Rugby league commentator Phil Gould has thrown up the idea of modelling the NRL on summer's nightly cricket-fest during the Big Bash League given crowds are unlikely to be a factor for the rest of the season.
But the former Penrith general manager of football says that idea counts among others from left-field, such as a season that runs beyond the scheduled finish date in early October and a post-season Origin series, all of which are a waste of time unless they have the backing of both broadcasters.
Speaking to James Bracey for Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast, Gould pointed out he was not generally a fan of Monday night football due to the lower crowds that it draws but with that factor out the window he encouraged the NRL to consider playing "every night of the week" if that's what suited the broadcasters.
"What's it matter? We could play it like the Big Bash cricket," Gould said.
"If they could organise a draw where we were playing every night of the week I'm sure that could be a consideration. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday nights; whether or not they could get a draw and whether or not the clubs could cope with it or whether players would cop four day, five day turnarounds I don't know, all that will be thrown up on the table."
According to Gould, this week's meetings between ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys, Nine boss Hugh Marks and Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delaney will solely determine the shape of the season assuming the relevant governments and health authorities give it the green light to return.
He said the findings of the NRL's Project Apollo were completely irrelevant if the radical planning didn't work for the broadcasters.
"That's why you need these three men (V'landys, Marks and Delaney) in the room at the moment and no one else," Gould said.
"You can have committees, and all the committees you like, to be planning the logistics of playing these games and when they're going to be played but until there is an agreement from the broadcasters that they could extend the season beyond what was the initial deadline of the first weekend in October, how many rounds they could fit in and then when the finals will be played and what sort of format will that be in, and then whether Origin is going to be at the end of that, at the start of that, or in the middle of it somewhere and how that affects the competition as well (it's not going to happen).
"So there is a lot to discuss and a lot will depend on how flexible the broadcasters are, both on the quality of the content and the timing of the content because they also have other commitments. The broadcasters have other commitments.
"I must stress this, both broadcasters are very very supportive of what the NRL is trying to do and they're extremely supportive of the NRL going ahead moving forward.
"The pictures that have been painted that these people were somehow trying to screw rugby league or use an unfortunate situation to better their own cause is way off the mark, it's totally irresponsible to report it in that way.
"But there is a reality to this situation, a commercial reality, a timing reality, and the reality that we are subject to the government and the medicos about whether or not we can do this at all."
Gould said he would be satisfied if the NRL was unable to resume in 2020 as long as the key decision-makers used their time to ensure what came back when it was safe to play again was a better product that was equipped to sustain itself into the future.
He said that the whole model of how the game was administered needed to be looked at, suggesting a leaner head office made sense if it empowered the 16 clubs to have more influence in driving the game's future.
"Can I just put this in really simple terms because this is a key point for me and it always has been: the NRL administration could not survive without the 16 clubs. I guarantee you the 16 clubs could survive without the NRL administration," Gould said.
"That's simply put, this is where the money should be going and this is where the game needs to be developed."
However for all 16 clubs to survive into the future, an emergency funding arrangement may need to be secured, particularly if the NRL is unable to retake the field or the broadcasters negotiate to pay significantly less for the 2020 season, which has reportedly been deemed by Marks to be an inferior product.
Gould said that it made sense for V'landys to consider an extension to the current broadcast deal with frontloaded payments to navigate the NRL through its current financial difficulty.
"I'll leave that sort of decision up to Peter V'landys. He knows the exact finances (of the NRL) probably better than anyone at the moment because he's been pouring over them for a couple of months and he was quite astonished at what he found," Gould said.
"I don't know whether or not the talks have actually gone to that point. I think there is a realisation that there's going to need to be some sustainability funding injected into the game.
"There's probably going to need to be some advances on funding, future funding, to get them over the hump and to make sure that our 16 clubs survive.
"That being the case, the broadcasters are within their rights to ask for an extension of the deal so that this can be borne out over a longer period of time.
"That will then get into the discussion, well what is the game now worth given what's happened and what it looks like into the future?
"So the people will all be doing the best they can in the best interests of their particular businesses but I think there will be common ground with these three men and some common sense in the discussions."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/phil-gould-broadcasters-meeting-with-nrl-importance/6b177340-81c8-4042-a321-cb00be6a0d87
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