Mediaweek spoke with Steve Crawley at the Fox Footy season launch in Melbourne. The conversation came just a week after Mediaweek editor Trent Thomas spoke with Crawley about Fox League.
Crawley spent many years at Nine as head of sport before joining Fox Sports and has changed titles a few times. He started as head of live sport, moved on to head of sport, was promoted to head of Fox Sports and now he is executive director of Fox Sports.
In this AFL-themed interview Crawley started off telling Mediaweek that Fox League and Fox Footy are equally important, but they are nowhere alike.
“I spent a long time observing the AFL, coming to Melbourne, seeing the administration, meeting the commentators and our production staff. It is a very different game to NRL.”
Although he covered NRL as a reporter and then at Nine, he noted he used to write about people, not necessarily sports.
Fox Footy’s Nathan Buckley and Nick Riewoldt
One of two new signings at Fox Sports channel Fox Footy this year is Nathan Buckley. “He’s bowled me over with his personality,” said Crawley.
Asked about the process when it comes to hiring on-air talent, Crawley said: “I speak with Patrick Delany who has a good feel for entertainment and the business. What we are trying to do in recent times is have fewer really good people doing more. Instead of going out and signing four or five people, this year we have signed Eddie Betts and Nathan Buckley.
“More Eddie Betts and a whole lot of Nathan Buckley has got us excited at Fox Footy.”
Crawley had a team meeting with the Fox Footy talent recently and explained he didn’t want people copying commentators they listened to when growing up. “We want them to be themselves. We have some guidelines about words we use and don’t use.”
Crawley reeled off a list of Fox Footy talent and spoke about former players, and more recent newcomers like Kath Loughnan.
Fox Footy’s Jason Dunstall
Nick Riewoldt (“a great guy, he’s different and a unique character”), Jason Dunstall (“a natural leader”), Jonathan Brown, Garry Lyon, Jordan Lewis. “People coming through too like Leigh Montagna. He’s a ripper and has a great future, as has David King, the best analyst in the game.
“Five years ago we identified Kath Loughnan and a future superstar and she has arrived.”
Fox Footy budgets
The Foxtel Group pays big dollars to broadcast AFL. It then must cover each game and pay the talent. “We get challenged every day,” said Crawley about making the numbers work. “We have to continually be better because people are paying for us. Foxtel now has 4m subscribers which allows us to invest in sport.
“We are not reckless in any way and are under scrutiny all the time from management and our owners.”
As to the impact Kayo has had, Crawley said it’s the younger streaming audience that is making the difference. “Thank heavens for Kayo.”
Fox Footy’s Kayo ratings: ‘Good and growing’
“There have been various reasons why the numbers have been slow coming through,” admitted Crawley. “They are often technical reasons. The hope is this year we will be reporting all our numbers which will be a relief for all of us. Our numbers are good and they are growing and it is exciting.”
Crawley said he doesn’t get involved in negotiating sports rights for Foxtel. “They might walk past my office and ask my opinion, but much wiser people than me get the rights.”
Now we are hopefully moving into a post-Covid period, Crawley said that for live sports, his channels want to have a presence at the venues. He noted in the US many NFL matches are called from a studio. “It’s the way the world is going. We can now set up a studio that is like being in the middle of the field.”
He indicated that this year at least, the commentary for football on Fox Sports channels will be a mix of on location and in studio.