Six ways to improve the A-League competition

I agree with most of what your saying. It's true that a lot of people could get pay TV if they really wanted to. However, families with kids and mortgages already have tight budgets. It's these kids that the FFA should be trying to win over. Having some A-League on FTA would go a long way to helping that cause. FTA networks can make the A-League viable. They could start with a highlights program, which wouldn't cost much in TV rights and thus they'd make a profit on the ads for that program. What I'm saying is that FTA should start small and later buy more rights if the initial experiment works. In think Fox has done very well for the A-League and they should continue to hold the majority of the rights for the foreseeable future. However, to expand the popularity of the A-League, the FFA need some presence on FTA.

see my reply to axel v... basically, i make sacrifices in other areas of my life because i love watching football, 65 a month is less that what somepeople would pay on other hobbies... its roughly the same as going to the movies once a week

I understand that there are a lot of people that can’t afford Foxtel. But frankly, you prioritise your life around what you love. As a kid growing up in Melbourne, following RL, we HAD to have foxtel because chanel 9 were so useless that even though there was RL on FTA if you wanted to follow the game you had no other choice. Sport on FTA is not free, you just pay for it in different ways, Holden Half time? The En-Zed grid? And I sware if I miss another overtaking move (and lets face it there aren’t that many these days) in the F1 because One HD cut to an Ad during the race I’ll stab somebody. Everytime I see that ad asking me if I want to pay for sport I get so upset, because I am paying for it. On Fox, you watch a football, RL, RU, AFL start to finish uninterrupted. Yes I pay for that privilege, but you pay for the “free” stuff by watching ads for crap you don’t need or want and miss stuff as a result. The fact of the matter is that Fox stood by the FFA when nobody else would… anybody remember the disaster was 7 and the NSL or have you all got short memories… soccer will never get enough viewers on FTA TV for the advertising to pay for the sport. Where do you think the money comes from? The AFL is worth a billion dollars because Ch7/Ch10 can sell the adspace during the game for a butload of money because it gets massive ratings. Soccer wont do that, so the game isn’t worth as much to the FTA networks, (see my note about subscribers vs viewers) fox is owned by News Ltd, who own BskyB, who own the EPL rights, for them, they will look at 50000-100000 subscribers for soccer as a win, that many viewers on FTA will have games played at midnight on Wednesday and you’ll have to watch ads for porn phone lines every five minutes. I now live in Canberra, I have no A-league side to go and watch, and I love football first and foremost, for me, the $65 a month it costs me to have foxsports is an investment in my entertainment, a smoking, drinking, gambling habit all costs more, I don’t do any of those things… I make sacrifices in other areas of my life, but at least I get better coverage than I would elsewhere.

i am very lucky that i still live with my folks and have foxtel so i watch almost every a league game, however when i move out i wont be able to afford it. But my gf will pay for it instead of rent. Foxtel is great A-league, as for new clubs , only tassie canberra and south coast should be allowed in if they gov backin

To Dan. There are many people out there that can't afford Foxtel.

I agree that having a sport of FTA increases it's popularity. I don't think anyone would argue with that. However, Foxtel is not some big bad guy. They offered more money for the A-League rights at a time when the A-League had no track record. You must remember that TV rights money accounts for a large proportion of any sport's income. They essentially made the A-League viable. You cannot blame the FFA for taking that offer. How the FFA negotiate their next TV deal is what you should be judging them on. Now they have options. Back in 2005 they had no other viable option other than Foxtel. Similarly you cannot blame Foxtel for taking EPL coverage away from FTA. They offered more money for the rights so the FA/EPL gave the Australian rights to Foxtel. It's up to FTA broadcasters to either pay more for the rights or partner up with pay TV (like what happens in the NRL and AFL). For that to happen they must believe that the product is good enough for them to sign up broadcast sponsors.

Bull, SBS had soccer, SBS promoted soccer, SBS always showed as much as they could. I use to watch the English Premier League live matches and highlights nonstop when it was on SBS. I was obsessed with everything to do with it and could name several players and stars in all 20 EPL teams! I wasn't the only person, there was a large interest around Australia in the EPL, after the failed 97 and 01 WCQ campaigns there was an interest in soccer, it just hadn't been potentially realised. Fox taking away EPL from SBS was a big blow to football supporters, and many that once had an interest in the game have stopped following the EPL because they can't afford $720 per year every year just to watch stupid Television. All Fox did was jump on the bandwagon and seize it for themselves not allowing anyone else onboard, they prey on the sports we love to suck us into the "freemarket" scam that is pay tv, ironic considering it's not free :roll: Fox are hardly the heroes of Australian soccer. Anything that is on free to air, all australians can watch. You go to a barbeque or see a friend you can ask start a conversation, "Hey! did you see the game on the weekend?" If it's on FTA there is a high chance of them says " Yes!" and the conversation goes from there. Now, you ask somone on what they thought of Melbourne Victory's performance in the Grand Final, and they'll reply "No, I don't have pay TV and i've never seen an A-League match". That just about sums it all up. The blame for mismanagement of TV rights must go to the FFA. Like UEFA, whoever they sell the rights to, must show the matches (if you sign up for the champions league, you have to show the UEFA cup too, otherwise no rights for you!) and must have a minimum quota to show the matches, especially now in the digital age where all channels have a spare/secondary channel. For example, Channel 7 with the Socceroo's didn't show anything unless it was the final play off against New Zealand or Uruguay :/, Channel 7 are horrible with sports and everyone knows this and hates them, watching AFL on channel 7 is a disgrace. Channel 10 however are dedicated to their sports and have their own sports channel and give very good coverage of sporting events. SBS is amazing at promoting football and having an ad free football match with world class commentators (not the constant, negative, nonstop. knit picking. whining. bias from Cockerill, Slater and Harper, credit to Simon Hill though, who SBS discovered and was poached from) Foxtel is nice if you have money to burn and don't have a mortgage, but for the other 18 million Australians, we'd rather not waste our money. Is Football for the upper class minority or is it for all people?

I agree with the FTA highlights idea. However, Fox has exclusive rights the A-League for the first 7 seasons. There are restrictions to what highlights other Australian broadcasters can show e.g. I think they are only allowed to show goals and missed chances (or something like that). Having said that, this seems the most likely option when the TV rights come up for negotiation. The most money is likely to come from Fox and they might place the stipulation that they do not want games broadcast on other channels. But, the FFA might be able to argue the a highlights program on FTA would increase interest and may lead to more Fox subscriptions.

Its all well and good to say FTA broadcaster will increase exposure but on top of the fact that someone has to be willing to pay for it, the A-League is still in its infancy and its too soon to for such a deal. The league needs to attract an audience and then sell itself to TV, not the other way around. A classic example of this is the NASL (North American Soccer League), the predecessor to MLS in the US. They pushed for a TV deal and despite attracting huge crowds to the games (up to 80000) during the Pele era, no one wanted to watch on TV. The TV deal failed and this spelled the begining of the end for the league. The other problem with all the games being live and free to air is that many people will prefer to watch from the comfort of their own homes rather than attending the games. Which is why even the AFL often delays FTA broadcasts in the market where the game is played. One positive avenue for the league might be to present a weekly highlights/discussion program on a mainstream free to air station, perhaps on a monday night, to raise interest from the general public.

Totally agree on the scheduling of local fixture on A-League home game days. Surely the FFA could send message to local associations saying that you cannot schedule fixture on certain days because there is an A-League game. Everyone agree that free-to-air is necessary but unfortunately the FFA are locked into a 7 year deal with Fox. At the time the A-League was established nobody other than Fox was interested so you can't blame the FFA on this one. So no free-to-air for the A-League till at least season 8. However, I agree with Cpaaa on the TV deals for other competitions. It was good to see the Matildas and W-League on ABC. At least that is a step in the right direction. The marketing of the A-League is pretty poor. It appears the FFA leave this in the hands of the clubs. I don't know what the other clubs do, but Roar home games are only advertised in print media. This is probably all they can afford. The FFA should do the clubs a favour a run a standard A-League ad on free-to-air (not just Fox) and then at the end of the ad have some voice over and screen print the advertises upcoming A-League games for the city that the ad is broadcast in.

I am so SICK AND FREAKING TIRED of this FTA CR@P! Nobody wanted to touch "soccer" in this country, and Foxtel put up the cash and took a MASSIVE risk - the the size of the risk cannot be understated - by agreeing to an overly long deal. think back to the joke that football was in this country at the time the A-League was set up, this was pre-Guus and pre-WC06, there was no belief in a sport that had spend the last 80 years bickering between ethnic groups for control. Fox, who already owned the rights to the Premier League, took a punt. they got the socceroos games as security, which would always earn them some money from pubs and clubs showing the games. One HD want some games? why didn't Ten stick their hands up and and make a bid? Where were seven? or Nine with their once vaunted sports coverage? Nobody thought that the game would succeed. Except Fox. By agreeing to a long term deal, Fox ensured that there would be a regular source of income for the league to ensure that clubs like Brisbane, Adelaide and now NQ Fury are able to be supported that the league can grow through when it needs to. Nobody else was prepared to do this. fast forward 6 years, the game has grown massively and is a million times better than the pre-a-league years, Fox should be rewarded for this investment. the next few years will be the gravy for them... But unless One HD, or anybody else is prepared to take on Fox finanically and provide the security long term for the sport... then I say give me 8 more years... i remember reading (in relation to the superleague war acutally) the difference between pay and FTA TV. if you go to a FTA network and say I have a programme/sport that will get you 100,000 viewers, you'll get sacked and never work in the industry again, you'll be a joke. You go to a Pay network, I have a programme/sport that will get you 100,000 subscribers, you'll get a benz, a house and be set for life...

At number 6, it's impossible to fit the A-League into the offseason now that there are 30 matches to be played plus finals. remember it use to be 21 + finals. Is better to start the A-League at the end of the NRL/AFL season than have it finish after NRL/AFL resume, otherwise all gloss is taken from the final and best part of the A-League season. Other than that, i completely agree and good points, especially the idea of Grand Final on Free to Air (preferably the whole season too), it would be very positive exposure for the product. The other thing is with the current Television contract, it was setup for 8 years, 5 years since the first season, the A-League TV rights is worth 5times more money, yet Foxtel are still getting the A-League for peanuts, and there is another 3-4 years to go on the current deal. :oops:

FTA is like a mirage, or an oasis in the desert. It seems great until you actually look at it in detail. The $$ in support of the A-League from Foxtel shouldn't be underestimated. Perhaps it should be named the Foxtel-Hyundai League. Greater advertising is a good point though, and one that needs more work from franchises and more $$ from FFA. Let's hope after the World Cup, FFA address this obvious deficiency from last season.

foxtel pays ffa alot of money for the rights for the soccer in this country, if free to air want it they should pay obviously not they dont want to, the scheduelling for the a league has been terrible looks bad for the league and for the game.. a league if it wants to get better well start looking in south america not europe,

You forgot about improve the quality of the games. The naive tactics, the use of players of limited technical abilities and the extemely barbaric way we play have contributed to a very boring league.

Good ideas. I think some free to air games would improve the exposure of the league to the benefit of everyone, but i doubt Foxtel will see things the same way

I'm sick of this free to air arguement. The fact is that no free to air channels were willing to put in the finance to support the league, only Foxte were willing to do this. No Foxtel, no A-League. What do you want, for the FFA to give the TV rights away? Provide some sound fiscal justification for free-to-air, or otherwise accept that this won't happen until the commercial FTA channels are willing to fund it.

1. Improved Match Scheduling- no local games at junior level, metro or church leagues should ever take place while there are A-League matches. here we are actually killing ourselves. better communication is needed between the states and FFA. Midweek games is an experimental idea, and currently with low crowd, i dont see them getting any bigger during the week but still worth ashot. Some Roar games were on Sunday afternoons , as in 5pm. worst idea possible for qlders imo, qlders are lazy, if games are on sunday they should not be later than 3pm. 2. Free-to-air deal - Good points, free to air creates more interest and with football there are so many competitions which gives plenty of options. HAL, ACL, Asian Cup and Womens, Currently ,and kind of incredibly, all we have is one game of Womens competition to look forward to next season. much improvements needed. ...duty calls now and will try to post later. Good points though in particular the manager characters. Never thought id say so but...geeezzz i miss Kozmina. Ima big fan of Clive (no pun) and lets give Miron more of the mike. Or does FFA wont more managers like Ernie Merrick?, perhaps, but not the fans.