So we have all cancelled the early retirement plans and started stockpiling baked beans. The global credit crunch has had a world wide effect, but what impact will it have on the Australian sporting landscape? And if there is a football war going on, what will it do to the war chests?
Wearing a different hat than that of a humble Roar columnist, I spoke to the NBA’s commissioner David Stern last week about the financial robustness of the competition, given that plenty of football fans in Europe are nervously watching the news as their chairmen deal with eye-watering debts as assets often secured by the football club plummet in value.
Stern was confident that the system of debt limitation and salary caps would help limit the exposure of the franchises to the problems of the wider business world.
He is a strong advocate of strong central regulation, which was interesting given that he hails from a country that prides itself on being the home of market liberalism (or at least, was until the word ‘bailout’ was on everyone’s lips).
His jargon would have almost had him in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the McCarthy era.
Stern argued the cap prevented the owners from “spending to oblivion” and it was clear he had little time for the business models of the Abramovich’s of this world.
However, it was equally illuminating given that it seems only yesterday people were claiming the need for the abolition of such caps in Australia.
We were told, “there is no limit on what a CEO can earn.”
We are now finding out the precise problem with such a situation.
It is interesting to note that the sports facing the biggest problems currently are ones who weren’t policed by a salary cap.
There is even talk of one being brought into European football. However, I’d be quick to dismiss that as hollow rhetoric.
Stern admitted that season ticket renewals are slower this year in the NBA, but he believed that this coupled with an increase in new season ticket purchases as well as opportunity for an increase in general sales.
Still, the experienced commissioner did agree that sporting tickets fell into the category of “disposable income” and when this gets tight, the competition for that income increases.
In Australia, with greater scarcity of the punter’s dollars, our football codes have the tougher challenge of making the spending decision of the fan tip in their favour.
First of all, let’s dispel the myth that the economic downturn is bad for everybody.
That is simply not the case.
Already seeing an upturn in fortunes are Domino’s pizza (nothing makes you feel better about a plummeting house price than an extra large Hawaiian), Tie Rack (a new tie might make the boss think twice about firing you, despite you spending the last eighteen months on Facebook) and, interestingly, movie cinemas, as people seek escapism and simple pleasures.
This last one was especially salient for sporting administrators as the line trotted out is often that lean economic times automatically equate to a drop in attendances.
I’m not so sure this should be the case.
Surely if the credit crunch means it is more likely someone will fork out their hard earned to watch the latest offering from Adam Sandler over 93 minutes, then they might also want to take the opportunity to also watch their team strut their stuff.
Anyone who has spent any time listening to talk back radio will no doubt have heard the tales of woe of the cost of a family man taking his kids to the footy.
I’ve never heard the same complaints about the cost of getting them in to see Wall E on the big screen.
But maybe that has something to do with our mindset: we feel like we can complain to our local footy team but not to Hoyts.
Despite the general admission to most club games being comparable to a full priced ticket at the movies, it does seem that people need to be enticed more to attend the footy than they do to roll up to the multiplex.
It is often argued that ticket prices shouldn’t be dropped because it then appears that you are cheapening the product.
However, in the English Premier League, newly promoted West Bromwich Albion actually cut the price of season tickets to a three year low at the same time as going up, despite having a greater wage bill to sustain.
It was all about locking supporters and guaranteeing income rather than allowing their fate to be dictated by whims of form during the season.
But if we are not watching games at the ground, we seem to be doing so at home.
The crunch is likely to have a big impact on the next wave of television deals that football codes have been eying off since the ink dried on their last one.
Sporting CEOs have resembled Enron executives as they seemingly pluck an enormous figure out of the sky and claim this is their new target for the next deal.
It was an easy job because everywhere was awash with cash, but now that this isn’t the case, it is likely the respective bean counters are starting to revise their figures as the cash to support those deals are drying up over night.
And if that happens, there may be a few questions to consider.
How might the AFL fund their raid into Western Sydney without the next bonanza of TV cash?
What effect will any drop in funding have on the NRL grants system?
And with the Foxtel deal keeping most A-League clubs afloat, what happens if the big increase that has been banked on at the end of the current deal simply doesn’t arrive?
I had coffee recently with an A-League insider who claimed their next television deal would surpass the NRL’s. It was simply a matter of the clubs surviving until then.
That survival suddenly might not be so simple.
What of John O’Neil’s grand plan to see private benefactors from the big end of town pouring cash into rugby franchises?
As Spiro has pointed out in a previous article, they might have a few other things on their mind at present.
The collapse of TV money has had disastrous effects on sports in the past in both the UK and Germany. And while it may seem a little dramatic to predict the downfall of a channel in Australia, it might not be so radical to predict some serious belt tightening.
Then again we might have said that before C7 checked out.
My prediction is that fans of one code will have plenty of optimism about their chosen sport but dire predictions about the health of others,
This off-season could have more drama than most.
Andystath
Guest
Sorry about the spelling and punctuation,I've sampled a few amber ales tonight.
Andystath
Guest
I thought this article was about TV rights and the advancement of the various codes through the procurement of funds from these rights.The realitity is that rugby and A-league are pretty much stuffed due to the fact that they have to value add to their products to retain any semblance of previous broadcasting agreements.AFL is sitting prettiest of all due to the fact that club memberships fund the running cost of the clubs and the one that aren't solvent from membership like the Demons are going to be given the ass, forced to merge or relocate.League, Oikee is the biggest headcase of them all ,with all TV rights being funnelled into the 16 teams running costs and divided between two organisations,one of which is half owned by the main broadcaster of the sport.Nearly every football team in Sydney in every code is insolvent or have lost a truckload of money.All you fotbol fans won't be cheering so loud when the credit crunch finally bites the likes of Lowy stop the funding.Rugby Union is in its most perilous position in its 150yr history.League is going to have to economically rationalise and reduce the Sydney teams and expand nationaly or become irrelevant,which it is internationally anyway.I really hate to say it,but I think AFL will win the heart of the nation, eventually.
oikee
Guest
It might only be 10% of shite Millster but most of the t/v news is that 10% and thats normally soccer from overseas, did you not hear or see that senagal riot after the game against Gambia. Anyhow, league also has issues, i am not getting into cricket as they have there own problems as well. I think penrith has a problem, but that understandable its a hotbed for youth.(western Sydney)
Pippinu
Roar Guru
MC I went to Victoria Park once in my lifetime - it was 1978 and I was just a kid (an oldish kid - pre-licence age). It was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Collingwood won 21 goals something to 3 goals something (no exaggeration) - and it was as if there were like 6 other Footscray supporters in the whole ground - which was full of the ugliest, most terrible people I have ever had the displeasure of sharing close quarters. Going against the wind in the first quarter, it was still early on and Templeton took a mark deep in the quarter, very near to where the small band of doggy supporters were. Incredibly, he went for a torp, which was spiralling towards the goals for half the journey, before the wind grabbed hold of it and sent to the opposite pocket. The lady next to me got excited: I tell you what, I tell you what...before she faded once it was clear that Kelvin's kick had also faded terribly. Then it seemed like the whole Collingwood grandstand came down on her like a ton of bricks: well, tell us! go on! what's your brilliant Kelvin going to do next! blah, blah, blah My thoughts at the time?? Bloody hell - haven't you learned anything?! You tried the exact same thing on debut a few years ago, and that was against Collingwood as well!! At the Western Oval, but same pocket, against the wind, ball ends up in the opposite pocket!
Michael C
Guest
Millster - or don't know any different (the worlds fans) - which is probably why certain aspects are more open to debate in countries such as Australia and the US.......more so Australia because Aust Footy gives a very different (but nonetheless diverse) comparison to soccer (than does Grid Iron). Still - - 'tis a fabricated abstract concept..........based on miliatry doctrine of the 18th and 19th centures.... AFL behaviour - - - I never went to Victoria Park, and I dare not park a Vic registered car at AAMI stadium carpark............that said, I've never had an issue..........other than the language of some............however, I know of a friend of my wife whose brother in law was bashed one time (after the game, outside of the ground - - - so, sort of qualifies). There's idiots every where - - - my main issues are around flares (outright dangerous), the mexican wave with projectiles (outright dangerous), and too much 'mob mentality' (I don't trust mobs, especially when lubricated!!!).
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Yes - it's true that in decades past the racial abuse at AFL games bordered on extreme, usually specatotors against players rather than amongst spectators - but let's give AFL the credit they deserve to for taking reasonable action to virtually stamp it out. By the way folks - where do people normally get their Fox Sports rankings that they often bandy around here??
Millster
Guest
MC - 1. re offside... bottom line is that the worlds fans don't see the need for those reforms. They find the balance quite right as it is. 2. re crowd behaviour... AFL behaviour would have ranked even higher for me if I hadn't seen 80+% of my games at Subi, perhaps? The downer for me is one-eyed disrespect to opponent teams fans (sometimes nasty - not a fun spirit) and also racist oral abuse of players. But that may be WA-specific and less so in Melbourne. Those things said, every code down to and including League on my list is just fine. Its only cricket that I really find consistently objectionable in terms of the crowd.
Michael C
Guest
re crowd behaviour - I'd be in no position to dispute your ranking - - and reality, for tennis........apart from some home Davis cup crowds in was it Spain or Chile or somewhere.......mostly, around the world, they're pretty good....................come's down to the etiquette of each sport to a degree.
Michael C
Guest
Millster - yeah, but off-side was supposedly intrinsic to hockey, but removing it didn't see a glut of goals and at least removed that 'grey' area in the rules interpretation. the reasoning for abolision: to transfer the balance of power towards the offense, to create more space around the circle and mid-field, to help the flow of play, more goals and less whistles, and to make the game more exciting and appealing to spectators. however, still - in hockey - goals are hard to come by........off-side it seems wasn't the major issue.
Millster
Guest
MC - yes the Aust Open thing made me think about that. But I had to put it first in fairness because a childhood and adolescence of regular Hopman Cup attendances, the odd Davis Cup fixture, and 3 or 4 days at Roland Garros due to my French family visits made me still put it #1 overall. I'm also aware that Rugby at #2 is based on the perhaps atypical Brumbies crowd in Canberra, plus an amazingly good experience of being a minority France fan at the France V England semi at ANZ stadium in 2003 (great ribbing but in really amazing spirit and a fantastic time was had by all).
Millster
Guest
MC - your own propensity for stats should answer your own question. Yes goalies are getting better but more goals are being scored on average. Also the variable that FIFA has chosen to vary is the technology of the ball itself. Lighter or heavier models, ones with more or less swerve, etc. There is usually quite some debate before each World Cup and Euro tournament on how the 'character' of the particular ball chosen will affect the style of play. Also are you suggesting that goalies have gotten better but strikers have not? Offside is vital to the character of the game of football. Football is unapologetically a low scoring and defense-oriented game; the obvious corollary is a set of very demanding pressures on attackers. To relax this rule and allow one or more centre-forwards to be parked in the box the whole time would diminish the game greatly. Finally, about "theoretical", there is nothing theoretical about it compared to a line. The last active defender is as solid an object as any side-line flag or strip of white paint. The only difference is that he/she is mobile, and tries to use positioning to his/her advantage.
Michael C
Guest
Millster - Tennis first.............and perhaps that's what shook a lot of media when suddenly their were racial 'incidents' at the Aust Open...........(perhaps the problem had been 'moved on' from the soccer terraces to the tennis???).
Michael C
Guest
Midfielder - off side is the ultimate in theoretical fabrications...........an imaginary line across the field.........it's quite one thing to paint lines and as in netball set exactly where you can and can't run. but, an imaginary line that moves up and down the field........and these days with the passive off-side, so, it's imaginary and has holes in it............ it's an abstract rules concept. Don't imagine that I'm not suggesting that my preferred game, AFL, doesn't have abstract rules and interpretational rules. Off-side though, means different things to different games at different times over the years. So - - fabricating rules a little more or less - - shouldn't be an issue. HOwever - fact is that goal keepers are taller, more athletic and full time professionals - so, in relative terms, the target area of a soccer goal has been reduced despite the goal mouth not changing size. At what point is it required to make a change? the basketball analogy of at what point does the basket get raised for each age group as they progress from juniors to open competition. LIkewise, you could increase the size of the soccer goal for open age professional leagues.
Millster
Guest
Yep agree Pip about the cause of it. Plus its a game where you get 5-second bursts of 'action' with 2 minute pauses in between, plus change of overs, plus drinks, plus breaks etc... 90% of the time spent in cricket is waiting for something to happen. In oz, my ranking from best to worst for crowd behaviour would be Tennis, Union, AFL, Football, League, then daylight, and last Cricket.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Millster having attended a variety of sports in front of big crowds at the MCG, I'd have to agree that the cricket crowds are the most susceptible to poor behaviour in my experience. Not too hard to work out why: it's summer, it's hot, they're there all day, maybe into the night, with their mates, and they've had a skinful by then.
Millster
Guest
Oikee - I should add that in the last 5 years I've seen top-level matches overseas too with no hassle at all. In England I've been to Highbury, White Heart Lane and Upton Park. In France, about a half-dozen times to the Parc des Princes and once to the Stade de France for an international. In Japan I've seen matches at Saitama and the National Stadium. And once to the stadium in Bern to see a World Cup Qualifier between Turkey and Switzerland. Never once seen any trouble whatsoever. As I said again, the only place where - when attending live, or on TV - I've thought crowds were just filth were Aussie cricket crowds. So on that basis I don't think that Aussies are a more civilised lot than elsewhere. They have been responsible for the worst fan behaviour I've ever seen. That said of course 90% of people are great and its the 10% of shit that makes things a disgrace. So I'm not bagging out everyone.
oikee
Guest
Yes the off-side rule is what M.C is saying a pain in the arse, in league and soccer its sometimes a line ball decision and irks me also. I can see where he is coming from. And i know its the same game and has not changed alot all these years, there has been talk over the last ten years of changing things with-in the game dont forget, i even think that there was talk of making the goals bigger. Nothing wrong with change, as long as it improves the game.
Midfielder
Guest
MC You have lost me with your comment on off side ...... its part of our game as it is in RU & RL
Midfielder
Guest
Oikee You said "Whats being ignorant about nil-all K.B iit is what it says, nil -all, even a ignorant person can understand this is what you should be saying, and to decide games on nil-all, thats what you are brought up on, nobody else who follow other codes," Well ........ sorry to break this News to you .......... but compare Football playing numbers to RL playing numbers ......... so some % of RL folk including yourself do not understand football and a nil - all, your statement even an ignorant person ..... define this person ....... someone who grew up in NSW & QLD ........ or most of the rest of the world ......... interesting your comment is. Oikee as an aside in my younger days I played semi professional RL i.e. got paid to play .and more than I got in my day job..... still go clap clap , clap clap clap MANLY, ........... the game I played had four tackles and we stood 10 yards (sometimes apart), with no replacement in the second half it changed during my playing days to a second half replacement could be made, this replaced an unlimited tackle game with teams being six yards apart and no replacement in the second half, today sides stand 20 meters apart and have 10 or 12 (it changed I know) interchanges with a squad of 17 playersand and six tackles, the scoring is differnt as well when I played a try was worth 3 and a field goal was worth 2, today a try is worth 4 and a field goal 1. The game I played is similar but totally different to the game played today. Whereas the LAWS (not rules) of football have had two changes over the same time period first no tackles from behind, and no pass back to goal keepers. Football is essentially the same game aside from the above chanres that was played 120 or more years ago so if I was a cruel person I would say to you RL can not even decide what it is and is purely a US media product like the roller game ....... I know it's much more ...... and I played at quite a high level so I am not being disrespectable ....... just ask for similar when you talk about football laws and history as football is global and is the same game as it was all that time ago.
oikee
Guest
Not singling out football oz dasilva, i was talking overseas, i consider the ozzies civalized subjects, or as close to grorillas as you get, and sorry K.B i was talking about the whaling, not the war. :)