Slumping Super 14 undermines new TV deal

[travelling_gerry]

Greg Growden Chief Rugby Correspondent

April 13, 2009 - 11:56PM

SANZAR officials are worried a drop in Super 14 television ratings and crowd figures in the game's heartland this year will affect their bargaining power when they renegotiate their broadcasting deal.

While SANZAR will meet broadcasters in a few months to determine how much money will be offered to finance the southern hemisphere game, administrators are concerned their leverage might diminish due to rugby suffering a slump in interest in major cities, including Sydney.

SANZAR's aim to gain more revenue by boosting the broadcasting deal, currently worth $US323 million over five years, when it expires at the end of next year will prove difficult if rugby's popularity appears to be in decline. Rugby is far more tantalising to the key broadcasters - News Limited and SuperSport in South Africa - if crowds and pay TV ratings are rising.

After the code went through a revival during last year's Test series, which attracted strong crowds and pay TV audiences, this year's low-key Super 14 tournament has caused interest to wane.

Australian Rugby Union chief executive and SANZAR board member John O'Neill yesterday told the Herald that pay TV ratings this year had been "average ? and clearly the broadcasters in any renegotiation will be looking at how the product has been tracking".

The Waratahs' biggest game of the season, against the Crusaders last month, only just made the 20 most watched programs on pay TV that weekend. The Waratahs match finished 19th, with more than 185,000 viewers - almost 100,000 fewer than several run-of-the-mill rugby league matches that weekend.

It is understood that during a season in which the Waratahs have been repeatedly criticised for their uninspiring play, they have not been a big pay TV attraction.

Matches involving Australian teams in South Africa have also struggled to attract viewers. It is believed a recent Brumbies match played in South Africa, telecast live in the early hours of the morning, lured only 1900 Australian viewers.

Attendances have also been affected. In New Zealand, there has been a decrease of almost 55,000 spectators in the opening eight rounds this season.

In Australia, the Waratahs had an average crowd of 25,494 for Sydney Football Stadium home matches last season. Their SFS average has dropped to 22,463 this season. The Waratahs' overall average of 24,131 this year has been boosted by the 32,469 attendance when they played at ANZ Stadium against the Crusaders.

The Force's attendances in Perth have continued to fall in recent seasons, while ACT and Queensland home crowd figures have fluctuated.

"The TV ratings haven't fallen out of bed by any means, but they are soft and not as strong as last year," O'Neill said yesterday. "They were good last year and we were hoping that trend would continue, but it has been pretty flat. No one's ringing alarm bells, but there is a renegotiation coming up and we're not sticking our heads in the sand. Rugby is a very valuable pay TV product, especially as a lot of people only have pay TV because of the rugby. Still, clearly you would like your ratings growing, not plateauing.

"Our ratings were affected early on by the Test match cricket coming out of South Africa and we've been hoping for a bounce back. But we haven't seen that yet. The global economic crisis has also had an impact on the game. People are being more selective with their discretionary dollars."

O'Neill recently attended a CEOs' meeting of the tier-one countries, where they talked about the effect of the recession on rugby's finances.'

"The three big risk areas are sponsorship, corporate hospitality and match-day revenue. What they've found in the UK is that corporate hospitality is down 20 to 30 per cent and more sponsors are looking to 'back-end' their payments, where they pay the bulk of the money at the end of the deal.

"Our markets in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth are very different. But the two big markets - Sydney and Brisbane - are so important for us."

Under the SANZAR broadcasting deal, the countries must have competition options for Super rugby and Tri Nations on the table by June 30. The broadcasters have 60 days to respond. Then the parties go into negotiations. SANZAR hopes a deal will be finalised by the end of the year.



Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spor...0413-a4vq.html

[zimeric]

There is a global economic downturn.. if the broadcasters dont come to the table themselves they will have problems... sportscasting is one of the more reliable forms of entertainment and people like Fox, DStv etc will soon realise that this is a good way to keep revenue flowing as opposed to home renovation and travel shows...
they will come to the table willing to help out as much as possible.

[jargan83]

alot of the Foxtel ad's I have seen on FTA over the past few months have been advertising "have a good night in instead of a night out".

But given that Super 14 is a product solely made for News Ltd and Pay TV you won't see alot of competition for the product so therefore News Ltd are in a good position to offer what they want,

unlike the AFL for example which had several groups bidding for the rights hence the massive amount they got for it

[JediKnight]

Unfortunately, the Super 14 seems to have degenerated into a 'kick-chasey' game, rather than the blood & guts arm-wrestle that we all knew & loved. Having watched some of the Heineken Cup matches on ESPN at the weekend, Super 14 & the ELVs are definitely the poor cousin when it comes to true rugby.

[AndyS]

Don't know I'd go that far. There was lots of passion on the part of 12,000 odd fans, but I certainly didn't think the Leinster-Harlequins match reached any great heights. Two penalties v one try, and one hell of a lot of negative and totally unpenalised play at the breakdown.

Interesting in terms of what was at stake and willing enough, but quite seriously if the ELVs are supposedly turning Union into League, that was Union turned into soccer - just keep slogging away and hope for one refereeing decision or one piece of luck to decide the game. There was no lack of kicking either...83 kicks from hand versus 57 in ours (and we're not too happy about that). But then, read the press (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rug...mi-finals.html). No bitching and moaning about how crap it was - you want to know why Union is doing well up there and badly down here, compare with the press on the Waratahs match...