Monday night football set for scrapheap

Spartan117

Spartan117

Moderator
Staff member
Forum Leader
**Monday night football set for scrapheap**

Tyson Otto From: The Daily Telegraph March 21, 2011 12:00AM

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/monday-night-football-set-for-scrapheap/story-e6frexnr-1226025069285

NRL clubs will not tolerate Monday night football when the next TV rights deal comes into place in 2013.

The NRL is considering scrapping Monday night matches after a torrent of complaints from club bosses.

In a massive win for clubs - who are sick of low gate receipts on the school night - the NRL is looking into switching the Monday night game to a Sunday twilight match.South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson said the only way Monday night football will exist after the TV rights deal expires at the end of 2012 is if the NRL pays clubs "massive compensation".

"I don't care where they move it to on the weekend, as long as it's not Monday," Richardson said.

"Fans hate it. Clubs hate it across the board. Sponsors hate it. It is a financial disaster for us. Clubs are incredibly dissatisfied. We're all fed-up on Monday night.
\
\
RELATED COVERAGE
TV snub for Melbourne Storm Herald Sun, 3 days ago
Thurston logo an NRL no-go The Daily Telegraph, 8 days ago
Furious Hasler attacks Gallop The Daily Telegraph, 4 Mar 2011
Dragons snubbed by Nine The Daily Telegraph, 16 Dec 2010
Clash of old rivals to kick off season The Daily Telegraph, 16 Dec 2010

"It's a disgrace that Fox Sports gets the third pick of the matches anyway and puts an absolute blockbuster like last week on a Monday night."

Richardson said Monday night matches regularly lose 10,000 fans who would have attended on a weekend.

The NRL may pay for the fixture relocation in the hip pocket because Fox Sports prefers the existing arrangement.Game-day broadcasts of NRL matches made up 39 of the top 50 programs on Australian subscription TV last year - most of them Monday night matches.

NRL boss David Gallop said the next TV rights deal would take a hit if Monday night matches were scrapped.

But he confirmed it is a very real option.

The Sunday twilight timeslot is already a proven winner for the AFL and Fox Sports.

The only other timeslot being considered is early Sunday afternoon, which is unattractive for bidding networks.

Gallop expects the league's next broadcast deal to be extremely lucrative, whether or not Monday night football is killed off.

"It's certainly a very attractive TV product," Gallop said of Monday night matches.

"Next time we do a deal we need to value Monday night footy and say 'is it worth it'?

"We're doing some work at the moment to assess the value of that and weighing that up with the impact that it has on home crowds.

"There's no doubt Monday night has worked really well on television, so it's clearly going to have a bearing on our rights fee."

Gallop said he understood the frustration of clubs over low Monday night crowds.

The NRL gives clubs $40,000 for every Monday night home game.
 
This can only be a good thing.

I'd go with a Saturday afternoon game at 3:00 but doubt it will happen there will be another night game somewhere.
 
It rates so well I can't see it being a positive if it disapears. It could well cost hundreds of thousands in the TV rights deal. I think they just need to plan it better. Only have 16 Monday night games a year. Make them non home games and move them to either one or a select few grounds where the size of the crowds do not matter so much. Make sure it is fair so each team misses only features twice per season and only misses one home game because of it. They need to have it all set up before the season so people who would like to travel can.

They also need to have something going on, on the nights to encorage new people to turn up… Find a sponsor who is willing to give away a car or something like that every Monday night. I think they could make it an event like It is in the NFL. Would be even better if it was on free to air TV. I think the ratings would crush anything that is on TV and would give each clubs sponsors massive exposure that would make up for lack of crowds.
 
@derailed said:
This can only be a good thing.

I'd go with a Saturday afternoon game at 3:00 but doubt it will happen there will be another night game somewhere.
Click to expand...

What about Sunday twilight games about 5.00 oclock Still gives families time to get home after games at reasonable time Maybe even play these games in regional areas or other cities
 
I will be glad if it is axed. Come Sunday night I am looking to the next weekends games (unless the Tigers are playing on a Monday) and then its difficult to get to from work at times. Move the game to Saturday or Sunday arvo IMO.
 
A twilight Sunday game could create similar problems to a Monday night game. I mean who wants to trek it to a stadium on a Sunday night when you know you're not gonna get home till at lease 9 or 10 and then you got to work the next morning, haha. I hate the feeling you get once the Sunday footy finishes and you know you got work the next morning. 😛

But for a TV time slot Sunday night is perfect and I suppose that'll be foxsports' main concern.
 
I hate MNF but if its good for the game in terms of $$$$ we should all accept it.

I only ask that we ensure that all clubs seem to get an equal number of these games and the short turn arounds.

I say this as I'm close to getting Fox…

Why do Bris always seem to play on Friday nights - That really Irks me
 
@Spartan117 said:
Why do Bris always seem to play on Friday nights - That really Irks me
Click to expand...

I think its got to do with channel 9 showing a 'QLD' game live in QLD on a Friday night. With only 3 QLD based clubs to choose from its pretty hard not to have an overload of QLD teams on a Friday night.

Obviously they arent always going to have a QLD team playing at home on a Friday, but channel 9 like to.

Brisbane came to mind for you because they have had 2/2 on a Friday night.
 
@Spartan117 said:
I hate MNF but if its good for the game in terms of $$$$ we should all accept it.

I only ask that we ensure that all clubs seem to get an equal number of these games and the short turn arounds.

I say this as I'm close to getting Fox…

Why do Bris always seem to play on Friday nights - That really Irks me
Click to expand...

Brisbane get Friday night games because 9 wants to have live games into the 2 biggest league markets in the country.

Mixed thoughts about MNF. It was a good rating game which should = bigger TV revenue and more $ to clubs. Attendances I'd think are a very small source of income compared to TV money. It was a hassle to get to though - Campbo on Monday night was a no go for a lot of people working in Sydney and living away from Macarthur. You'd be getting home after 12.
 
i hate MNF! its the forgotten game of the round that doesnt get any coverage on any of the free to air footy shows and even on the news it only gets a very quick mention in the sports section. id prefer to have it on saturday arvo at 3pm but would accept sunday night twilight (5pm)
 
I was talking to a mate at work about this He said Thursday night games Just a thought .We did it for a while before good friday games if you may remember . Just putting it out there
 
@happy tiger said:
I was talking to a mate at work about this He said Thursday night games Just a thought .We did it for a while before good friday games if you may remember . Just putting it out there
Click to expand...

Thursday is worse than Monday (IMO anyway). I don't remember there ever being Thursday night games on a regular basis. If it happened it has been erased from my memory…
 
At least two seasons they did it before Good friday games remember Magpies played Warriors and won At a guess 96 and 97(those years could be wrong )
 
If FOX have any sy in the new tv deal Mondy Night Football will not be going nywhere! It is such a HUGE rating for them, nd if they are paying big bucks for the coverage they will still be pushing for the game.
 
I have foxtel and I love Monday night footy. Fox does a great job on it.

Maybe the NRL threaten to give free to air the preference and leverage more money from Foxtel for the rights to it. To be honest i think the NRL has huge leverage the next rights negotiations to get a better deal for everyone (sponsors, players, clubs, fans). Rugby and AFL are on the nose.

This bloke from Souths needs to wake up. The game is much bigger than the 10,000 to 20,000 that can attend games.
 
@happy tiger said:
At least two seasons they did it before Good friday games remember Magpies played Warriors and won At a guess 96 and 97(those years could be wrong )
Click to expand...

Probably because they weren't playing on Good Friday back then and the Thursday was a filler. It wasn't a regular thing though?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Total: 423 (members: 29, guests: 394)
Back
Top