of rep games. Sure some of them seem like filler but at least it gives every team the week off, plus they would all be worth something to the TV stations and could all be sold seperatly.

At the beginning of the year they should run a knockout cup, with the winner and the runner up joining the grand finalists of the NRL in a Challenge Cup format with the 4 leading ELS teams at the end of the year.

 

[ayjay007]

At the moment,the time honoured J J Guiltnan Shield has been turned into a joke.A team with the good side of the draw,playing lesser lights twice,can win it.A true home and away season is the only fair way to determine the shield winner.Look how treasured the winning the EPL is-each teams play each other twice,and they fit in Champions League,Cup winners cup,League Cup,FA cup,and EUFA with their regular season.

 

[Jono]

I agree with what alot of people are saying here: add 2 new teams, extend the competition to 37 weeks (home and away games, 3 weeks off mid season for SOO. By the end of international duties and a month rest on either side...plus a pre season trophy competition we're back into the next season. We're talking 41 weeks by finals end which leaves 11 weeks for Four Nations, Preseason Cup and preseason training. Start in February with Preseason/WCC (for the winner), end November/mid December with Four Nations.

They might be complaining but they get paid double what the PM gets paid to do her job, and that's 24/7. They need to get over themselves and maybe if the season was longer they would have less time to misbehave.


and with the preseason cup you have 17 NRL teams come up against 8 premier division teams (8 groups of 3 teams). Top 2 from each group go through to the knockouts.

It would give us a lot more money as well due to the amount of games played.

 

[Stevo]

**** i'm sick of hearing people whinge about the size of NRL footballers paychecks. Hugh Laurie (House) gets paid $400.000 an episode. Charlie Sheen, A **** load more than that. And for what? Entertainment? Do they bust their bodys all year and all career for entertainment? I'd rather watch a game of NRL football any day over House or Two and a Half Men.

Most of you bitch and moan about TV rights and bull **** like that. But it's all worth nothing without the blokes on the field. And don't tell me it's not a 24/7 job. Can't go out in public without hassles. Can't use twitter or facebook the way we do. Can't take a **** without someone watching. My oath i'd wanna get paid for that!

Oh and P S. If you make the season longer the paychecks are going to get even bigger.

Rant Complete

 

[Wolfpack]

Agreed Fonz, if I were a player I'd be balking at the proposition to extend the season even further. Their bodies are put through some incredible physical trauma week in & week out for a fraction of what other sportspersons around the globe get paid.

The season length is fine as is, any longer & it drags on. Add in more breaks around Rep season, throw in Thursday Night Football (May as well push that idea onto you all now I've mentioned it) & we have a winning combo IMO.

Look to NRL talk shows & improved pre/post game shows to showcase the game more (Would be nice to see the FTA carrier actually putting some effort in, in regards to this area) rather than pushing extra burdens onto the players.

 

[Jono]

Give me a break, both of you. Remember the days when players had to work a second job? What about people that get paid tupence in comparision and have far more responsibility on their heads?

Its a completely different argument but we've done this before. The reason there is so much bad news about misbehaving in the press is because they have far too much time on their hands...and way too much money.

It's pretty simple: if they want a pay rise at the next TV deal they need to start earning their wage. Play more games to get the higher wages. All reap the benefits: the NRL (higher TV deal), the players (higher wages), the clubs (more money and higher sponsorship dollars) and the fans (more games). The only problem is the extra games and in this case I say, you are getting paid more than the PM. You can play those games.

If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen. I wish I got 22 weeks off in the year and got paid 8 times more than I do for being allowed to play something I enjoy and train/work out in the sun...Most importantly, if they didn't want the fame when they go out, they should never have played RL in the first place. Its part and parcel of the higher wages. They live with it.

You don't hear the PM on 300,000 a year complaining about not being able to have more holidays during the year.

If you get paid more than the PM for doing nothing but play footy, I expect more for my buck when the TV contract comes around.

That's my rant

 

[Stevo]

Jono, when players were working full time jobs they weren't training 6 days and playing on the 7th. **** arguement! They do not have too much time on their hands. It is a complete myth. Their week day starts early and finishes late afternoon. This consists of two sessions with an extended break in between. I know this first hand. Play Saturday. Recovery Sunday. **** life! If anyone earns their wage it is them.

Who gets 22 weeks off a year? more like finish in September and start all over again in November. Give or take. And no one is complaining about the fame that comes along with it. But with fame comes fortune so you yourself have proved my point there.

The PM is a **** example too mate. She may work 365 days a year But she doesn't exactly bust her arse for your entertainment. I don't have a pay tv subscription and membership to a club to listen to the crap she dishes out!

 

[Jono]

Jono, when players were working full time jobs they weren't training 6 days and playing on the 7th. s**t arguement! They do not have too much time on their hands. It is a complete myth. Their week day starts early and finishes late afternoon. This consists of two sessions with an extended break in between. I know this first hand. Play Saturday. Recovery Sunday. s**t life! If anyone earns their wage it is them.

Who gets 22 weeks off a year? more like finish in September and start all over again in November. Give or take. And no one is complaining about the fame that comes along with it. But with fame comes fortune so you yourself have proved my point there.

The PM is a s**t example too mate. She may work 365 days a year But she doesn't exactly bust her arse for your entertainment. I don't have a pay tv subscription and membership to a club to listen to the crap she dishes out!

I wish she would bust her arse because it is huge at the moment...and it is quite entertaining watching her run the country.

22 weeks might be a stretch but still, if they don't make the finals they get 8 weeks break. In the end I don't believe that an extended season will make any difference. It might even bring in tactics as well. Who said you have to play all your guys for all the games? Why not have a squad of 30-35 and and play them throughout the year in different games. Its a bad example but its the only one I could think of on Friday arvo, think about the number of games the likes of Wayne Rooney play every year? Even he doesn't play every game and gets rested for games. (Yes he gets paid 30 million pounds but that's not the point). If it comes down to money meaning the difference between 24 games and 30-34 games a season, the extra money from the extra games would cover the wage rise.

If they are correct, the money won't make the difference. Then it comes back to a simple question: is the brute force of this game taking it out of the players, or is their fitness so bad that they are exhausted by the end of the season? Don't forget the football boys run a lot more than the Rugby boys per game and play a lot more games per season (well the top 8 teams anyways). If its the brute force then there is nothing we can do about that and they have a point...will extra money shut that complaint down? If its fitness, what can be done to improve this?

 

[Captain of the Gate]

The whole basic plan comes from the Tigers CEO. Humphries wants to abolish trial games and have them count towards the actual season.