Tonight’s match at Energy Australia Stadium will be a celebration. For a club that was on its deathbed only weeks ago, the Newcastle Jets will entertain one of the game’s biggest names (albeit for non-football reasons these days) in front of a sell-out crowd.
The excitement in Newcastle is palpable and considering this is just a friendly game against a side few have never seen before, this is a remarkable achievement.
So to those who will be at the game tonight or watching on TV, enjoy yourselves. Successes can be few and far between for a new league and with so much riding on next week’s World Cup bidding decision, it’ll be nice to forget about the high stakes on offer for a brief moment.
Yet before we enjoy the evening, we should also acknowledge that this game will also be something of a missed opportunity for both the Jets and Australian football in general.
It is now widely accepted that finding an avenue to get the A-League on free to air television will be a vital component to the competition’s success. In fact the worst-case scenario is that without doing so, the league will eventually collapse.
That’s why I’m left deeply disappointed that when an opportunity arrived to get an A-League side on free to air television, it’s been missed.
Tonight’s Galaxy game will be broadcasted on Fox Sports and well done to Fox for continuing to embrace the game no matter what the cost, literally. I shudder to think where Australian football would be without the commitment the pay TV broadcaster has shown.
The issue though, is with those who decided shopping the fixture around for a little financial profit was better then ensuring the game was on FTA for the whole country to see.
The same is true for access to David Beckham.
The decision to do a doorstop with the former England international when the team stopped over at Sydney airport while en route to Newcastle was an inspired one and no doubt helped increase coverage of the Galaxy’s arrival.
However allowing Beckham’s interview availability to be limited to a solitary paid appearance on the broadcaster of the Galaxy friendly is a real pity.
One look at the kind of manic coverage the Englishman’s presence is soliciting right across the country shows you the reach only a superstar name like Beckham’s has.
The 35-year-old’s positive comments about the A-League, made during that Sydney Airport doorstop, may have been somewhat diplomatic and expected, but imagine what it would have done for the young competition to have him saying these things on one of the major FTA networks during primetime TV!
In the end, Newcastle’s Beckham experiment will be buried away on pay TV for a select few to enjoy and football, apparently so determined to get itself on FTA, has watched the opportunity to promote itself to a large and untapped audience go sailing by.
gazz
Roar Pro
decent point. so you're saying the a-league needs more marquee players. beckham is one hell of a drawcard and the example of robbie fowler shows the novelty value of these marquees can wear off.
macavity
Roar Pro
apparently the state govt. spent about the same... all so Keneally and McKay could cosy up to becks.
RobD
Guest
The only reason they could make that much money is because of the presence of Beckham. The football itself was of no better or worse quality than a regular A-League game. This game is proof that marketability and profile matter much more than quality of football.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Que?
whiskeymac
Guest
the one held in hawaii? reasonable concept. not sure why it wasnt continued...
RobD
Guest
Proof that people go to the football with their eyes closed.
Davidde Corran
Roar Guru
Some stats about tonight's game and earnings: • A first time million dollar plus gate for the Jets • 62 corporate partners purchased more than 1,000 seats for the Galaxy match • 35 first-time corporate partners recently committed to the club, with more than a dozen purchasing full A-League season packages • In order of $600,000 in new sponsorship and $400,000 in corporate hospitality sales for the Galaxy match alone • A projected multi-million boost to Hunter tourism and economy • A sell-out of all hotels in the region
Midfielder
Guest
Heart V SFC streaming http://www.a-league-fancentral.com.au/page/live-stream
Midfielder
Guest
Anyone got a stream for this one or is it not broadcast...
Hooplah
Guest
Remind's me of Brewster's Millions all this. The owner should play himself. I would, there is nothing but honour on the line.
Davidde Corran
Roar Guru
To clarify, the rights to the game was only sold recently. By then the overwhelming majority of tickets had been sold. So I doubt the effect of FTA coverage on a potential crowd was a significant consideration. As I understand it, the rights were offered to FTA but no one was interested at the price that was being talked about.
MVDave
Guest
thanks for listing all those reasons BigAl...we're all none the wiser.
MVDave
Guest
The game has generated $2million in revnue including $1m in ticket sales...not too shabby for a regional game and a small capacity ground.
BigAl
Guest
?? Come on Dave ! - there's every reason '...they couldn't have achieved a similar result...' ! . A souffle never rises twice.
Crashy
Guest
Tinkler is rumoured to have spent $2 million on this game. Will the Jets see a return on this 'investment'?
Art Sapphire
Guest
Too true, MV Dave - Today's Age is an absolute joke. Greg Baum writes an opinion piece in today's Age on how A-League not being on FTA is resulting in dwindling support. Yet the very same paper can't even do a preview of a A-League game that is being played in Melbourne tonight. Oh, the irony!
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
Yes. Not so much in this cases because the top brass of the Jets obviously felt that putting the game on FTA would not encourage people to buy tickets to the game. I can understand that. I was more referring to some of the day-to-day running of A-League clubs. How they do very little entice the public. A few visits to sick kids in hospitals and couple of pre-season games against state league clubs isn't engaging with the wider football community.
Joe FC
Guest
Who do you mean by "people at the top" and are they the individuals Davidde was referring to?
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
The people at the top don't seem to see the bigger picture very often. They tend to look for the short term financial gain instead of thinking "what can we do to ensure we get more repeat customers?"
Joe FC
Guest
Exactly who “decided shopping the fixture around for a little financial profit was better then (sic) ensuring the game was on FTA for the whole country to see”? Who is responsible for allowing “the opportunity to promote itself to a large and untapped audience go sailing by”? Someone or some organisation may very well have been derelict in their duty. Or maybe not. If you know something why don’t you tell us because otherwise we’re none the wiser through what you’ve said here.