2020 Super Rugby Season

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Scotland said:
Even News Corp have started publishing articles about how dismal the crowds in SR are. Be interesting to see which company line the Foxtel RA yes men toe.

www.news.com.au

Crowds abandon Super Rugby as Australian teams crumble

Twelve tumultuous months off the field has inevitably taken its toll, with Australian rugby union crumbling in the early stages of the 2020 Super Rugby tournament.
www.news.com.au www.news.com.au

The averages are dubious anyway with teams regularly trying to mask poor attendances with 'TBA' instead of the actual figure.
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News Corp has been potting Rugby Australia since they took the TV right deal to the market and not just sign with Fox. As much as Rugby is struggling so if Fox they can’t afford to lose the rugby so they are trying to scare off any other bidders. There was a 13% drop in Kayo subscriptions when the World Cup ended and they will lose a lot more subscriptions if they lost rugby all together.

The current system structure is broken though it has been for a long time the South African sides need to be cut, let them go to Europe. Bring back the Force and place names for every side. Put two sides in the pacific islands. At least this way the TV networks will pay more for the product as they have continuity of product
 
Seedsfan said:
News Corp has been potting Rugby Australia since they took the TV right deal to the market and not just sign with Fox. As much as Rugby is struggling so if Fox they can’t afford to lose the rugby so they are trying to scare off any other bidders. There was a 13% drop in Kayo subscriptions when the World Cup ended and they will lose a lot more subscriptions if they lost rugby all together.

The current system structure is broken though it has been for a long time the South African sides need to be cut, let them go to Europe. Bring back the Force and place names for every side. Put two sides in the pacific islands. At least this way the TV networks will pay more for the product as they have continuity of product
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Yep this is a relatively recent thing. Prior to any friction between Foxtel and RA everything was stage managed. Attendances were fine, the Wallabies were great, RA made the right call to keep the Rebels etc. You could see the reactions on Foxtel whenever Jeremy Paul was on and didn't just parrot the RA company line.

Foxtel will be fine if they lose rugby as hardly anyone watches it. There's more interest in Sydney in the Shute Shield than the Waratahs and that's on FTA TV. SR has fallen behind the A-League in TV ratings, and the A-League isn't exactly flying like the NBL which is going through a popular period.

Agree that the broadcasters will be keeping their distance while the format of the competition is up in the air.
 
Scotland said:
Yep this is a relatively recent thing. Prior to any friction between Foxtel and RA everything was stage managed. Attendances were fine, the Wallabies were great, RA made the right call to keep the Rebels etc. You could see the reactions on Foxtel whenever Jeremy Paul was on and didn't just parrot the RA company line.

Foxtel will be fine if they lose rugby as hardly anyone watches it. There's more interest in Sydney in the Shute Shield than the Waratahs and that's on FTA TV. SR has fallen behind the A-League in TV ratings, and the A-League isn't exactly flying like the NBL which is going through a popular period.

Agree that the broadcasters will be keeping their distance while the format of the competition is up in the air.
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Foxtel is in massive amounts of debts they are losing subscribers and their average revenue per subscriber has halved. They saw Kayos subscription drop by 13% at the end of the World Cup they can’t afford to lose any more

Unfortunately the structure of the comp isn’t going to change for at least 5 years as the new TV deal is locked in for all other SANZAAR nations

Shute Sheild gets the odd decent crowd but the TV ratings have been low there and being on FTA costs all the clubs 300k a year
 

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When I say Foxtel will be fine more accurately I mean rugby will have minimal bearing on their ongoing viability. They may have lost Kayo subscribers after the RWC which finished in November, but I'd expect to see a surge soon now that AFL/NRL are coming back and possibly when the World T20 kicks off later in the year, but I'm not sure how much of that is on FTA. Fox missed a trick not getting the Premier League rights back.

If South Africa are on the way out then SANZAAR is effectively dead and the competition format has to change.
 
Scotland said:
When I say Foxtel will be fine more accurately I mean rugby will have minimal bearing on their ongoing viability. They may have lost Kayo subscribers after the RWC which finished in November, but I'd expect to see a surge soon now that AFL/NRL are coming back and possibly when the World T20 kicks off later in the year, but I'm not sure how much of that is on FTA. Fox missed a trick not getting the Premier League rights back.

If South Africa are on the way out then SANZAAR is effectively dead and the competition format has to change.
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South Africa is locked into the SANZAAR partnership until 2024. So earliest year we can have a new comp is 2025.

Fox can not afford to lose the rugby that’s why there is a massive effort to scare off any other bidder. They are on struggle street financially in massive debt. Losing rugby will see less subscribers making it increasingly hard for them to retain the AFL and NRL
 
Scotland said:
Losing rugby will mean not paying to televise rugby. Which hardly anyone watches.

I have my doubts that we'll see a 14 team Super Rugby comp as planned for next year in 2024.
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It will mean a drop in subscriptions we have already seen this post World Cup. Fox understands this and it’s why they are hammering them in the media. They can not afford to lose more subscribers

We will see a 14 team comp there isn’t the time for anyone to back out now, the problem is clearly with South Africa.

There sides haven’t had much success in Europe and the Pro 14 wont want to become the Pro 18 and that’s there only other option. With MLR growing in the USA Argentina could make the move to that comp

Locally a pacific comp works you could bring the Force back and have 5 Aus teams the 5 NZ sides and 2 sides from the pacific islands. We could get the pacific teams funded in part by the IRB development fund. Yes losing South Africa will see us drop some TV revenue but this is offset by the huge financial burden travelling over there is. Also a local pacific comp would hold more interest and better engage the community
 
News Corp will trash Rugby Australia in an effort to drive down the broadcast rights price until they buy them.
 
I don't follow. A 14 team comp with Pacific Island reps and no South African teams isn't SR or a SANZAAR comp. A PINZAAR comp perhaps, but that sounds a Nazi tank warfare strategy.

The RWC isn't SR. It goes for a month or so every 4 years and attracts short term interest. Foxtel may have lost 13% of subscribers but how many of those 13% only joined for the RWC?
 
Scotland said:
I don't follow. A 14 team comp with Pacific Island reps and no South African teams isn't SR or a SANZAAR comp. A PINZAAR comp perhaps, but that sounds a Nazi tank warfare strategy.

The RWC isn't SR. It goes for a month or so every 4 years and attracts short term interest. Foxtel may have lost 13% of subscribers but how many of those 13% only joined for the RWC?
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The Pro 14 is a European comp with the Scottish Irish Welsh Italian and now 2 South African teams.

A pacific comp is a proposal to replace or be the continuation of Super Rugby once the South Africans are gone

No doubt people signed up just for the World Cup but there are still a lot of people out there who signed up to Fox for rugby. They maybe turning off an have less interest than they use to but you will see a decline in sales if they lose the rugby as losing Rugby also means losing things like the Mitre 10 cup and Kiwis still follow that in a big way.
 
I know what Pro 14 is. I am talking about the timing. If South Africa want to bail and make it a Pro 18 next year, then SR is dead as we know it. If they aren't going anywhere until 2024 then there is no uncertainty about the next TV rights deal. But I don't believe they really want to stick around that long.

I still don't think rugby subscribers make up a huge contingent of the Foxtel revenue pie. They are probably smarting because they don't have another Game of Thrones drumming up business. Dirty as it feels I agree with Bomberboyokay, they'd prefer to keep rugby whether exclusively or shared with FTA but it's not 2003 and it isn't sought after content. They want to pay what it's actually worth, or preferably scare off other buyers and pay less. Optus are sniffing around but they offer Premier League, Champion's League and shitty mobile reception and that's about it. If they want to pay up I doubt Foxtel will engage in a bidding war.

The AFL are reportedly looking at extending their current TV rights deal by two years. That was unheard of until recently with the last 3 deals being $150m, $250m then $420m per year. If the financial powerhouse AFL are looking at a short term deal to stay where they are what hope to RA have?
 
Scotland said:
I know what Pro 14 is. I am talking about the timing. If South Africa want to bail and make it a Pro 18 next year, then SR is dead as we know it. If they aren't going anywhere until 2024 then there is no uncertainty about the next TV rights deal. But I don't believe they really want to stick around that long.

I still don't think rugby subscribers make up a huge contingent of the Foxtel revenue pie. They are probably smarting because they don't have another Game of Thrones drumming up business. Dirty as it feels I agree with Bomberboyokay, they'd prefer to keep rugby whether exclusively or shared with FTA but it's not 2003 and it isn't sought after content. They want to pay what it's actually worth, or preferably scare off other buyers and pay less. Optus are sniffing around but they offer Premier League, Champion's League and shitty mobile reception and that's about it. If they want to pay up I doubt Foxtel will engage in a bidding war.

The AFL are reportedly looking at extending their current TV rights deal by two years. That was unheard of until recently with the last 3 deals being $150m, $250m then $420m per year. If the financial powerhouse AFL are looking at a short term deal to stay where they are what hope to RA have?
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The pro 14 doesn’t want to play more games and have 4 more sides so it leaves the South Africans homeless

Fox is close to bankrupt they can’t afford to lose any subscribers

The South African Rugby Union has committed to super rugby the proposed move comes 2025 or later and is a part of South Africa’s potential move to Europe to join the 6 nations
 

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Rebels lose in Ballarat which is "gold country" in case you missed the commentators mentioning it 7 or 8 times.
 
If that was the end of the season what a way to go out. Absolutely embarrassed the Tahs today and played some beautiful Rugby in the process
 
New Zealand competition started this weekend. Australia July 3rd. South Africa looks many weeks away.
 
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