Rugby Australia claim Fox Sports haven't walked away
Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle remains confident Fox Sports hasn't walked away and expects the broadcaster to bid for TV rights next month.
Castle is taking rugby's broadcast rights to market for the first time since rugby went professional in 1996, in a move that will have a huge impact on the game's future.
It was reported Fox Sports had ended their 25-year relationship with the code after RA rejected their offer for the rights package from 2021 to 2025.
But Castle is confident the pay-TV company will come back to the table.
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"We went through a negotiating process with them (Fox Sports) through their exclusive negotiating period," Castle said.
"Unfortunately we couldn't get to a place we were both comfortable with. So now we're in tender and we would expect that as a market process they would step into that process."
RA chairman Cameron Clyne and vice-chairman Brett Robinson will stand down from the board on March 30 and former Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill believes the new board shouldn't inherit their TV deal.
Castle confirmed Clyne would continue to work on broadcast negotiations before he departs and said she didn't think O'Neill's comments were fair.
"This is a decision that is about generating the most financially beneficial outcome we can for the game," Castle told reporters at the Super W launch.
"At the end of the day there will be two members departing. There is still a core of the board that is still there."
The negotiations haven't been helped by three of Australia's four Super Rugby teams going winless over the first two rounds, while crowds and TV ratings are down.
"We know we've got some work to do to make sure we deliver good outcomes to those fans and that they need to come back to the game and we're working," Castle said.
"It's not going to happen overnight but it's going to happen by us engaging with them."
Common feedback from casual fans is they didn't know the Super Rugby season had started and that's why Castle said the broadcast deal was "so critical".
"There will be a portion of that (broadcast money) held aside to make sure we can market the game as hard as we can," Castle said.
"This is a very competitive market. There is more professional sports teams in Australia per head of population than any other country in the world."
- AAP
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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