Don’t you like it when pretentious writers use some obscure foreign reference to start a “This is what I think about stuff” story that then doesn’t really make sense to the point and theme of the story?
I don’t like it, I love it!
So without any more waffling I present ‘esprit d’escalier,’ which translates to the wit of the staircase’, and usually refers to the perfect witty response you think up after the conversation or argument is ended.
It’s the answer you cannot make, the pattern you cannot complete till afterwards it suddenly comes to you when it is too late.”
So there you go you can impress your hipster friends with some French speak, while you eat that slow cooked meal at the trendy Lesbian cafe which you arrived with on your single speed bicycle.
What has suddenly come to late is that after five years football is not earning nowhere near enough what it is spending.
What must have been Frank Lowy, John O’Neil and Matt Caroll been thinking when they first negotiated the TV deal five years ago?
Especially when the deal was negotiated before the Socceroos scored their first ever World Cup goal, before they won their first ever World Cup game game and before they qualified for their first ever World Cup Round of 16 match.
Frank Lowy is Australia’s richest man and you don’t get that rich without being able to negotiate. However, the truth regarding football’s TV deal is that it pulled its pants down too early and left them down for too long.
When Harry Kewell scored that goal against Croatia to take the Socceroos into the knockout stages of the World Cup, Foxtel must have looked at the TV deal with big smiles on their dials while the FFA suits must have been looking down at their ankles feeling the breeze.
I have said this before and I’ll say it again, that John O’Neill’s best work for Rugby came while he was working for the Football Federation of Australia, having negotiated a deal that took the FFA’s biggest asset away from Free to Air and onto Pay TV, which has only a 25% take up of the Australian population.
Let’s look at the TV revenue numbers:
* AFL $780m for 5 years, or $156m per year
* Rugby League $500m for 6 years, or $85m per year
* Football $120m for 7 years, or just over $17m per year
Football can only spread $17m to its now 11 clubs. Dusting off the calculator, that works out to $1.5 million a club.
Some reports have come out recently that it costs $8m a year to run an A League club. Did anyone look at the expenses and revenues columns and see a big red number at the bottom of the page?
Some pundits have said that football needs to get a stronger foothold in the mainstream media. Don’t hold your breath.
The mainstream media will not give any favours to football.
They have other sports they need to peddle.
A recent Tim Cahill documentary features Timmy on the way to a Socceroos World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan last April. He is flicking through the sport’s section of the Sydney paper the Daily Terror and laments the lack of coverage of football.
After flicking through pages of Rugby League, Netball and Sailing he finally finds a Socceroos article, Tim holds up his hands in defeat and says: “what do we have to do?
So the mainstream media doesn’t care, crowds are dropping off, and the clubs are losing money. What can football do to save itself and shut up the prophets of doom?
All we can do is hope and wait.
First, we hope that the Socceroos do well at the World Cup beginning in June and that this reminds the Australian sporting public of the chaos, beauty and awesomeness that is football. And that this emotion and goodwill then flows through to the A-League.
We hope that Australia wins the bid the bid for the 2018/ 2022 World Cup and wait for the decision by the 24 man FIFA executive in December, then finally we wait until the new TV deal comes up in a couple of years that will hopefully secure the A-League’s stability.
Otherwise, I’ll be looking for the French phrase that translates to “we are f****d” (nous sommes baisés).
DaMan3000
Guest
"tell those MF’s to start dancing…" Con, you wouldn't believe how much that made me smile.
Midfielder
Guest
Gweeds TBH if Obie Wan was not in charge we would be in deep poo ... The skill of the FFA management team & management skills of the clubs is important right now... Forward issues are stadium costs, expansion costs and the WC & Asian Cup bids... I have seen a number of false dawns in football before ... we need to be very careful we stay afloat until the next media deal.... it would take years to rebuild to were we are at present... Next season FFA have a 2.6 million dollar promotion budget ... seems very small ... My guess and hope is enough football folk will realise how difficult a birth our A-league is and give it full support (hint hint SBS) ... but from a supporters view we need to keep going to games and drag as many people as you can ... talk at work etc... I am under no illusion how difficult a task this is... and I am fully aware of the rewards at the other end if we can survive the next four years.... My hope is Fox are no fools ... Fox would know if they hold the gun to FFA heads and do not renegotiate the contract .. FFA will not be kind to Fox at the next Media deal... Renegotiation talks appear to be taken place if the media reports of the 300 million 5 year deal from late last year are to be believed... my reading of the tea leafs is there is a big game of poker going on right now... Fox have survival money along with expansion money on the table but in return want a similar exclusive deal they have today in five years time if they match other bidders... FFA want free to air matches especially the Socceroos... FFA are saying we can hold out but if you force that then don't come asking for any favours... Fox are saying that assumes you can survive until the next media deal..
Gweeds
Guest
Can I say that despite the fact that Ben Buckley hasn't exactly been a favourite of many football fans lately, I believe he negotiated a very good TV deal when he was with the AFL. Perhaps his knowledge and skills in this area will be very useful for TV coverage in the future.
whiskeymac
Guest
300-500 is a massive range. if you were a real estate agent i wld suspect you'd be made to substantiate how you came to such a wide estimation but your optimism has got me thinking that if rugby got a good deal and the others look to to do the same, how much money will actually be left? i assume the media has finite income as well... what wld happen if they buy something they cant afford?is the media under strain at all with more internet content etc? its happened before. could it happen in Oz?
Brendo51
Guest
This is a great result for us, 1. S15 is in a very similar position to us and this gives us a excellent view on what to expect at the next TV Deal 2. Channel ONE are still without any signficant additional content. If TEN/ONE also miss out on AFL rights they will be left with very little content and will come big time for the A-league rights. 3. Socceroos like the Wallabies are going to be listed as being mandatory to FTA so to see a $100 increase in their overall rights is very heartening Would be very confident now of securing $300 - $500M for the rights. On the negative side you have to wonder how much extra Fox offered to lock ONE out of the Live broadcast of S15 matches. FFA are going to be in the same boat (ie a Choice between large bucks for a Pay Only Deal and a signficantly lesser amount if they want a game on FTA). I suspect they will opt for the money and we will only see a highlights package on FTA in this next deal. Hopefully ONE ups the ante and goes for the whole lot.
Redb
Roar Guru
What I think Forgetmenot is saying that the A League has rushed a few of the recent expansion teams into the comp without building them up with the community beforehand. it's not the first sporting comp to do that by the way, but the whole of the A League is full of expansion/new teams. The TV deal wll grow once the various teams get a solid fan base, eg: Melb Victory are there. Probably a little hard when all the teams were so new without any mass rusted on fans. Melb Victory, Adelaide United, maybe Sydney FC, have bankable fans of reasonable size and interest to TV networks, but it takes time to grow them. Pay TV ratings are still small. it would be fair to say some EPL teams have bigger fan bases than A League teams in Australia, but the value of the TV rights to the A League is not for soccer as a whole, but the A League. The initial TV deal did not appear under valued and if the ratings were good that would signal the opportunity for expansion. If anything the FFA have jumped the gun rather than consolidating the initial 8 teams as a valuable TV product. Putting the cart before the horse so to speak.
Midfielder
Guest
Forgetmenot Your post where you said... """In regards to the a-league expansion. Perhaps they should do what the AFL does and get the soccer club into the community a year or two before their a-league debut. """" Football community presence is huge, totally different to the AFL & WS...the trouble because of past poor managment the media deal Football has is well behind the other codes...also meanfuling media from the main stream is small... The upshot is, football is trying to look and act like the AFL, NRL & RU with about 15% of the income from the media... This can only go on for so long ... and the point Con was making is how much longer can we continue with such a small media deal ... and dare I say little main stream media which does help with crowds and thus the revenue stream..
whiskeymac
Guest
it is interesting. also shows that Fox dont give up their content easily. you wld think that one free to air game a week wldnt hurt their coverage and might even expose s15 to new people etc. this is important for the game, especially with big financial losses just recorded. in many respects rugby's situation is that also occupied by the HAL. we also want a fta game. we also want more money. we also need Fox still. one thing the SANZAR have which we dont is NZ and RSA fanatics also being part of the bid/ negotiations. as a three country collective the relatively small (but affluent) support in Oz is able to increase its voice by having the rugby mad kiwis and saffers being in their corner. some might say we have Asia in ours, but in reality this isnt quite the same.yes more people and money, but not as yet realised or much of a pull re:local fox negotiations.
Con Stamocostas
Roar Pro
Check this out. Very Interesting. Surely the Soceroos are worth more than the Wallabies. $100m boost for rugby By Iain Payten From: The Daily Telegraph April 22, 2010 12:00AM SUPER 14 rugby will return to free-to-air TV on Channel 9 next year as part of a rich new broadcasting deal to be announced by the Australian Rugby Union this morning. A new five-year agreement is understood to have landed Australia, South Africa and New Zealand a 30 per cent boost in value for the broadcast rights for Test and Super rugby, ensuring a $450 million windfall for the SANZAR partners. This represents an increase of more than $100 million from their previous TV deal - $346 million paid for the 2006-2010 period. The deal is believed to have left all parties content, and reflects the added value provided by the expanded content of the Super 15 competition in 2011. The new tournament will see five teams from each country in three conferences, ensuring 10 local derbies at favourable timeslots and a guaranteed entrant into the finals each year from each nation. But while FoxSports will continue to broadcast all Wallabies Tests and Super 14 games live, Nine have taken over from Channel 7 as rugby's free-to-air broadcaster and will not only show Australia's Test matches but also bring Super rugby content back to free-to-air. For the first time in 10 years, Nine will broadcast a highlights package of games featuring the five Australian teams, including the new Melbourne Rebels franchise. Super 15 free-to-air content proved to be a contentious issue in Australian TV broadcasting rights negotiations, with Channel 10/One interested in Test rights but only if they could also buy the rights to a weekly live Super match. The Ten offer was rejected, with Foxsports keen to protect its rights as the exclusive broadcaster for Super rugby. News Limited, publisher of The Daily Telegraph, owns half of Foxsports and also held the broadcasting rights for rugby in Australia and New Zealand. Nine, who are already the rights holders to the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups, stepped in and reportedly paid $10 million to broadcast Wallabies Tri-Nations Tests, domestic Tests and a weekly package of Super 15 highlights. The allure of Bledisloe Cups and the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour was a selling point, but not enough for Seven to recommit after several years of poor ratings. Nine are uncertain whether they will pick up the Seven model and show the FoxSports feed with their own panel, or mount their own production.
Con Stamocostas
Roar Pro
I've only been writing about football for a couple of years. But I have written on this topic before on the Roar and Goal: http://afootballstory.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-league-is-afls-poor-cousin-football.html http://afootballstory.blogspot.com/2009/04/australias-football-renaissance-remains.html
Aka
Guest
Con, why didn't you write this article when the deal was first signed?
whiskeymac
Guest
good article Con. here's hoping the future $'s allows the game to maintain momentum. Fox showed good faith and in return got a very good deal from it. but the FFA aren't blushing brides anymore. The 7 year itch is almost upon us and we are all curious to see what else is out there. a bit of FTA to spice it up and stay with Fox wld make most sense. and such an arrangement is very French too.
Brendo51
Guest
Con Oh it would be nice to own a crystal ball. I find articles like this very amusing. It is always so easy to look back and say they should have waited or should have gotten a better deal but actually put yourself in their shoes at the time. Socceroos hadn't qualified for World Cup and hadn't done so for 30 odd years. Asia Confederation hadn't been confirmed so we were still looking at the awful qualification path. A-league was a totally unknown quantity and with the Channel 7 Disaster fresh in everyones minds worth practially zero. The only FTA option was SBS who was willing/able to only pay peanuts and tbh would not be enough for a fullly professional league So in this environment you think the FFA has done a poor job or generating a $17M per year deal. You have having a laugh, this was a fantastic deal at the time and remains the reason we have the A-league today. Instead of lambasting the FFA you should be praising them. Of course the next deal is occuring in completely different circumstances and the result we should be expecting should also reflect that but lets be realistic about the past.
Farqwar
Guest
It can be frustrating waiting for the game to take off when you know the potential it has. But despite everything that is going on at the moment I think Football is stronger than its ever been, the quality is getting better and the clubs are starting to work out what is actually involved. Australia is developing a Football culture if you will. The most important thing for a business is surely the potential for growth and surely Football has more potential for growth than any of the other codes. It is the only code than is traditionally played and followed Australia wide, the only code that has strong roots in Australias two largest cities, the only code with a credible international scene(along with Rugby), and the only code with a serious potential to penetrate into the Asian market(again maybe Rugby). If I can see this then so can people with a potential to make money from it. The original deal allowed us to get our foot in the door, and now we need to see it through to the next TV deal which should provide some stability. A Football package that contains the Socceroos, a rapidly improving A-League along with EPL, La Liga and various other leagues must be extremely valuable already. I know that this is the only reason I have Fox.
Con Stamocostas
Roar Pro
I agree 100% with your sentiments here. If the gun is loaded with a World Cup bid and success in South Africa the FFA can shoot at the floor and tell those MF's to start dancing..........
Forgetmenot
Guest
Foxtel were taking a gamble when they bought the A-league television rights. They were very smart and forward thinking to get a long term deal. It is part of their business strategy to grow soccer in australia, as they are the currently the only channel which could show 3,4 or even 5 leagues from around the world. The next television deal for soccer will bring more money in. Perhaps just enough to ensure that the A-league clubs are not running on empty. In regards to the a-league expansion. Perhaps they should do what the AFL does and get the soccer club into the community a year or two before their a-league debut. I am very interested in all this history of sport in Australia stuff. What would have happened if the SANFL and WAFL had joined the party with VFL when they were asked?
Gweeds
Guest
I may be wrong but football was an unknown quantity when Foxtel signed up. The A-League didn't start as yet and technically they took a risk. The fact that Australia did well at the World Cup was also an unexpected bonus. We can't really compare Football with other sport whose competitions have a proven track record. I also don't think in the long run football in Australia has to rely on being 'successful' at world cups. It show how expectations have risen in the last few years when it was thought just reaching the finals was enough for the sport (after 30 years of failing to qualify) and now after last time we need to reach the second stage, which is extremely difficult. A country like Australia can't be expected to get out of its group every time as the football superpowers do. If we rely on that then yes we are in the poo. Also if people ditch the sport because we are not seen as being 'successful' in one of the toughest competitions in the world, good riddance. Like any business enterprise bumps and difficulties are expected. And this is happening in the A-League. I know that we football supporters have developed this pessimistic culture because of the history of mal-administration in the past and the fact that we are still treated as a minor code in the mainstream media. But the issue here is how to deal with the difficulties and press on to success.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
A gun was held to the heads of Frank Lowy and John O'Neil on the 7 year deal. Nothing will change until the next TV deal comes to the fore. But this time the gun will be held to the head of Fox and FTA TV when we win the 2018 FIFA Football world cup. December is not far away now and the home work on the new TV deal is now being mulled over in FFA's head office in preparation. This time the Media moguls will not have it all their way. There’s an old saying in Business. “When you dance with your customer, let him lead”. This time around after December when the World Cup bid is decided the FFA will lead, with the negotiations. _____ AF
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
Spot on AndyRoo and Towser. As you say, it's easy in hindsight to say we were shafted, but really, Fox did football an enormous favour by giving us any money at all. We now have a base to build on, and with expansion and Asian Champions League, the argument can be made that we have a far more valuable product to offer now. Back then we had hopes and dreams, now we have a national team that has qualified for consecutive World Cups, an expanding A-league, and ACL, plus the Asian Cup, and WCQ (if, of course, they're not put on Anti-siphoning lists). that's a LOT of football for the FFA to use as bargaining chips.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Well the previous deal with C7 they agreed to cut it short early (for free I believe) so it's not like Football had agreat track record. The money was paid for the Socceroos games (who hadn't qualified for the World Cup) as when the A league started they didn't bother covering all the games. Now that we reach the back half of the deal it's starting to look favourable to fox but they showed a lot of faith and made a gutsy decision. I don't see it as the end of the world that they got a good deal and are happy they signed up football.