A fans view. Undisputed Sports – December 24, 2013 Posted in: News I will admit, I pledge my NRL allegiance to the current wooden-spoon winners in the Eels so I am pretty surprised that they get 7 (by my count) free-to-air games whilst a team like the Panthers only get 3. So below I have compiled a list of how many games every team in the NRL have streamed free-to-air in the first 20 rounds. You might be surprised with who gets how many: 14 - Brisbane Broncos 11 - Wests Tigers 11 - Canterbury-Bankston Bulldogs 10 - South Sydney Rabbitohs 10 - Manly Sea Eagles 9 - Sydney Roosters 7 - Parramatta Eels 7 - St George Illawarra Dragons 5 - North Queensland Cowboys 5 - Cronulla Sharks 5 - Newcastle Knights 5 - Gold Coast Titans 4 - Melbourne Storm 3 - Canberra Raiders 3 - Penrith Panthers 2 - New Zealand Warriors Well as you can see, Friday nights and Sunday afternoon football is dominated by the dominant/preferred Queensland team… and possibly the most under performing team of 2013 in the Brisbane Broncos. Surprisingly, the Wests Tigers who will be without big name Benji Marshall, have a nice sum of 11 games free-to-air. However, watch for Luke Brooks to snaffle the chance to perform. Big names in the Bulldogs, the Rabbitohs, Manly and the Roosters getting good time in front of the free cameras. However the surprises are really those who don’t get games…. Look at that list and tell me what you see… because what I see is teams who should be having fantastic matches on free-to-air that are getting pushed to pay-TV (FOXTEL/Austar) instead! What I see is teams like the Melbourne Storm, Canberra Raiders, Penrith Panthers and the New Zealand Warriors being dealt a great injustice by being given less games ADDED UP than the Brisbane Broncos. Remember that the Storm were finalists the season past, Canberra can be (Pardon the NRL Game puns) “A mean green excitement machine”. The Warriors have big, fresh signings and quite possibly a revitalized team in 2014 as well as what I think will be a very good 1/6/7/9 combination to take them back to where they were not so long ago… and lastly the Panthers, they are a little understandable as Gus Gould is on the Channel 9 coverage, so maybe that is reasonable. But come on!!! A fair go for the teams please!! And this is with rounds 21 through to 26 not announced as far as times and dates go! I do get that the Broncos will get their fair share of free-to-air time, I hear they pull in a fair bit of revenue for the NRL and themselves when Channel 9 have them postered to our television screens on a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon. But maybe the NRL could post the other Queensland teams in for a game or 2 more? Is it that hard? Why not do a double-header at Suncorp or ANZ? Or even Mount Smart stadium to expose the game even more to the fans in New Zealand? Exposure the Warriors, the Panthers, the Titans and Cowboys, even the Storm can do with more free-to-air games! Just let the teams who could pull the local crowds do that on the free-to-air slots. I don’t want games where there are 8,000-9,000 people like we had last year with Parramatta. I didn’t read the grounds, but I hope Leichardt Oval gets four of those games the Tigers have… I love a Sunday afternoon game out at the old home of the Tigers, whether it be on TV or live. Let’s hope in the final rounds… the games spread out more and the teams without the chances of finals don’t get the games. Read more: http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/nrl-and-the-free-to-air-games-11832/#ixzz2oeRnqVxe
Its all to do with demographics for the Advertisers' dollar input. As the Scum Fans do not live in NSW or QLD, there is no point in Advertisers wasting their monies on Nein's TV Show (even the replays are very late at night). Same argument for the Raiders and Warriors Clubs. Titans and Cowboys are again a tiny consumer market compared to Brisbane - so they are flicked. I don't understand why Penrith and Newcastle markets don't warrant Advertisers monies :huh: Both are growth areas with lots of families to advertise to. The scheduling is controlled by which Team's attract the largest viewing audience, as this in turn drives the $ per second of advertising fee
I hate having so many Manly games on free to air; in QLD they are delayed while we get the Broncos/Titans/Cows crap. NRL should have sold rights to all games to both free to air and pay, like the AFL did.
