The 19th November 2012 has been marked as a ground-breaking day in Australian Football. Frank Lowy calls it a “bloody good day” and Australian Football fans will feel, after many ups and downs, Football in Australia has finally turned a corner and will turn heads.
The FFA has announced a $160 million television deal, running from July 1st, 2013 to June 30th, 2017.
The deal comprises of $148 million in cash and an additional $12 million in marketing support.
A free-to-air, Friday night live component has been added to SBS, which will share coverage with Fox Sports.
For the finals series, a one hour delay will provide fans who aren’t in attendance and don’t own Foxtel the option by which they can view all the finals matches.
Fox Sports will broadcast all Socceroos matches live, as per usual, with a delay on SBS.
All 32 matches of the Asian Football Championship will be broadcast live.
Last but not least, the salary cap will be covered each year by Football Federation Australia, which will aid club owners in turning their attention to other ideas to market their football club to the wider community.
Positives galore, but the key will be to ensure the new four year TV deal doesn’t go to waste.
Ensuring sustainability, growth, increased potential to maximise profits, exposure and improving on the current standard will all be hot topics.
Perhaps the first thing on FFA’s agenda will be dealing with the Players Football Association (PFA).
The men behind the scenes have played their part, but the players are the core that has ensured this deal eventuated. The PFA will want a piece of the cake and perhaps over the next four years an annual five percent increase in the current salary cap of $2.8 million.
Were this to occur, over the course of four seasons a grand total of $126.68 million of the $160 million will be used in salary cap payments. This would cost FFA a total of $14.68 million extra on top of what would have been a $112 million salary cap.
A total increase from $2.8million to $3.4 million in player wages by the end of the new television deal provides clubs with the extra salary to keep developing junior players, provides stability, growth and prevents some players from leaving earlier in their careers.
This leaves $33.32 million to spend for the four years, $12 million of which is already marked for advertising and marketing, therefore leaving $21.32 million out of the $160 million TV deal left to pour into the continual development of football in Australia, the A-League and the Socceroos.
This will provide continual development on the standard of football in Australia and increasing the A-League image. This will place the A-League in a position to bargain for an even greater television deal come the next free-to-air TV deal.
With the funds assured, what needs to be done to ensure continual growth of the game?
Firstly, increase advertising and marketing , to increase potential growth through grass roots participation, attendance and viewing.
Secondly, choose carefully the Australian and international marquees to provide A-League clubs.
Thirdly, maximise marquee availability to increase potential growth. This will increase match day attendance, gate taking receipts, increased television viewing, sponsorship, merchandise, overall exposure internationally and a continual increase in all forms of development.
The future of Australian Football looks brighter than it ever has. Gone are the days of fearing your A-League club will be revoked of a licence or be led into financial ruin.
The continual development of Australian players on Australian shores will provide our local competition with the interest and exposure required to continue the cycle.
The increase in the local competition standard will lead to an increase in player standard and players like Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono will be attracted more often, therefore once again continuing the cycle which already has taken fold in the current 2012-2013 season.
It is a great day to be an Australian football fan. It is here to stay, here to grow and together a perception that ‘We Are Football’ will come to fruition.
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