US election sabotaged State of Origin, says Peter V’landys

The opening game of the State of Origin series was watched by the smallest television audience for more than a decade.

Queensland pulled off a massive upset, but not so many people were watching

Donald Trump has sabotaged State of Origin. Broadcast ratings plummeted more than 20 per cent on Wednesday night and the NRL’s own expert has apportioned much of the blame to interest in the US election.

As a result, ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys insists it is too early to make a call on the future scheduling of the Origin series. Next week, he says, will be the real litmus test. If the ratings are down again for Origin II, even V’landys concedes the experiment will be rendered a failure.

“Our expert is telling us it was a lot to do with the US election,” V’landys said.

“I think a lot of people also thought it was going to be a whitewash. The fact is NSW were the shortest-priced favourites. The Queensland market was where it was down a bit.

“I think the big test for it is next Wednesday when people realise Queensland is competitive. But the reasons we did it (move to post-season) haven’t gone away and they are because we wanted to make sure the best players were available in a shortened NRL competition.

“There were five less rounds so we wanted to make sure the teams who had no points (when the competition resumed from the COVID break) would have their rosters available to ensure the integrity of the competition.

“Equally, we would have had no crowds if it was mid-season.”

On that front, Origin I was a success. More than 25,000 people were on hand at the Adelaide Oval — the ground was at 50 percent capacity because of COVID — as Queensland upset the bookies and experts alike to take the early lead in the series.

They head to ANZ Stadium next week with the wind in their sails. The same can’t be said for the television ratings, which were the worst for an Origin game for more than a decade.

V’landys had previously indicated the ratings would play a decisive role in determining the future scheduling of Origin and early indications suggest a move back to mid-season.

Origin is a broadcasting cash cow for the game and given the NRL is entering the final two years of their deal with the Nine Network, they will be cognisant of the need for strong ratings to strengthen their bargaining position.

Origin I will have set off alarm bells, although V’landys rightly points out there were other factors at play. The US election in particular has commanded eyeballs and interest. Such is the fascination with Trump, bookmakers are holding record bets on the outcome.

Origin has become collateral damage. The game was watched by a metro television audience of 1,598,000 and a total of 2,378,000 nationally — the smallest numbers in both departments since 2003.

The result represented a disturbing drop on the corresponding game last year. The ARL Commission has already agreed fresh terms with Fox Sports to extend their deal until the end of 2027.

The Nine Network opted to take their time. The commission was happy to play ball, their hope that other networks would enter the fray and drive up the price. The Seven and Ten networks have hinted at making a play for rugby league.

They will no doubt be watching Origin II with interest as well.

“It was an experiment and I am not going to start making decisions on one game,” V’landys said.

“I think we have to wait until next week. If next week is low we can start to panic. At the moment there are reasons why the ratings for this game were low.

“We have to wait to see whether that is replicated. If it is, we will know it is best mid-season. As I said, next week will determine if the excuses are credible or not.”