Six nations fixture changes mooted.

[twitchy]

Personally I would be fine with scrapping sunday matches. Friday night games are great though.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... k4qkznxw3o

Six Nations bosses are considering a radical scheduling change which would have a "Super Saturday" take place every weekend of the men's Championship.

As it stands, two games each round take place on a Saturday with one match on a Sunday or, occasionally, a Friday night.

The only time all three matches take place on a Saturday is for the final round of the tournament.

However, it's understood talks are under way to scrap Sunday matches and have every game staggered through a Saturday.

Administrators feel a move to have more matches on Saturdays would be welcomed by both broadcasters and fans.

In the 2024 Championship, the seven most-watched games all took place on a Saturday, followed by the Friday night opener between France and Ireland in eighth.

The three matches with the lowest television audiences - Wales against France in Cardiff, Ireland at home to Italy and France hosting Italy - all took place on a Sunday.

Friday night games were introduced in 2009 with Wales hosting France in Cardiff, while the 2024 Championship kicked off on a Friday with France playing Ireland in Marseille.

France are scheduled to host Wales in the opening match of the 2025 tournament on Friday, 31 January (20:15 BST).

Only Wales and France have hosted on a Friday because of various logistical issues, while Sunday afternoon matches are largely unpopular with travelling supporters.

These conversations have so far only applied to the men's Championship, with the women’s tournament operating in a standalone window in March and April and with a different broadcast deal.

[Mellsblue]

I understand the logic but as a tv spectator for 99.9% of the time I like that you don’t have to lose half a day to watch all three matches when they’re spread over a couple of days. I also love Super Saturday as an occasion and I worry that might be lost slightly if there’s four other slightly less super Saturdays.

[Oakboy]

I think the final round of a meaningful competition should feature all games starting at the same time. To not do so suggests it's more about money and TV entertainment than a top professional sporting league.

[fivepointer]

I think the final round of a meaningful competition should feature all games starting at the same time. To not do so suggests it's more about money and TV entertainment than a top professional sporting league.

Of course its all to do with money!

And being a professional game money matters rather a lot.

[Puja]

I think the final round of a meaningful competition should feature all games starting at the same time. To not do so suggests it's more about money and TV entertainment than a top professional sporting league.

Of course its all to do with money!

And being a professional game money matters rather a lot.

Agreed - it's naive to suggest knocking down one of the best beloved and most profitable bits of the international game right now. I'd question how much of a difference it makes from a sporting context as well - very rarely has a team "knowing they need to score X" rather than "knowing they probably need to score X" particularly changed the way a game has been played.

I understand the logic but as a tv spectator for 99.9% of the time I like that you don’t have to lose half a day to watch all three matches when they’re spread over a couple of days. I also love Super Saturday as an occasion and I worry that might be lost slightly if there’s four other slightly less super Saturdays.

I don't like Friday games myself - I tend to find them much lower quality - but I think your second sentence is the bit I agree with most. We don't want to kill Super Saturday with repetition.

In addition, I don't know it'd be good for casuals. It concentrates the action in one day, rather than having a game on Sunday afternoon when there's less competition - the average spod just hanging around looking for something to watch on television. Plus having all three games on a Saturday is disruptive to Saturday night television schedules and I already hear enough whining from people that the X-Factor or Love Island has been pre-empted when it only happens once a year - it won't gain us goodwill to make it happen 5 times.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

I think the final round of a meaningful competition should feature all games starting at the same time. To not do so suggests it's more about money and TV entertainment than a top professional sporting league.

Of course its all to do with money!

And being a professional game money matters rather a lot.

Agreed - it's naive to suggest knocking down one of the best beloved and most profitable bits of the international game right now. I'd question how much of a difference it makes from a sporting context as well - very rarely has a team "knowing they need to score X" rather than "knowing they probably need to score X" particularly changed the way a game has been played.

Puja

Some of the best Super Saturdays have been due to the narrative building through the day. There’s been a couple of years when the team playing in the final game knows they need to win by a big margin to clinch the title and it’s been a belter, with the added belter of a match when the team(s) playing in the second game who have a chance to win the title keep trying to rack up points for 80 mins so as ratchet up the pressure of the title chasing team in the final match. The back to back to back format has produced some absolute classics.

[twitchy]

I think the idea of people hanging around with nothing to do on a sunday afternoon so they might randomly watch italy vs wales probably hasn't happened for at least 5 or 10 or more years. If people have nothing to watch they stream things.

I think concentrating the rugby on one day builds hype/excitement. The weakest fixture being the early ko acts as a bit of an appetizer for the more hardcore fans. Then the late afternoon and evening games are the main event.

It concentrates peoples attention and all the traditional/social media gets churning.

[astralweeks]

I think it's a shocking idea, by the time the 3rd game comes round I'm almost certainly past the gallon mark and usually have no interest in the result.