It’s now official: PNG will become the 18th team in the NRL, which means one typical round of footy will have nine matches.
I daresay Sunday night football (or even the return of Monday night football) might start becoming a regular thing when they enter the competition in 2028. This is what I think a round would look like:
Match 1: Thursday night 8:05pm (Nine)
Match 2: Friday night 6:00pm
Match 3: Friday night 8:05pm (Nine)
Match 4: Saturday afternoon 3:00pm
Match 5: Saturday twilight 5:30pm
Match 6: Saturday night 7:35pm
Match 7: Sunday afternoon 2:00pm
Match 8: Sunday afternoon 4:05pm (Nine)
Match 9: Sunday night 6:15pm or Monday night 7:00pm
Adding in Monday night football can wreak havoc for some teams with shorter turnarounds (since Tue and Wed would be the only football free days during the regular season).
I also think the FTA broadcasting rights might be up by then, so I wouldn’t be surprised if another station picks them up from the period starting 2027 or 2028.
If (suppose) Seven were to pick up the broadcasting rights this would mean they’d have to juggle televising the AFL and NRL simultaneously, with one code on the primary channel and the other on a secondary channel depending on which state. This is unlike Nine which had to televise one after the other when they held the rights to both codes between 2002-06.
Though I also wouldn’t be surprised if Nine retain the rights, as they would want to continue the long relationship which has existed between them and league since 1992. I say this is one of the reasons why the station has consistently been number one in Sydney and Brisbane, the two main league markets.
That won’t happen until at least 2032, with the new Seven broadcasting rights period expiring in 2031.
If Nine were to pick up the AFL from 2032, that would render them unbeatable given they’ll also have the Brisbane Olympics (and assuming they’ll still have the tennis by then).
I think the next round of NRL broadcasting rights would/should run from 2027-31 so as to have the rights to both AFL (Seven) and NRL (Nine) expire at the end of the same year.
I can see MNF being the domain of the Sydney-based clubs to try and ameliorate some of this - I’d imagine all the clubs will want to see a decent blueprint on how they can make 5 days of football work while maintaining adequate travel and rest time especially if the two additional clubs are PNG and either NZ (South) or WA
I’m a bit worried / concerned that the NRL has been dragged /pulled itself into the China stuff like this. Football shouldn’t be used as a political ummm “football” like this.
Its all well and good if PNG keep up their end of the bargain, but if it doesn’t, it could get quite ugly.
No chance.
