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Season nine of the A-League has seen a coming of age for Australian football. Never before has the competition played so deep into the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby seasons.
By the time the A-League finals have been played, the oval-ball games will be a third or more into their seasons. Previously, the A-League had only played in summer, the fear being the finals – and especially the grand final – would be be ignored by the media in favour of the other codes.
Looking specifically at crowds and ratings in the NRL and AFL, pre-season and regular season crowds have taken a slight dip this year.
The real question though, is when will the A-League and its supporters believe football has become a major player in Australian sport? With player numbers, football is the clear winner and in internet hits, depending on what count you use, football is doing very well. But when will football match or pass AFL and NRL match schedules?
Today both the AFL and NRL produce 210 matches give or take. The A-League only has 140-odd. This is the challenge football has never been able to fight. Playing in winter has always been seen as impossible. In HAL 9, football was not wiped off the floor when played in the other codes’ seasons.
Next year, Australia is hosting the Asian Cup, meaning the A-League will have to play deeper into the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby seasons. If the A-League holds its own, an additional two teams should be introduced. This will make the league a lot more marketable.
Assume that a 12-team A-League, with teams playing each other three times, would have six games a week for 33 rounds – including finals, that’s 205 games. Add the FFA Cup games (32 or more), the Asian Champions League games (24 at least), the Socceroos games (10), the Matildas (10), plus another 12 W-League games and that’s 293 matches.
Football would have close to 300 matches available to broadcast across a number of competitions.
The importance of playing deep into the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby seasons is in the number of matches football will have across a number of competitions. Expanding the league would potentially more than double the current television rights deal.
As an aside, go to google and complete four searches: Super Rugby, rugby league, AFL and A-League. Write down the hit figures, you will get quite a surprise.
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