Record Australian TV ratings for a regular season NFL fixture "are expected for Jarryd Hayne's first official game for the San Francisco 49ers next week," according to Michael Chammas of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. ESPN has the exclusive TV rights to Hayne's first outing against the Minnesota Vikings at Levi's Stadium on Monday Night Football, "which will be shown live on pay TV in Australia" from 12:15pm AEST. The previous record for the largest audience on ESPN in Australia "was set during the 2014 Super Bowl between Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks" in N.Y., when 120,000 tuned in. The record for any NFL match broadcast in Australia "was on free to air when Channel Seven showed last year's Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, with 354,000 viewers tuning in on Seven and another 94,000 watching on ESPN." Seven Network "requested to show all bar one (season opener against Vikings on ESPN) of the 49ers' regular-season games" on free-to-air TV. Seven is "negotiating for the right to show every other game involving Hayne," but NFL Exec VP of Int'l Mark Waller said that "it was unlikely all of one club's matches would be given to Seven." Waller said, "One of the things that's important for us is that when we develop the game internationally, we work on behalf of all 32 owners. Part of our charter as NFL international is to represent all 32 teams equally. So the idea of having a specific broadcaster show all of one team's games might not sit well with the other 31. But we'll definitely work with them [Seven] to see if we can do more" (SMH, 9/7).
HOT ITEM: In Melbourne, Tom Decent wrote "it is not just Australians who are getting behind" Hayne, with the former Parramatta player's No. 38 jersey currently the most popular selling shirt on the NFL's online store. The "Men's San Francisco 49ers Jarryd Hayne Nike Scarlet Game Jersey" is the highest-selling shirt out of hundreds of other options, but another Hayne jersey -- his "Pro Line Mens San Francisco 49ers Jarryd Hayne Team Color Jersey" -- comes in at second on the list. To get some kind of perspective on Hayne's popularity at the moment, "more people want to buy his jersey" than that of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and N.Y. Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Hayne's jerseys are being sold for $99.95 (THE AGE, 9/7).
