The calls are growing louder to bring the grand final kick-off time forward as the NRL braces for a nightmare scheduling scenario if the Warriors make the decider.
New Zealand will be three hours ahead of Sydney by the time daylight savings kicks in on October 1, which means the grand final won’t kick off until 10:30pm across the ditch.
If the Warriors make their first grand final since 2011 when the kick-off time was 5pm AEDT, then there will be uproar from parents whose children will need to stay up past midnight to watch the whole game.
The NRL has already been called out after a “badly missed opportunity” with the Warriors preliminary final clash against Brisbane this Saturday night scheduled for 9:50pm NZ time (7:50pm AEST).
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The grand final’s prime time slot of 7:30pm is to maximise viewers and therefore the advertising dollars for the networks who pay hundreds of millions of dollars for broadcast rights.
NRL great Gorden Tallis “loves” the idea of scheduling the grand final earlier, regardless of who is playing in the game.
“Some things are bigger than ratings and I think kids sitting with their families and sitting with their dads and having BBQs,” Tallis said on NRL 360.
“I think the game belongs to the people and they should have it earlier so all the kids (can watch it). That’s how I fell in love with the game, sitting there with my dad watching grand finals. At night time the kids normally fall asleep.”
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Braith Anasta echoed the sentiment, while veteran journalist Phil Rothfield said he’d been campaigning the NRL for an afternoon kick-off for decades.
“For 25 years I’ve failed, I’ve been running a campaign for a day time grand final kick-off… (former NRL boss) David Gallop met it halfway and made it twilight for a couple of years,” Rothfield said.
“Every fan poll, and if they list to fans, wants an afternoon grand final, they slaughter all the other timeslots.
“But Peter V’Landys and Andrew Abdo are running a business where Nine and Fox Sports put in considerable money we can’t do without and we do have to listen.”
But Tallis pointed out that the AFL are in the same boat but their grand final starts at 2:30pm every year.
“I’m pretty sure in the AFL they also put in the money, but they still have a day grand final, so there are some things that should be overridden,” he said.
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“Some of those soccer (World Cup) games were on at 5pm at Suncorp and they had great ratings, people tuned in.
“I’m just saying do it for the kids and that’s why there were so many fans watching (the soccer) because they could sit there with their kids and watch. I say 5pm kick-off.”
“It will become a really big issue if the Warriors can upset the Broncos because they are on a three-hour time difference on grand final night when daylight savings kicks in and you’ll have kids trying to stay awake at 10:30 at night to watch a game of football,” Rothfield said.
“I retired hurt a couple of years ago in this war. I went to Peter V’Landys and said ‘look,the ratings will be fine’. I’d cop a twilight grand final any day of the week, you can still do your fireworks at the end.”
