Footy’s media war goes up a notch as legend Garry Lyon claims Foxtel stars were treated awfully compared to their Channel Seven rivals
Fox Footy analyst Garry Lyon has slammed the facilities that his commentary team had to deal with at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the AFL season opener on Thursday night as he complained about rival network Seven getting far better treatment.
As part of the AFL’s broadcast deal, Seven and Fox had separate teams calling the Sydney vs Hawthorn showdown last week, with the pay TV outfit now having its own exclusive callers for every match of the season.
Lyon says the broadcast conditions were substandard for the Fox Footy team.
‘I’m not sure whether I should launch about this or not,’ Lyon said on SEN.
‘All I will say is this: if you are going to put your hand up for billions of dollars from a broadcaster of which one pays more than the other, And it is a new set-up with the two broadcasters but you have six months prepare, so one broadcaster – in this case, Seven – has the original broadcast set-up.
‘Then it is incumbent on you to provide a broadcasting set-up for the other one that is deemed to be adequate.’
Garry Lyon is furious about the facilities his commentary team had to deal with at the Sydney Cricket Ground for last Friday’s season-opening match
Seven and Fox Footy now have individual teams calling the footy as part of the AFL’s new deal – and tensions are already bubbling to the surface
Lyon called for improvements to the SCG’s broadcast facilities as soon as possible.
‘The one that we were provided with… two by three metres, we were separate to our callers,’ he said.
‘So you have this tiny stinking hot box, barely enough room to put your computer on the table.
‘I could go on for this for another 10 minutes… but if Sydney want big games, big Friday and Thursday night games guess what you are now getting a huge wedge of money.’
Meanwhile, footy fans blasted Fox Footy’s large scoreboard graphic during the match.
Footy star Bailey Smith shared his anger about the graphic with his followers on social media.
‘Get this s*** off my TV,’ he posted along with a photo of his TV screen.
Lyon wants improvements made to the SCG’s broadcast facilities as soon as possible
He circled the large graphic and asked: ‘Why’s it so big?’
Smith then shared another image to indicate that he was now watching the live coverage on Channel 7.
Suns coach Damien Hardwick also criticised the graphic.
‘Sorry … couldn’t see the highlight as it was under the giant scoreboard and commentators’ photos,’ he tweeted.
