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We can expect more Thursday night games if the A-League expands, since TV broadcast rights are effectively underpinning the competition.
Central Coast Mariners and the 5000 supporters who turned out to watch them defeat Perth Glory 2-0 in Gosford last night deserve some credit.
Central Coast’s chief executive Shaun Mielekamp may have complained that the midweek scheduling did his team no favours at the gate, but the Mariners at least look a much tougher outfit under Paul Okon than they did last season.
And if the next TV broadcast deal is supposed to be worth $80 million per season – as so many A-League fans on social media will tell you – then can we really complain when broadcasters want midweek football to help fill their schedules?
The Thursday night kick-off may have inconvenienced Mariners fans last night, but guess what? I watched the game on Fox Sports and I sincerely doubt I was the only person to do so.
It may have escaped the attention of the average A-League punter, but the NRL released its 2017 fixture list yesterday with one glaring new addition.
A 6pm Friday kick-off has been added, and judging by comments from NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg, they’re not too concerned by the prospect of no one actually showing up to watch it.
“Fans will be able to see two games live on Fridays and, while the early game may present some challenges in terms of attendances, we think it will be a big hit,” Greenberg said.
So it’s clear broadcasters have an increasingly large say in the way sport is consumed in this country.
With that being the case, why doesn’t Football Federation Australia simply ask prospective A-League broadcasters who they would most like to see as expansion teams?
Because, if we’re being serious, surely a Tasmanian bid has to come into contention for the potential TV audience it could generate alone? Or if that metric is completely irrelevant, then why were the Wellington Phoenix handed a four-year licence extension last year?
David Gallop’s oft-repeated “fish where the fishes are” comment appeared to rule out much of regional Australia for a potential expansion place. But surely a far greater concern is FFA botching expansion by placing clubs in already saturated markets?
If Gallop wants to understand how having too many clubs in one city can affect a marketplace, he need only look to his former employer to watch nine Sydney-based NRL clubs battle it out in watered-down derbies each week.
Placing a ‘southern Sydney’ team in the A-League will not only cannibalise Sydney FC’s support, but it’s unlikely to tap into a new TV market either.
And as Matt Connellan explained, combining a southern Sydney bid with a team from Wollongong is a huge mistake. Just ask St George Illawarra fans.
The A-League already has two ready-made expansion markets available in Wollongong and Canberra, so if neither of those two cities are viable options, then it’s incumbent upon FFA to do due diligence on a Tasmanian bid as an alternative.
My concern is that FFA is going to rush the expansion process and end up with clubs in markets it can’t sustain – namely Sydney’s south and Brisbane.
A second Brisbane side is a pipedream unless it plays out of a redeveloped Perry Park – and that’s a big if considering how much work needs to be done to bring the ground up to standard.
Any talk of a Logan or Ipswich bid invariably comes from fans down south who seem to have little understanding of the geography or demographics of Brisbane.
If FFA wants a ready-made club to step into the breach, they’d be better off bringing South Melbourne into the A-League.
But if they’re serious about TV metrics, they should run the numbers on Tasmania.
That particular bid may have come from left field, but when the fish jumps into the boat, sometimes the best thing to do is simply whack it over the head.