Macca

Bills 3 possessions, 3 TD's Switching to the Bengals/Wash match

2 games tomorrow and they overlap for the most part. An hour & a half gap works better than 45 minutes NFL scheduling can be a bit questionable at times 9.30am Jags @ Bills 10.15am Commanders @ Bengals

Another week of upset wins with 8 road winners saluting! Probably the biggest upset was a banged up Rams winning But the Vikings, Broncos, Giants, Packers, Panthers all won starting as outsiders Probably the most impressive win was the Vikings. Sam Darnald with another standout performance. What a turnaround! Minnesota are at Lambeau next Sunday with Jordan Love expected to suit-up for the Packers. On paper at least, a big clash within the division

DemonDave is streaking ahead in the tipping comp after being the sole 3 point winner again, this week! But it's a long season and we play for double points in weeks 5, 9, 13, 17 & 18 So it's possible to pick up 8 points in any of those bonus weeks Leaderboard Tipping Comp (points awarded this week in brackets) 11 - DemonDave (3+1) 5 - Go the Biff (1), DeeSpencer (1), layzie (1), Macca (1) 3 - BDA (1), Dr. Gonzo (1), JV7 (1), titan_uranus (1) 2 - Gorgoroth (0), Clintosaurus (0), Dee Zephyr (0) 1 - ElDiablo14 (0)

Tips @DeeSpencer 7Mate Games tomorrow 3.00am Houston @ Minnesota 6.25am 49ers @ Rams Followed by the Armchair Experts (with Ben Graham)

Lions, 49ers, Chiefs

Do they still do the GF parade and if so, will any of the players partake? And there are any number of Fitzroy/Brisbane and South/ Sydney supporters based in Melbourne Doesn't necessarily show up in memberships as neither team plays a lot of games in Melbourne (consistently) By the way, they should do But the Swans & Lions supporters are often out in force when they play at the MCG. Especially against the Demons Holding on to a large element of supporters based in Melbourne seems a no-brainer. It's easy money and keeps everyone happy

City of Casey 365,000 and getting bigger by the day You have to wonder if we're tapping in to the huge numbers out there Free memberships to the kids? Let's face it, we're out there even after the Caulfield training base gets built (and that won't be until at least 2028 if it goes ahead) In the meantime, the club needs to embrace the locals and get them on board

Not sure what all that was about but here's the real thing in 1909 (pre 'Talkies')

Demonland stood up well in this poll Over 64% had Sydney or Brisbane winning the flag Although, we did have Freo as next best with 12.82%!!

And North Melbourne lost their first 4 games in 1975 and then won their first flag that same year Has there been a team with a worse start win the flag? And how about the team that lost their last 9 home & away games but still went on to win the premiership!!

You're not telling me anything I don't already know They'll just slash further and buy cheap products that the masses want to watch. And that includes the AFL & NRL even though it seems like a lot of money In a general sense the masses decide

Fair enough but that also means that FTA is somewhat saved by the anti-siphoning laws So it's business as usual except the FTA networks need to find ways to operate profitably Slashing staff numbers for starters. Investing less in local drama etc etc. Not great news but business is business

Ha ha This thread is usually 90% about the umpiring!!! Don't worry, you'll get your chance to vent soon enough!

So do the anti-siphoning laws save the TV networks?

I don't disagree but footy & rugby league is not going 100% cable or streaming in a hurry You talk as if all the commercial networks will fold within months Not going to happen despite all your doom & gloom. For instance, the current AFL broadcast deal extends to 2030. And that includes 4 FTA games per week plus all the finals. Same deal for the NRL

I'm not convinced that advertisers aren't paying a premium for Friday & Saturday evening NRL & AFL Sunday 3.20pm looks like it's being phased out but again, that can be related to the advertising dollar

The most watched show/event in 2023 on FTA was the Women's world cup Semi final between the Matilda's & England 7.32Million!! I hear all the doom & gloom but FTA just needs to adjust to survive. In the meantime, the NRL, AFL, Test cricket, Big Bash, Horse Racing etc etc are all still on TV, free of charge

I thought what fell through was that Paramount wanted all the games with none being shown on Ch10

Aren't most of the games broadcast on Thursday, Friday & Saturday evenings? And isn't that all prime time? Same deal for the NRL As for ratings, the AFL & the NRL get huge numbers watching on FTA

Yeah, fair enough 1 in 2 households have cable? And around 70% have some sort of streaming or cable But I've also read that more than 80% of Australians still watch free-to-air TV So there's a lot doing both The one advantage that Ch9 & Ch7 have is that they know that the NRL & the AFL won't go all-in away from FTA Not for the time being anyway Before the last deal it was rumoured that the AFL could have picked up a princely sum from Paramount but they would have had to go all-in with Paramount. Amazon the same? Go Lions!

But how many people have shifted away from FTA? A big number, I'd agree but Rugby League & the AFL still gets millions of eyes watching ... on FTA There has certainly been a shift and Free-to-air is struggling but it won't die. Not in the near future and certainly not with regards to the 2 big sports in this country And FTA is paying the NRL & the AFL $Billions for the right to broadcast the games They are not forking out that sort of money unless they are getting a decent return My view is that the FTA commercial networks needs live sport more than they ever did. Why else would the the last AFL broadcast deal go for $4.5Billion? But you won't see the commercial networks clamouring for the A-League in a hurry. Doesn't rate (although, the A-League is on 10Bold on Saturday nights and 5pm Sundays The main Ch10HD channel will be broadcasting an NBL every Sunday afternoon from 2.30pm (every week) throughout the summer AFLW gets heaps of live coverage on Ch7. 2 games every Sunday for starters So there seems to be more live sport on the FTA channels as there ever was Which can only lead to one conclusion ... that people are still watching FTA TV in large numbers (sports included) The overseas model paints a different picture but the overseas captive audience is enormous https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/sep/06/seven-and-foxtel-to-keep-afl-rights-in-record-45bn-seven-year-deal

Yes, but prime time on weekends would still be a lot more expensive than non prime time slots for the advertisers (on weekends) Explains why there always seems to be a push for a twilight GF or night GF. It can't be assumed that the push is coming from the AFL The networks are looking for a larger, captive audience Rugby League went to the evenings for their GF (Sunday) for the same reasons Otherwise, if travel for the teams was the main reason, why not just have the game at 2pm instead As for FTA TV, the NRL & AFL will continue to be in high demand for the commercial networks. They need the 2 big sports to survive And both the NRL & AFL can't go all cable or streaming or they'd lose a large percentage of their audience. The captive audience just isn't big enough in this country For instance, on the weekends, people are more likely to be home in the evenings as opposed to during the day. There's local Sport, horse racing, kids sports etc etc on Saturdays and Sundays but mainly before 5pm Monday to Friday works the same way as most people are at work 9 to 5 (not all, but most)

Prime time advertising rates begins at 5.00pm. At least, that was how it was traditionally And prime time rates are at least 4 times those times that are outside prime time Follow the money

NFL Picks Week 3