Shaking up the ANZ Championship

Filed in Other by on April 27, 2011

I have to say, writing for Making the Nut this year has already proven to be a huge learning experience, not least when it comes to all things netball. In my “Idiot’s Guide to the ANZ Championship”, I described it as “… a competition between ten clubs (five based in Australia, five in New Zealand) that features the premier two netball nations in the world and could be described as the netball equivalent of the Super 15 rugby union tournament, yet would struggle to receive one-tenth of the exposure.” Over the past two months, the concern about lack of media exposure has been made to me time and time again. In a vain attempt to assist, consider these the ideas of one idiot (with zero marketing background) that could shake things up and increase market share for netball. To give the column greater credibility, Ms Netball will weigh in with her take on these ideas.

The overarching problem – competing for market share with NRL, AFL and Super 15 Rugby

The single biggest hurdle to attaining market share (in a media exposure sense) for the ANZ Championships is the time of year over which the tournament takes place – in direct competition with the two ‘big dogs’ of the winter in the NRL and AFL, as well as Super 15 rugby union. If the Super 15 competition cannot score a free-to-air TV deal, what hope has netball got of progressing beyond the existing level of One HD coverage? If anything, it is a nod to netball that they have better free-to-air coverage than rugby union. However, the schedule clash is still glaring. Think of it this way – if you were setting up a new pizza restaurant, would you rent a site sitting right between the two biggest and best pizza joints in town? Of course not! That would be a horrendous idea! Yet here are the ANZ Championships, trying to throw down against the two toughest and most experienced opponents going around, then wondering why they keep getting beaten. It defies logic. However, it brings me rather neatly to the suite of ideas for better promotion of the premier netball competition in the world.

Idea One – Switch the ANZ Championship to a spring/ summer-based season

I am stealing this idea directly from the A-League, which has benefited greatly from an equivalent switch. Instead of competing for TV time and newspaper column space with the NRL, AFL and Super 15, they now compete with the early season cricket, the abbreviated Australian golf season and the Spring Racing carnival – a much lower level of competition when it comes to media exposure. Such a switch would also mean that there is potentially more than one bidder for the TV rights, as all of the commercial stations (and in particular, Fox Sports) would have greater capacity to fit a netball season into their scheduling. While a TV rights deal even half the size of those brokered for the AFL and NRL could never be expected, the mere concept of ‘netball’ and ‘TV bidding war’ being placed in the same sentence should warm the hearts of those in charge of the game.

Ms Netball on Idea One –“I agree – it’s definitely worth a try. “

Speaking of the Spring Racing Carnival…

Idea Two – The opening round of the ANZ Championship is played wholly in Melbourne on the Sunday and Monday between VRC Derby Day and Melbourne Cup Day

This is another stolen idea – this time from the English Super League, who played the opening round of their 2011 season solely at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. For the ANZ Championship purposes, this ‘super round’ would occur in Melbourne on the two days prior to the Melbourne Cup. You may be wondering, why the specific choice of venue and date? The answer is simple – it offers the greatest chance for cross-promotion and media exposure for the players and the league more generally. To wit:

Saturday before Melbourne Cup Day – ANZ organises a marquee at Derby Day and offers Channel Seven, Sky Racing, TVN, any interested newspaper types and basically anyone with a microphone and/ or accredited photographer pass plenty of access to the ANZ tent and the players from all of the ten clubs. I’d much rather hear Kylie Gillies interviewing key defenders from the West Coast Fever than D-grade celebrities from Home and Away musing about how many near-death experiences or natural disasters will occur in the next week at Summer Bay.

Sunday before Melbourne Cup Day – The ANZ Championship opens with a triple header – games at 1.30pm, 4.30pm and 7.30pm. One ticket buys you a seat for all three games.

Monday before Melbourne Cup Day – Round one closes with a double header – games at 6.00pm and 8.30pm. Again, you buy a ticket and it gets you a seat for both games.

Melbourne Cup Day – The players from all ten teams are back in the ANZ marquee at Flemington for the race that stops a nation, granting more access than many of their counterparts from other sports. Again, this is all about promotion of the players and the league to new viewers and potential corporate partners.

VRC Oaks Day (Thursday) – I’d be tempted to schedule Round Two with three games on the Sunday (two played in Australia and one in New Zealand) and two games on the Monday (one in each country) in order to facilitate players from some clubs being able to attend the ANZ marquee again for at least part of the Thursday. However, this may be a bridge too far and besides which, if the opportunities presented over Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are fully utilised, the ‘super round’ may have already fulfilled its purpose.

Ms Netball on Idea Two –“Okay, if you insist! Personally, I am not a fan of horseracing, but whatever works. Clearly, netball has a wealth of talent that is being underutilised.  The post match interviews of players like Catherine Cox and Johanna Curran show that many of these players also have a strong ability to connect with an audience.  In a celebrity-obsessed world, if netball needs to present a more glamorous side, then so be it – there are many amazing looking players and they are not just tall and thin! It seems to me that within the ranks of Australia’s elite netballers there is a lot more talent beyond the court and that we could all benefit from hearing a bit more about them.  There are some terrific role models, and their off court behaviour seems pretty good.  I reckon David Gallop would have a lot less grey hair if he was the head of Australian netball. “

Idea Three – Offer Sarah Murdoch an ambassador role with the ANZ Championship

A slightly conniving idea – Lachlan Murdoch of course owns One HD and has final say on the programming arrangements for the station, so it couldn’t hurt to have his wife on-side. She is also an employee of Foxtel, should the pay TV operator be interested in bidding for the rights to a summer league – I’m just sayin’….

Ms Netball on Idea Three– “The only defensible rationale for recruiting Sarah Murdoch is the leverage it may help to attain in terms of One HD TV rights – on every other level it would be a bust. I would prefer netball stayed on free-to-air television. Netball really doesn’t need her – I mean she can’t even get it right when she’s hosting a show about modelling, which she’s supposed to know something about.  There are many netball players who would be a better fit for such a job. Someone like Sharelle McMahon (if promoted properly) can have just as much appeal as a Sarah Murdoch. Liz Ellis developed her public profile through appearances on programs like The Fat and I believe that there are other netball players who could achieve the same status and reputation if they were just given an a forum.“

Idea Four – Strike a deal with the A-League about playing dates on each weekend during their concurrently run seasons

As noted above, a spring/ summer league only has one week-to-week competitor for media attention – the A-League. Clearly, there is plenty of space for both competitions to survive and thrive as long as they don’t do anything stupid, like butting heads on match schedules every weekend. What if the respective bodies got together and fleshed out a deal where say, the A-League played the vast majority of its games on Friday night and Saturday with ANZ Championship games predominantly played on Sundays and Monday nights? Wouldn’t that benefit the concentration of media coverage on each sport for the relevant days and evenings in a ‘one day/ night, one sport’ sense?

Ms Netball on Idea Four– “A good idea and it could even go further in that A-League football clubs could team up with their state netball counterpart.  This kind of thing that happens across the country in many rural communities – often there is a football/ netball club and the teams travel together to play away matches and have pooled resources and social activities together. I believe something like this happens on some level with a few ANZ teams. For example, the Swans and the Swifts have some sort of relationship but this is an area that is open to further development. I’m unfamiliar with the arrangements in New Zealand, but there are five NZ teams in the ANZ Championship and five NZ teams in the Super 15 competition, so logic would suggest that they pair up. Aligning the teams would provide more opportunities for cross promotion etc.“

Idea Five – Push for a “The Netball Show” type weekly TV program

This is an idea that emanated from a variety of Twitter musings (coming from Melbourne Vixens star Sarah Wall, among others) about how a netball version of The Footy Show might play out and who might be among the regular panellists. Twitter seemed to reach near consensus about the involvement of Liz Ellis, Sharelle McMahon and a rotation of current players appearing as guests of the show, while there were also some pushes for Kelli Underwood, Luke Darcy and Anne Sargeant to be a part of the week-to-week panel. To that mix, I would like to throw in Amanda Lulham of The Daily Telegraph, perhaps the most prominent of the Australian print journalists when it comes to the sport. Nonetheless, the personnel are likely to be available, and if a palatable TV deal is struck and some Thursday night airtime can be found in November and December, this could be a winner.

Ms Netball on Idea Five– “Agreed. Many fans want a dedicated netball show – it would be fantastic and I am sure there would be an audience for it.  As I have said previously, I think there is a lot of talent who just need a forum.  The interest in the Australia’s Fittest Netballer segment on One HD shows there is an audience and I think it is about time we got something like this happening.“

Further Thoughts – Wining and dining various TV executives, as well as writers and sports editors of all major Australian newspapers

Yes, it is tantamount to a form of bribery, and such greasing of the wheels is so commonplace elsewhere in society that I am not exactly reinventing the wheel by suggesting it. In fact, it may well be occurring already with respect to the ANZ Championship. However, the level of coverage in Australian newspapers would suggest otherwise, and thus the question must be posed. One would certainly hope that the powers-that-be at Netball Australia have the wherewithal (and perhaps more significantly, a funding envelope allocation within their marketing budget) to undertake such a promotional exercise.

Further Thoughts from Ms Netball

 “I worry about the attention to detail paid when it comes to promotion of the sport. Don’t you think it odd that a (self-described) “Netball Idiot” seems to have more ideas than the people running the sport?

With your idea that ANZ Champs executives should wine and dine writers and editors of major Australian newspapers in the hope of more media exposure. …. I would ask are they not doing this already? It would seem pretty basic. It seems obvious to me that they (alongside Netball Australia) are not doing a very good job of presenting and promoting netball.   As the two of us have discussed previously, the “Ode to Netball’ advertisement released earlier in the year was really pathetic.  You really have to wonder about the decision-making that led to its release. In just about every shot in that advertisement, the surrounding area was empty, there seemed to be no spectators and no excitement about the game. It made watching or playing netball seem about as exciting as watching paint dry. There was no footage of actual games in the ANZ Championship or International matches – instead we had quaint pictures of (very elderly) umpires or wedgies, for God’s sake. The overall theme seemed to be one of an amateurish quirkiness!  It just confirms my belief that the promotion of the competition is not all that it could be.

As I have discussed with you before, the fans need to be more demanding and critical!  New Zealand has much better media coverage of netball. My understanding is that it is policy that the NZ Broadcasting Authority must feature women’s sport (this may have arisen as a part of a policy to counteract rising levels of poor health and obesity).  However, a consequence (intended or otherwise) of this decision has been to create a much higher level of general community interest, which has meant that netball in NZ attracts a lot more media.  I really cannot see why it is not policy in Australia that women’s sports receive more media coverage – if it is not happening naturally, it needs to be mandated.  Perhaps you hate this idea but personally, I cannot see how the situation can improve otherwise. Think of it as affirmative action – we have policies/ strategies to get more women in leadership roles, business and government. An extension of such action to sport is necessary.  I really believe it is essential to report the ANZ Netball results as part of the sports segment on the television news – I am not just referring to ABC News 24, but on most channels as part of the nightly sports segment, and in particular on longer shows such as Sports Tonight and Fox Sports News. Stories about the sporting activities of men completely dominate these forums. It seems to me that unless netball is features on the news, it will not be seen as “newsworthy” and so other media coverage will not improve. The New Zealand example illustrates that once such coverage becomes policy, more stakeholder interest will follow.  I do not see why the publically funded broadcasters ABC and SBS are not required show the netball results.  Programs like the Marngrook Footy Show are obviously an example of some kind of “affirmative action” broadcasting policy for Indigenous viewers and there is surely a need and an audience for a similar netball show. “

Summation

This piece does not purport to hold all of the solutions (or indeed, any guaranteed solutions) to achieving an increased level of media exposure and market share for the ANZ Championship. Rather, it is a series of ideas presented (hopefully in a coherent way) to promote further debate and discussion of the most prosperous path forward for the ANZ Championship and the sport of netball more broadly. To dredge up two well-worn clichés in illustrating why a static approach will never improve netball’s lot within the Australian sports landscape:

“If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got”; and

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained”.

The time has come for netball to make some bold ventures, whatever form they may entail.

Thanks to Phil Walter/Getty Images AsiaPac for use of the photo

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Comments (1)

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  1. @ClubNetball says:

    Good article with many good arguments put forward.

    A couple of others ideas are:

    – Like the Beach Volleyball tournament run by FIVB the ANZ Champs could run a couple of games on demountable netball courts, I'm sure there's an engineer somewhere that could design one. This way you could run a netball game anywhere you want it wouldn't have to be restricted to stadiums only. 

    – More should be done at a local level, we used to take our daughter to netball games where the whole day something like 30 courts would run back to back games for hundreds if not thousands of juniors. Here would be an ideal opportunity to run social media campaigns through FourSquare, or best tweet for the day could receive two tickets to a game? Engage the audience that would likely go home and watch the games on oneHD once their kids finished playing for example.

    – Like it or not the AFL and NRL get tons of media attention on individual players, not always good news of course but nevertheless mid-week news is usually taken up with judiciary or injuries (for the sports gamblers). A couple of controversies could really help the profile of the sport during the week.

    Cheers