‘The Footy Show‘ is in big trouble, you guys. Big, big trouble.
The AFL version of Channel Nine‘s long-running blokes club has suffered through a year of cascading scandals, perpetrated by and affecting the show’s cast of regular hosts. But this latest one is putting the production in serious jeopardy.
In the wake of Sam Newman‘s astonishing rant against Fairfax journalist Caroline Wilson over the by-now well-trodden saga with Eddie McGuire and his “joking” comments about holding her underwater in an ice pool, the show has had major sponsor Nissan sensationally announce that they will pull their sponsorship of the program at the end of the 2016 AFL season.
Nissan is one of three major sponsors of the program, and its withdrawal is a massive blow to the future of the show.
Crisis talks and negotiations between Nissan and Nine bosses had gone down at Nissan’s Dandenong HQ concerning Newman and his comments, which the Australian Communications and Media Authority may still yet investigate.
The car company did not directly confirm they had pulled their sponsorship, but a statement issued contained very blunt language about the conduct of Newman.
“The comments made by Sam Newman that were broadcast on The Footy Show last week do not align with Nissan’s brand values and we have discussed this matter with Channel Nine. As you would expect, Nissan’s ongoing marketing and sponsorship arrangements are commercial in confidence.”
Nine bosses have been standing by both Newman and the show, but the pulled sponsorship caps off a tumultuous month for the show, which has shed half its Melbourne audience inside just 4 weeks.
The episode which aired on June 9 pulled in 365,000 Melbourne viewers. But by last night’s episode, that number had plummeted to just 163,000.
In fact, last night’s episode only achieved a total nationwide viewership of 494,000, and even that was due to audience figures from both the AFL and NRL versions of the show (which air live at the same time in different markets) were combined.
Nine boss Ian Patterson, despite all this, touted the show’s success this year.
“I’m excited by what’s been achieved by The Footy Show in 2016 and we can all look forward to a long future.”
If that’s not the television equivalent of a football club publicly stating that they “stand behind our coach 100%” before unceremoniously knifing him two weeks later, I don’t know what is.
Bloody YIIIIIIIIIIIKES.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Quinn Rooney.
