New "LIV Style" Global Rugby League

[Sully]

Is there actually any appetite for this at all? Rugby has always been more team driven than player driven support wise, and no one cares about these made up teams at all

I agree, why would I watch it? Not my club, state or national team. Not in my country and a few {maybe} players I know of. I don't follow players, I follow clubs.

 

[Upthemaroon!]

Is there actually any appetite for this at all? Rugby has always been more team driven than player driven support wise, and no one cares about these made up teams at all

The appetite for it is mostly based on the group of people that do go to a sellout Optus Stadium this weekend, but are not part of the 8000 or so fans at HBF park watching the Force during SRP (Super Rugby Pacific). I don't know if those people will watch R360, but there is a rather large latent pool of casual rugby viewers that isn't yet mobilized/targeted/activated/whateverbuzzwordyouwanttocallit by club rugby.

 

[Braveheart81]

The appetite for it is mostly based on the group of people that do go to a sellout Optus Stadium this weekend

Because the Wallabies vs All Blacks is a premium event steeped in history.

Madrid vs Miami, even if it does include a chunk of very good players is not that. I fail to see how this would be the thing that captures the attention of casual fans.

 

[Upthemaroon!]

Because the Wallabies vs All Blacks is a premium event steeped in history.

Madrid vs Miami, even if it does include a chunk of very good players is not that. I fail to see how this would be the thing that captures the attention of casual fans.

Oh don't get me wrong, me neither. Just wanted to highlight there is a large pool of 'potential' fans that a couple of spreadsheet blazers want to mobilize. Don't think this set up will work, but there is a massive opportunity there.

 

[Tazzmania]

New Player 30 game per year limit protocol could throw a further spanner in the works, how are the thirty games divided up between club / country and 360

 

[Tomthumb]

The appetite for it is mostly based on the group of people that do go to a sellout Optus Stadium this weekend, but are not part of the 8000 or so fans at HBF park watching the Force during SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) (Super Rugby Pacific). I don't know if those people will watch R360, but there is a rather large latent pool of casual rugby viewers that isn't yet mobilized/targeted/activated/whateverbuzzwordyouwanttocallit by club rugby.

People are going to Optus becasue it's The All Blacks vs the Wallabies; NZ vs Australia. It's tribal, it's passionate

There is no hook for casual viewers to watch random teams from random places play a game with zero stakes

 

[Wilson]

Because the Wallabies vs All Blacks is a premium event steeped in history.

Madrid vs Miami, even if it does include a chunk of very good players is not that. I fail to see how this would be the thing that captures the attention of casual fans.

It is so very clearly marketed to the English fan, particularly avoiding the depths of winter with match blocks - if I was still living in London, I'd be booking a rugby trip to Madrid or Lisbon for a game weekend in a heartbeat. Not sure that's particularly sustainable after the novelty wears off though.

 

[Wilson]

New Player 30 game per year limit protocol could throw a further spanner in the works, how are the thirty games divided up between club / country and 360

That regulation (or really just guideline at this point) favours R360 and is something they'd be happy to see - a 16ish game season aligns perfectly with the 14 or so test matches most tier 1 teams are topping out at. Much easier for a player to get that balance then in top 14 with their 26 game season.

 

[Tomthumb]

It is so very clearly marketed to the English fan, particularly avoiding the depths of winter with match blocks - if I was still living in London, I'd be booking a rugby trip to Madrid or Lisbon for a game weekend in a heartbeat. Not sure that's particularly sustainable after the novelty wears off though.

Maybe, I think the novelty would wear off pretty fast though

And are these teams going to practice at all or just show up a couple of days before the event? Could be some pretty dire rugby in that case

 

[Upthemaroon!]

People are going to Optus becasue it's The All Blacks vs the Wallabies; NZ vs Australia. It's tribal, it's passionate

There is no hook for casual viewers to watch random teams from random places play a game with zero stakes

Yeah fair, I love the tribalism and passion as well don't get me wrong. There are just a fair bit of people wanting to have a reason to go on a weekend away, get steaming with the boys (or girls), see some big hits and offloads and put no more effort into their fandom. The SailGP also works for that reason.

edit: And there is a whole layer of sports washing for Saudia Arabia which I hate with a passion and will be the main reason I won't watch it. There is just a large contingency of people that do not care about that and want a good piss up somewhere that is not their city.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Tokyo Godzillas v the Boston Stranglers should light it up.

Has the feeling of 7s after Rio which seemed to be on a high but has since peaked and seems on the way back down.

 

[Dctarget]

Depending on the funding rumours (the players are signing with the UAE rugby union), we might be missing the point.

The NEOM Line was never more than a fantastical project to generate conversation/attract top class professionals whilst never turning a profit (read: lose billions and billions).

Even closer to home Japan's Top League clearly don't give a shit about fan attendance and footprint, yet they're sustainably paying absolute overs for our middling players.

 

[Omar Comin']

I agree, why would I watch it? Not my club, state or national team. Not in my country and a few {maybe} players I know of. I don't follow players, I follow clubs.

I share a lot of the scepticism you and others have, and on balance expect it to fail. But it's not impossible for new competitions and new clubs or franchises to build a following and be successful.

Why not be open minded about it and wait to see what it's actually like first? A lot of the big soccer clubs and NBA teams etc have a lot more fans outside their home city than within it - this competition is trying to engineer that sort of global supporter base from day 1. How do we know that's not possible?

What if it's a huge success and becomes the F1/NBA/EPL of rugby and results in the sport being much bigger at every level? If some people with very deep pockets want to give that a crack, even though the odds are small, then I'm interested to see the attempt. At the very least we'll get a few gun NRL players switching over for a couple of years and some may stick around and strengthen the Wallabies.

 

[Tex]

I've never been surer of a future event than the rapid deflation and fade-to-irrelevance than this 360 venture.

It genuinely looks shit.

 

[PhilClinton]

Need to be mindful we are a small group of Australians on an Aussie rugby forum. Whilst we all feel some degree of ownership over the sport due to our history, this comp is looking at much larger audience markets.

The sports market in the USA is saturated but I think they’re much more open to supporting this type of event due to the nature of their sports leagues. Same with the Europeans. Ironically for V’landys (the horse racing guy) the NRL Vegas launch may have been something used as a positive when finding R360 investors.

I did find it interesting when AAA was asked about R360 this week he said he didn’t know anything and he hadn’t been approached.

It makes me wonder if they’re actually going to play a different set of rules altogether - or are they actually planning on paying 60 props $1M to run around and pack scrums. I’m not sure there are even enough genuine world class front rowers to pick from.