NFL: Total Access on Sky Sports 3 is a program produced by the NFL Network in collaboration with NFL Films to offer a subscribing public a level of access to NFL teams that rugby fans could only dream about. Training sessions, draft selections, salary cap debate and exclusive video of an in-house draft meeting all featured in the one hour show with former players contributing to the analysis and presenting. The whole set-up blows our conventional tv panel out of the park.
If we want to grow rugby outside of the traditional base, we need to develop a means of packaging the game in a way that makes it accessible and attractive to potential fans. Rugby Union is no longer the baby of professional sport. We must stop taking our lead from football (soccer), where a closeted, autocratic system controls media coverage and fan interaction is reduced to tabloid speculation and fantasy leagues.
Even in Ireland, where there is a tiny media market, our rugby teams are a closed shop. In interviews we are subjected to cliches and bland statements that feign modesty. The Irish rugby public are often treated with indifference when it comes to the disclosure of team related information or opinion. Rugby administrators are spending hundreds of thousands of euro on PR consultants who throw out the same old pre-packaged muck.
The games best asset are the players and the coaching staff. They should be used in any way possible to increase access to the game. NFL: Total Access offered the viewer an opportunity to sit in on a draft meeting with the top tier of the Atlanta Falcons management team. They discussed selection policy, character references and weaknesses within the squad that needed to be addressed with the upcoming draft.
Imagine Setanta Sports getting access to McGahan, Fisher and Payne shooting the breeze about future Munster signings. It sounds far-fetched but it is exactly the kind of coverage the Magners League needs to accelerate growth. NFL: Total Access is largely scripted and tele-prompted. It is packaged professionally and choreographed to perfection. It mixes that cringeworthy American humour with forthright opinion and honesty. It works, and I want to watch it again and learn more about the draft system and the NFL process.
Rugby Union exists in a much smaller market. The fight to win hearts, minds and season subscriptions is a lot tougher. Teams should be open to the media and what they have to offer: a direct link to the public, instead of being treated with contempt. A philosophy of openness creates and grows an idea. Shutdowns and blackouts and limiting information kills it. Management within Rugby Union must reassess how they communicate and interact with the public through the media. If they want a bit of inspiration they should just look across the water where access is still controlled, but more meaningful to the fan.
