Phil Gould suggests the 2020 season must continue on somehow, even delayed, on his latest Six Tackles podcast:
“Any extended closure could mean financial ruin for both the NRL and the clubs. It’s that precarious at the moment.
They need to keep playing. They need to keep the game alive. They need to keep performing every week to keep bringing in whatever revenue they can raise through broadcast or what have you, to ensure the viability of the game.
The bottom line is, financially, they need all the games to be played, eventually. They need to make it up. So whatever time they have off they need to make it up in the coming months, to have all games played, to secure their revenue.
Time must be made up
Gould concedes that downtime and some closures are imminent, he suggests playing through the summer months if possible:
I’ve got no doubt we will see some downtime throughout the course of the season.
It is the NRL’s intention to play every game. If that takes them through until December, I think that’s what they’ll do.
If we had to have two weeks or four weeks off, do we have to play through the summer months to generate the number of games necessary to meet broadcast obligations? To get the revenue in to keep the game alive? It’s a rather delicate situation.
We have got plenty of time available. There are gaps in the competition to schedule extra games and extra rounds. We can go beyond the first weekend of October into November and December.
Better later, than compacted
He prefers a later season than a compacted season, despite its potential:
“I wouldn’t like to get to a situation where we’re playing too much, three games-a-week and midweek games, it’s happened before. We’ve survived as a game doing that before.”
No Point Crying Over Spilt Milk: All Hands On Deck
In light of the criticism of the NRL's financial culpability and lack of assets in comparison to other sports such as the AFL to be able to handle this crisis Gould noted:
It’s not the time to go crying over spilt milk about how we got ourselves in this position financially.
About why our game is so vulnerable in this situation. It's in the back of everybody’s minds and it’s a conversation that will be had in time. But at the moment we can’t afford to dwell on what happened in the past. The priority is to keep the product going. The future of the game really does depend on it.
What it needs is all hands on deck, trying to ensure we keep these players healthy and the product going.
Everybody has got to buy in. The players have got to understand they’ve got to live their lives differently for the next six months, and if they want to earn their money and keep their money that’s their motivation. If it means they have to sacrifice some time away from the family or living in isolated conditions, it’s about keeping the content on the field at the moment.
The Big If
Gould's thoughts are pragmatic and prudent, but it all hinges on how the virus plays out, how protracted and extensive the lockdowns become, and if they extend well into the end of the year and beyond - there's suggestions of 12 to 16 months. All of which are unknowns.
Notes:
This complements Frankie's excellent blog on an alternative solution, should the entire season be wiped out.
Sources for Gould's quotes:
Replies
I listened to it this morning. He's right, the game needs to go on but the decision will eventually be out of its hands.
I think the govt will do whatever they can to keep the NRL and AFL going, get them up north now.
The club's are all going to take a massive hit especially the ones who rely on the pokie gravy train
This is a rare occasion where I disagree with Gus, I would prefer a condensed season rather than going into the summer months. If teams have to play some mid week games to catch up, so be it.
Mid week games are preferable to playing in December
I doubt we'll go to mid-week games. Physically it'd be near impossible for the players to manage 2-3 games per week for an extended period.
Obviously it would have to be carefully planned out, and the rep season would have to be cancelled our at least modified in some way. The problem is that the broadcasters aren't necessarily that interested in the regular season, they make most of their money showing Origin & the Finals.