Industry News – Friday, May 26th 2017

AFL

• Thursday AFL – Cats v Power – 24,909 at Simonds Stadium
• Jeep have announced they will sponsor Richmond for another three years.
• Geelong is understood to be open to talking about selling one of their Etihad Stadium home games to the Power to play in Shanghai.
• NORTH Melbourne yesterday met with Tasmanian football authorities about an aligned bid for an AFLW team. The team would play some games in Tasmania and ensure a pathway for Tasmanian woman to play in the AFLW team.

A-league and other Football

• Wednesday TV – Liverpool v Sydney FC – ABC2 only – 174,000 (Syd 90k, Melb 37k, Bris 22k, Adelaide 18k, per 8k)
• Previous Liverpool games 338k v Bris, 224k v Adelaide (9Go! 2015), 558k v Melb Vic (7mate 2013)
• The ABC has squandered whatever chance it had of snapping up the A-League’s free-to-air broadcast rights thanks to its calamitous coverage of Sydney FC’s friendly with Liverpool.
• The ABC drew the ire of soccer fans up and down the country for the way it televised what, it must be admitted, was a pretty meaningless match
• The national broadcaster has come under heavy fire over Wednesday night’s coverage, variously described by viewers on social media as cringeworthy and embarrassing and is believed to have left Football Federation Australia highly alarmed.
• THE ABC’s disastrous coverage of the Liverpool v Sydney FC friendly has ruled out any prospect of the national broadcaster becoming the A-League’s free-to-air partner for next season.
• The Brisbane Strikers have reaffirmed their intent to bid for an A-League licence and insist they will be at the forefront of the expansion debate.

NRL

• Bulldogs CEO Raelene Castle, the first female chief executive in the NRL, will depart the club at the end of 2017.
• Andrrew Webster writes that its time for either Grant or Greenburg to go
• Roy Masters writes that the NRLs $150 million digital strategy is a smart investment.
• A SCATHING email sent to independent commission boss John Grant on behalf of the 16 NRL clubs has demanded stronger leadership and respect for the game’s major stakeholders.