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.
Anthony
Guest
I understand your point of view but I still believe if a club in the a league isn't performing then regardless of how much marketing that said club had done there attendance & merchandise will suffer significantly. Your reply to my retirement league comment you named the ages of players, these ages are usually around the time players are thinking of retiring of making a bit more money before they retire, like players have done since the beginning of the a league. Ryan Giggs is rare example.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Unfortunately I agree with you here Andrew, I too believe the FFA will be extremely stingy and try to make some money for themselves. There has always been this sense of we will let you set up shop, but if you fail then goodbye ie GCU and NQ Fury. Bad decisions in which they made, not these teams. They will hopefully learn from this but there is no way the PFA will go down without a fight to ensure their playing careers last longer in Australia. The standard will not continue to rise if the payments, attendance, viewing all meet together in unison.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Cheers Anthony, However I don't tend to agree with you on a few of these points. As history would suggest, whether it be National Soccer League or the now defunct Gold Coast United or NQ Fury, there is that sense of who knows, maybe it could turn around, but never in Australian football history has a deal of this nature been reached that provides all clubs with a covered salary cap, guaranteed exposure on a national level and stability for clubs to build on. Some would have thought that owners like Tony Sage and Nathan Tinkler would not want to sit around and watch their money go down the drain but fortunes are turning around. Tony Sage who although losing $14.9 million since taking over the Glory in 2007 is starting to offset costs and turn money around. The redevelopment of NIB does not help nor has the fact that all clubs have had to dip into their own pockets as the FFA has not always funded the full salary cap. With the FFA now fully funding the salary cap and advertising and marketing a key focus, owners like Sage will be able to commit this money to other avenues, such as advertising and marketing within the Western Australian region to attract a larger fan base. One concerning issue is the costs in which clubs incur whilst playing at stadiums like NIB. ONce again Tony Sage has been noted saying he has lost $30,000 to $60,000 per match in which costs to get the place running to meet match day standards. Gold Coast also did not support their team, whatever the reason, but in their short existence did not average more than 6,000 at any stage and towards the started to attract the low 1,000 number. It was a smart thing to revoke their licence and Frank Lowy stated it was a mistake rushing into Townsville and Gold Coast and the FFA will look to learn. Expansion has been put on the back burner for the next 4 seasons and consolidating and stabilising the current 10 teams is the key focus. In regards to your comments about the A-League being a retirement league, I would not exactly call 33yr old Shinji Ono and 35yr old Emile Heskey notable retirees, Ryan Giggs who I beleive is 38-39 still plays for Man U. Age is not always a factor and their experience will be invaluable to our younger generation of Socceroos and developing A-League players.
Andrew
Guest
I only wish this deal would have been brokered 2 years ago so that we could still have a North QLD Fury and Gold Coast franchises. Although in saying that Gold Coast were not attracting support from the public but the Fury had quite a following up north. As for the extra money going to PFA i don't think that thier will be much as expected going to the players , i exoect the FFA to be abit stingy with the handout
Cameron
Roar Guru
Hey TC, Through other various costs, the A-League salary cap comes to $2.8 in which past seasons the FFA has not fulled subsidised. Including small other aspects of the cap, if the cap was to be at $2.8 million with an increase starting next year of 5% annually it would leave the FFA with extra money left over at the end of each season. Season 2013-2014 would cost $29.4 mill in salary, 2014-2015 $30.87 mill, 2015-2016 $32.41 mill and 2016-2017 $34.03 mill. This all equates to $126.71 million of the four seasons. Overall deal of $160 mill - $126.71 = $33.29 for the four years - $12 in marketing/advertising and this leaves you with $21.29 million to do whatever you like. The FFA has recieved $148 mill in cash, even if incriments of $37 mill were handed out each season, the first season would still leave $7.6 mill to lead into the next season. They are saying the actual 100% salary cap is $2.45 mill which means a ton load more money to play with. Whatever the case, the PFA will want a bigger piece of the cake. Hopefully this helps TC.
TC
Guest
kellett some interesting numbers there. If I have understood correctly, by the start of the 4th year of the TV deal, $34 million of the annual $37 million cash payment from the broadcast deal will be used up by the salary cap. In other words, in the last year of the deal, 92% of the annual payment from the broadcast deal will be dedicated to covering the salary cap. It's hard to imagine that that's sustainable. TC
Anthony
Guest
I did enjoy this article & as of right now the future of the league does look bright. However, it only takes a run of bad form & a few home losses for a league clubs to lose a lot of supporters, which you can only assume leads to them selling a lot less merchandise. Look what happened to the Gold Coast in the span of a few years. The a league is drawing top talent such as Del Piero & Heskey but they are still seen as being here to make money before they retire & the a league has a reputation as being a retirement league. How many bigger names can the a league draw? Countries such as China can offer older players with a huge name & backing far more funds then any a league club can. I do enjoy a league football & its growth but I also believe the a league has a long way to go & could just as easily go the other way.