Focus On ... TV Games

Focus On ... TV Games

That dreaded writers block struck this week and I’ve been struggling for a topic to blog about so please forgive me if this week’s feels a bit rushed.

I didn’t want to solely focus on Castleford Tigers winning the League Leaders Shield.  However I will offer my hearty congratulations to them for their first ever first place finish.  It’s an incredible achievement to win it so convincingly having played fantastic rugby league throughout the year from Round 1 to now, barring one or two off days, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching them when they’ve been on TV.  To clinch the shield and still have four rounds to spare is some achievement.

Away from all that I got thinking about the matches that are shown on TV, predominantly Sky Sports, and whether each team gets a fair crack at the viewings each season?  I don’t claim to know how the TV revenue is shared out between the clubs as I’m no expert on that (maybe it would be naive of me to think it’s shared equally) but I felt it was an interesting question to raise.

Looking back to when the Super League fixtures were announced, and therefore the first batch of TV games, back in October 2016 here’s what each club was allocated (both home and away) from most to least...

Wigan Warriors - 14

Catalans Dragons - 13

Warrington Wolves - 13

Leeds Rhinos - 12

St Helens - 12

Castleford Tigers - 9

Leigh Centurions - 9

Wakefield Trinity - 9

Widnes Vikings - 7

Hull FC - 6

Huddersfield Giants - 5

Salford Red Devils - 4

Now, take off one game each for the Magic Weekend, when all six games from that round are shown live, that’s quite a disproportionate amount of club’s matches shown on television particularly if you’re a supporter of Widnes, Hull, Huddersfield or Salford.

The Warriors have enjoyed the most air time during the regular season and the Saints were live on Sky Sports no less than six times in the first seven rounds!

But at the other end of the spectrum, Salford only had one home match chosen for live viewing and that was their Round 7 fixture against St Helens.  And since the Magic Weekend in May we didn’t see them again until Round 2 of the Super 8’s – and they’ve had a great season compared to last year.

I’ll admit that the Sky Sports allocators don’t have a crystal ball to see how well teams will do the following year so they have to ‘play it safe’ early on by choosing matches involving teams that are expected to be challenging for honours towards the end of the season, otherwise no one would switch on to watch.  And ultimately that’s the aim, not just for Sky to bring the money in, but for rugby league fans who enjoy showcasing their sport to viewers who wouldn’t normally consider watching our code of rugby.

But I do think they could find a better way to share out the air time so the clubs aren’t so disproportionately varied.  Sky did well to schedule all 12 teams to be shown at least once over the first two weekends but maybe next season they could look at introducing a format which sees no team on TV in more than two consecutive weeks?

And following the split into the Super 8’s and Qualifiers, where we get to watch another three or four matches shown live each weekend, here’s how the allocation has worked so far...

Leeds Rhinos - 4          

Castleford Tigers - 3          

St Helens - 3          

Wakefield Trinity - 2          

Wigan Warriors - 2          

Hull FC - 1          

Salford Red Devils - 1          

Huddersfield Giants - 0          

Catalans Dragons - 4

Leigh Centurions - 3

London Broncos - 2

Warrington Wolves - 2

Featherstone Rovers - 1

Halifax RLFC - 1

Hull Kingston Rovers - 1

Widnes Vikings - 1

So, once again Hull, Salford and especially Huddersfield fans who can’t get to games must feel slightly aggrieved and wonder if and why they’ve been forgotten about.  However, there are still three further rounds to be allocated in the Super 8’s so we’ll have to wait and see what happens there.

I can’t help thinking that it’s unfairly balanced in the favour of the so called ‘big teams’.  If we look at Leeds and Wigan, after Round 27 they’ll have both been on TV a total of 16 times!  Catalans must have all of their home games shown live on French TV so there must be some deal with Sky Sports which enables them to show all those matches as well.  Each time Catalans have been at home on a Saturday evening the match is shown on Sky so by the end of the season they’ll have been on TV at least 17 times in total.

In my lifetime the Premier League has arrived and with it millions of pounds in TV revenue which Sky Sports forks out for with bigger and bigger deals each season – heck, the Premier League now has its own channel.  This means rugby league has to play second or even third fiddle to other sports.  Hopefully, now that football has its two channels, cricket and Formula 1 also having their own spaces, maybe rugby league can start forcing their way into the public eye a bit more and earning a more money for the sport from the guys who really matter.

I’m sure Sky are already planning what to do with rugby league next year, and let’s face it, it would be a miracle if anything is changes so soon.

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