WINNERS AND LOSERS IN GAME OF COVID-19
While some sporting bodies have been kicking goals from all over the park, others have dropped the ball
NORMALITY is slowly returning, not as quickly as we would like or as it should, but at least things seem to be returning to normal. And please drop the “second wave” garbage – I think it is reasonable to say we, as in Australia, never really had the “first wave”. And that’s because we followed what the Government asked of us, we battened down the hatches, worked hard at social distancing, shut our international borders, and have a world class public health system. So, it’s no fluke we ended up with a relatively low-end transmission of this virus compared to so many countries.
Now let’s get on with life folks and get those state borders open because guess what – it’s a virus, it’s not going to disappear completely. Our best hope is twofold – we develop a vaccine or we repurpose a current PGA medication that helps mitigate serious health issues with contracting this virus.
With all of the above as a backdrop, one of our great Aussie activities is slowly returning to our lifestyle. I speak of sport. The great Australian passion and pastime. For many of us, our true love! But it’s going to be different, so much in what was our life is going to be different, all because of COVID-19.
I’ve been working in professional sport for nearly 40 years across three continents. I have never witnessed anything that has stopped and then changed so dramatically professional sport in the way this pandemic has. It’s been a killer in more ways than the human count.
My storyline today is only focusing on professional sport – the pandemic has had a dramatic impact on grassroots sports and school sport, I acknowledge that, but for now it’s the professional side that I am considering here. And within that remit I have narrowed my focus on the impact in Australia, although again the impact is global and confronting every sport. No one gets a free kick with this virus and its global spread. If it can stop the biggest sports franchises in the world, Australian sports franchises are not going to be exempt.
It’s almost been fun watching sporting administrators taking on governments and making all types of declarations about what and how they are going to proceed. Some have been cautious; others have been brash and demanding; others have been in hiding trying to work out what the hell to do, aside from appealing for money from governments. It all makes for good media. For me – I like the collective push to just get back, get the games on, restart the action. Most sports are now back up and running, or at least the ones with top operators calling the shots. Sadly, some are floundering under a pile of poor administration. COVID19 has exposed their already ordinary management.
Clearly the AFL is in a tremendous position. It has outstanding leadership at its headquarters with a very capable independent commission and a strong balance sheet. It had no trouble immediately borrowing $600 million from two Australian banks because of that strong balance sheet with more than $1.1 billion in assets. They have completed new media relationship deals which, while undergoing a minor haircut over the next four years, leave the sport in great shape. The challenge is to get crowds back as soon as possible, as this segment adds an Australian high of circa $250 million per annum to the AFL industry.
Next best placed in this reset is the NRL. Their boisterous chairman almost single-handedly dragged them over the line to get games back on as he knew without media income and no reserve funds this was mission critical for the code. I liked watching it – he should consider taking up world championship wrestling, he would be great! He then threw a couple of key staff under the nearest bus and forged new media deals in the style of Brute Bernard. Got to like it – he got them up and running and well and truly back in the game.
Goldman Sachs analyst Kane Hannan told clients the revised sports rights agreements between the NRL, Foxtel and Nine, as well as the AFL with Seven and Foxtel, were an industry reset.
“We see the revised AFL/ NRL deals as a positive reset, with the AFL outperforming the NRL,” he wrote in his report earlier this week.
Therefore, both get a big pass mark for mine.
Which takes us to Australian professional sports that have not fared well.
Cricket for me has a hold on its assessment, at this point in time. With the most time at their disposal to reset and work through a plan diligently (as they don’t get under way in Australia until October) they could not have gone about it in a more manic fashion. The public face has been terrible and finally this week the CEO was given out LBW and sent permanently to the “you’re out of here” pavilion! They need a leader and they need him on the job, like yesterday. Because I love the game – particularly Test match cricket – so much I hope they get their act together quickly.
Which leads to the fails, in my opinion. Regrettably, there are too many in this category. Some are hiding behind COVID-19, when the truth is, they were appallingly managed and in more strife than Genghis trying to get over the wall before COVID was even a glint in a bat’s eye in Wuhan!
Of the “major” sports that behaved and looked like they were clueless, the standout winner is rugby union. It has been so appallingly handled on every level they have decided to stop playing it in heaven anymore, so I’m reliably informed. The ARU are a basket case. Their Board has undergone a partial re-set – it needs a total rebuild.
And after making more errors and screw-ups than a clown in a three-ring circus could manage, they finally gave former CEO Ms Castle the send-off card. With no meaningful restart, no media rights deal beyond the end of this year and the worst code at grassroots/junior level, this sport is in the ICU. If it survives in Australia as a professional game, and that is a big if, with dwindling junior numbers and rapidly diminishing crowds both on TV and at games, this sport has hit the fringe of interest. What was once a massive code in Australia is in serious trouble.
Soccer is not faring any better. COVID-19 has put the A-League right under the proverbial bus. It appears that Fox Sports have finally found a way to get out of what was clearly an over-the-top contract that did not live up to its promised eyeballs for the pay operator. Under a private ownership model, with little financial funds to keep it afloat when hit by this pandemic, it is clearly in for, at best, a major reset. Whether the balance of this season even proceeds is anyone’s guess. It has been in hiding trying to avoid any public scrutiny.
And finally, my old sport, Supercars. Like soccer they have been trying to hide from public scrutiny and hope that somehow it gets better. It hasn’t and it won’t. Sad really, like watching a chunk of your life ripped up in front of you. So many issues, I don’t even know where to start. Why would they turn down a really good offer late last year from Fox? What are they doing to replace Holden for the loyal Red fans out there? What is going on with a calendar that is announced and then changed within a few weeks? How is team world being supported with lowering the costs? How does this sport survive without fans being able to attend major race meetings ... and it goes on. Gentlemen, it’s not start your engines, it’s start your leadership!
Big game at the GC Suns this weekend – catch it on 7 Mate or Fox Footy. Go Suns! Real life back to normal.