In the world of sports rights, warehousing is never a good sign. Warehousing, in this sense, is where a broadcaster owns the rights to something and does not show it – but prevents others from showing it instead.

The practice is indicative of an arrangement where the broadcaster has an upper hand because the sport needs it more than vice versa. The fans suffer from a cuckold type situation, the sport a prisoner to its own poorly-conceived contractual fine print.

Recent examples in rugby league include Channel Nine putting the Sunday afternoon game on one-hour delay and 2GB buying the rights to 7.30pm Saturday games a few years ago and not calling them.

This is a bad sign for a sport because it indicates the product is popular enough to covet, but individual events are not profitable enough to broadcast.