News Wrap | Friday, May 8th | WA AFL teams miss out on home games early, India still plan on coming to Australia, Kayo subs take a 30% hit, RA solvency questions

In another big news day, the WA AFL clubs wont get home games early on, questions over Rugbys solvency, India still planning to tour Australia, Kayo subscriptions take a 30% dive and the NRL clubs ask the NRL for $100m.

General

• Some young athletes will never return to their sports even after coronavirus restrictions are long gone, says an SA academic on a mission to find out what’s now needed to bring them back.

AFL and Australian Football

• Telstra and the AFL have teamed up to launch the Australian Dice Football League (ADFL) since “our beloved footy season [is] on hold” and “you have to roll with the punches”.
• West Coast, Fremantle, Adelaide and Port Adelaide will all be denied home matches for at least the first part of the season under the league’s complex attempt to get the 2020 competition restarted.
• A Tasmanian State League club president believes money will be better spent helping grassroots sport rebound from the coronavirus pandemic than hosting AFL games in empty stadiums.

ARU and Rugby Union

• KPMG raises questions over Rugby Australia solvency with former sponsor HSBC still owed $7 million
• Rugby has a leadership crisis that threatens its immediate survival, NSW boss Roger Davis declared as new RA chief Rob Clarke spent his first day plotting several lifesaving measures.
• RugbyWA chairman John Edwards warns against Rugby Australia’s recent appointment of Western Force-slayer Rob Clarke as interim CEO

Broadcasting

• March had an all time Kayo paying sub high of 408,000, But as of May 2nd, there were over 272,000 paying Kayo subscribers, due primarily to “cancellation and/or postponement of sports events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic”
• News CEO Mr Thomson foreshadowed a “fundamental reset” of sports rights in the longer term following the COVID-19 outbreak, which has had a material impact on subscribers to the company’s sports streaming service Kayo.
• Punters have had a big win after a deal was struck to broadcast Sydney Saturday racing on Channel 7 for the next six weeks.

Cricket

• India have given Cricket Australia plenty of confidence ahead of their proposed tour at the end of the year, with the treasurer of the Board of Control saying the team were willing to isolate here for a fortnight before playing.
• Queensland has become the latest state to feel the wrath of Australian cricket’s cash crisis with emotional bosses telling staff redundancies are inevitable.
• As speculation surrounds the reduction of competitions for the 2020-21 summer, Cricket Tasmania CEO Dom Baker has declared recent bolstering of women’s cricket will not be stripped back.

NRL and Rugby League

• Club bosses have turned the screws on Rugby League Central after requesting that head office push their compensation commitment north of $100 million in a bid to stave off the horrific financial impact of COVID-19.
• As Project Apollo plots the NRL’s return, next on the agenda is a proposal for a New Zealand vs Tonga State of Origin clash to bring together two of the rugby league’s great talent wells.
• While confident of the club’s ultimate survival, Warriors CEO Cameron George warned discretionary spending on the women’s team and junior development scheme are under enormous threat.
• The chances of Queensland hosting the 2020 NRL grand final continue to diminish but the government is not giving up hope of landing the marquee event.
• THE home of Darwin rugby league has been denied heritage status by Sports Minister Lauren Moss. Rugby league diehards have fought to save the Richardson Park ground at Ludmilla but it now appears the fight is over.