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Want to know how to beat your competitors? Buy them, buy all of them, if you can pull it off without over-extending yourself. That’s been the strategy of successful global corporations for decades, and it’s worked brilliantly during recessions and slow economic times.
Why doesn’t the AFL just buy out the FFA?
Football has always been the so called “sleeping giant” of Australian sport. It has by far the most number of registered players and has the most potential to increase its market share and income growth.
1.6 million football participants in 2009 according to the ERASS Survey and Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics figures – that’s nearly one in ten Australians that play football.
Add to that the mums and dads and others that go along to watch them play, and then add the referees, linesman, officials and club staff that put in the work to make the competitions and the clubs function. It’s probably over two million Australians that are involved in football every week during a season.
The FFA is still not capable of turning that tremendous involvement in the game into paying customers. They lack the finances, the marketing and promotional clout and a greater media presence to be able to achieve that in the short term.
That’s where the AFL could come in – they certainly have the cash reserves, marketing strength and media control that would be able to turn the A-League and Socceroos into very profitable businesses.
The football and AFL seasons could complement each other and not destroy each other.
The AFL is played from March to September and the A-League could be played from September to March each year. This could be done with some clever scheduling and throw in the occasional midweek or double header round so that both competitions could be played all year round.
On top of your existing AFL or A-League memberships, throw in some package deals and bundled memberships. For example, buy an AFL/A-League combined membership. Your Swans or Western Sydney membership includes a membership for Sydney FC or Sydney Rovers – take your choice.
A membership for any Melbourne AFL team includes a combined membership with either the Victory or Melbourne Heart.
There would be no squabbles about the use of grounds or scheduling games that clash with the other code. The marketing and promotion would be geared to promote both codes to get the most number of spectators to each game.
Imagine the benefits to the AFL of staging a FIFA World Cup in Australia if it controlled football in this country. No need for arguing over the grounds or what improvements would be made to the venues.
No doubt about the economic benefits of staging a World Cup in Australia or where most of the profits would go. A combined effort with the AFL administration pulling in the same direction as the football administration would give our World Cup hosting bid a positive impetus and greater profits.
The international nature of the Socceroos and the competitions they play in could be utilised by the AFL to increase the profile of Aussie Rules overseas: combined international tours and AFL exhibition games played immediately before the Socceroos games; reduced competition for junior AFL or football payers – the joint development of junior players could avoid a lot of duplication and wasteful spending and advertising by both codes.
The AFL could then streamline the junior football development and handpick those players that were best suited to AFL and those that are best suited to football. Over time, this would lead to a much higher quality of AFL and A-League players and competitions.
The FFA and the huge potential of the Australian football market are prime takeover targets for the AFL.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.