I don’t see the issue with the article. It’s simply saying that Seven haven’t yet entered into a formal deal to secure the rights.
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Yeah this is nothing out of the ordinary, these deals require board approval due to the outlay.
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Will be interesting as to which callers they use.
In 2017 Pbp they had:
Mark Braybrook
Dan Ginnane
Andrew Moore
Chris Warren
Glen Larmer (sky)
Ken Laban (sky)
The graphics package was the same as what sky used that year as well.
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IIRC they had Jim Wilson hosting. The audiences were really strong too, think up to 1m metro including 300k in Sydney and high shares. In Q4 after AFL but before summer.
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I think you would be correct there. It was good coverage.
One thing I didn’t like is they played all the games at the same venues, most of which had double headers. It would be nice to spread it out a bit more.
Unfortunately this time around there will be less teams, I don’t think it will be as good of a tournament.
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From memory I think in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, Seven put the games on 7mate and/or 7Two. Or late on main channel, opting for Better Homes & Gardens and movies, like a reverse of what usually happens with Sydney and Brisbane during AFL.
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Not sure whether plans changed as the tournament went on. However, the original schedule Seven published suggested Australian men’s games aired on the main channel in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne while the rest of the men’s RLWC (or in Adelaide & Perth, the entire tournament) as well as most of the women’s RLWC aired on 7mate.
I suspect that if Seven does get the 2026 RLWC, Australia’s women’s RWC games will air on the main channel on the East Coast along with the men’s games.
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I don’t like the fact that they’ve gone back to 10 teams for the men’s tournament.
But the positive is it’ll be the most competitive World Cup in history and will be interesting how 7 broadcast this too.
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Perhaps Shirvo will host? He did host NRL Coverage (Super Saturday) on Fox League.
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The press release says the men’s tournament will have 18 teams.
It’s definitely 10 - has caused a bit of controversy.
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I think Mel McLaughlin will probably host it, Jelissa Apps will be heavily involved too.
They went back to 10 due to cost but they’ve tried to spin it as they wanted it to be more competitive.
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The press release actually says 18 matches, not teams.
As nice as it is having more teams in the tournament, teams like Greece or Jamaica really aren’t drawcards and are always going to struggle to bring in revenue during World Cup games. Plus, I really don’t think people like seeing games end in ridiculous scorelines like 84-0 and 94-4 like we had in the last WC.
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Yep unfortunately Jamaica and Greece had some amateurs in their teams, which was never going to work against countries with NRL/super league level professionals.
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All three tours will be happening simultaneously so Seven can break away if the score starts creeping into that territory. (I’d personally assign a 30-point margin.)
Assuming they even have that power, and even then, they would use it.
The reason for the scorelines are the way the qualifiers work and the way the pools are drawn.
Not only that but the reluctance for players to go to the minnows if they aren’t selected in the bigger teams (understandably as they are playing so many games).
I don’t think anyone wants to see those scorelines but potentially having a second tier like the pacific championships could allow those sides to play each other. That does complicate things but we hace seen these scorelines in the more worldly Rugby Workd cup, ODI and Football but it’s about growing the game more than anything.
What?
Simultaneous games taking place. Once one hits blowout territory, switch to a closer one.
Pretty simple.
Not going to happen
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