Elstone : Thu Sep 19, 2019 7:37 am  

Good short interview on Rugby AM this week. Interesting first question somebody sent in asking why they persist with Thursday night game when none of the fans want it. His response was basically because SKY say so and they don't want to rock the boat by telling them to chop it. He mentioned viewing figures and the fact that they are good for a Thursday but surely they were just as good for a Saturday. I think they miss the fact that a lot of people will be stood in a pub around one screen on a Saturday having a pint as opposed to a cup of tea on a Thursday in their living room. If ratings are the be all and end all then it will never get moved back to a Saturday. The only audience you are hitting by having Thursday night games are the harcore RL fans. If you aren't a fan you wont switch it on but if it is in a pub on a Saturday on a big screen the floaters etc will be watching it. He said that he was at Hull a couple of weeks ago and got back home at 3am because of M62 closures and that it wasn't ideal. I get the impression he would be open to moving it but won't ask SKY to do it. Frustratingly honest i suppose but surely the game can't just pander to what a tv station says. Where is the common ground? Interview here :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj-Bn9NJx2M

Good short interview on Rugby AM this week. Interesting first question somebody sent in asking why they persist with Thursday night game when none of the fans want it. His response was basically because SKY say so and they don't want to rock the boat by telling them to chop it. He mentioned viewing figures and the fact that they are good for a Thursday but surely they were just as good for a Saturday. I think they miss the fact that a lot of people will be stood in a pub around one screen on a Saturday having a pint as opposed to a cup of tea on a Thursday in their living room. If ratings are the be all and end all then it will never get moved back to a Saturday. The only audience you are hitting by having Thursday night games are the harcore RL fans. If you aren't a fan you wont switch it on but if it is in a pub on a Saturday on a big screen the floaters etc will be watching it. He said that he was at Hull a couple of weeks ago and got back home at 3am because of M62 closures and that it wasn't ideal. I get the impression he would be open to moving it but won't ask SKY to do it. Frustratingly honest i suppose but surely the game can't just pander to what a tv station says. Where is the common ground? Interview here :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj-Bn9NJx2M

Re: Elstone : Thu Sep 19, 2019 3:33 pm  

The only solution to that would be to received additional revenue from SKY for every Thursday game.

IL stated that we lost £50k due to the late move of the match from Friday to Thursday.

Thursday matches (if scheduled months in advance) should have a lesser impact than a game moved with a week's notice.

How many times a year does this happen? Not often I'd guess.

There should be a pot of cash from SKY divided out each week to the club that has to play on a Thursday as compensation. Let's say £35k.

Then £50k for any fixture moved short notice (which wouldnt be that often).

This is only an issue as revenue is lost by the clubs, if SKY paid out £100k per Thursday game and it was actually an incentive to play that day you would have clubs fighting over it.