With the revamped SBS2 set to showcase the continual rise in Australian football that is the A-League, the question that remains now is what is the best way to showcase to the rest of Australia the greatest the A-League has to offer?
Do we look to provide viewers with the highest quality matches? Even if it means Perth Glory versus Wellington Phoenix?
Is quantity of viewers more important in regards to assessing football’s continual development?
Or a simple solution being a mix of both?
One thing specific teams will be able to offer is viewing numbers compared to other states.
Clearly a Melbourne or Sydney derby provides viewers with a sense of the A-League football atmosphere, but there’s no guarantee that a good match will be provided by both teams.
Thus, Channel 9 ensure Broncos play every Friday night.
The Broncos are a good rugby league side, but in recent seasons have not provided the quality of league compared to Melbourne storm. The indicating factor once again is viewing numbers.
With free-to-air access once again it’s paramount the right formula is found as it’s another valuable chance to showcase the best of our sport to potential investors, spectators, sponsors and sports enthusiasts.
I understand the importance of both, but constantly people are saying they want derby matches, big blue matches, biggest club verses biggest up-and-coming club.
Before you’ve even had time to think about the other six clubs, both Melbourne sides and Sydney’s two biggest sides preoccupy 12/27 free-to-air Friday night games, almost fifty percent!
That is no way to showcase a national competition that encompasses three other states and New Zealand.
Though unfortunately with that said we arrive back at the fundamental factor of viewing numbers.
Fear not Brisbane Roar supporters, for during the 2011/2012 campaign your side was the most watched A-League team, though I believe the grand final aided in being number one as Victory followed ever so closely in second.
I believe the 12 matches identified above are vital to the continual growth of football in Australia but trying to find that balance is much too hard for me to decide.
Even the most consistent team in A-League history has failed to be mentioned until now. If you’re looking for quality football, I personally would point you in the direction of the Central Coast Mariners. Opinions may vary but statistics and record prove otherwise.
Each team encompasses something different and unique about their setup and style of play but in the end it will be the fans left wanting more come the conclusion of each Friday night, for those without Foxtel will be left eagerly hanging just like your favourite weekly show.
This is a matter for those who get paid to have the headaches over, but for an interesting debate I’ll leave it to you, our fellow Roarers!
Brisvegas
Guest
And if SBS's history on 'live' matches continues, so will Queensland - at least during daylight saving times.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Maybe not all away matches Mid, but the quality they bring and consistency would definitely warrant a decent share of the FTA exposure.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Potential there for sure, but converting will be the key.
Wicked Ninja
Guest
The Central Coast and the Greater Newcastle area have, combined, a population of about 800k. Adelaide and Melbourne, combined, have a population of about 5 million. Of course AU vs MV is bigger.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Scheduling matches that suit AEDT or AEST are unfortunately going to do that, thus the alternative of a few away matches on Friday nights? Ideally Brisbane, Adelaide, Central Coast, that's my opinion though.
bryan
Guest
Whatever happens,one thing is certain,--------------Perth will get screwed over! :)
Cameron
Roar Guru
Cheers Langou, Whilst trying to remain impartial to the topic of quality or quantity, through various well thought out opinions I can not help but form my own. I understand the complex predicament Nix and Glory face but I don't see why they, or teams like central coast and Adelaide united can't have lots of FTA exposure. Whilst these teams facing most others doesn't whet the appetite entirely, the thought of not sharing our national competition evenly can only create more problems. Ian said it perfectly above - "In any given season, you also dont know in advance who will be representing quantity, and who will be representing quality" So it would be safe to assume the best option is previous season performances. Whilst showing the likes of Victory/Sydney fc/Brisbane/western Sydney it doesn't do much to add more to the game on the respect of exposure. Each club is still trying to firmly entrench itself within the Australian sporting landscape and exposure is the key, victory although with the numbers to suggest regular FTA matches are afforded do nothing to add to the game. For one second a subjective mindset must not be adopted. We are talking about potential/future growth. Teams that currently require the most coverage would be Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle and Melbourne heart, why because these areas have a tonne of potential yet to be acquired. Now before i'm shot down, we are back to square one - quality! Maybe something I should have asked is what determines quality? What do we want wider Australia to view 'soccer' (football) as? Grit, guts and determination (mariners/wanderers) Flair and flamboyance (Victory) Dominant skilful but currently lacking the finishing touches (Roar) Efforts, drive, commitment (Glory/Heart) Etc. Each team offers unique aspects to Australian football, just because one team possesses a larger following does not mean it's in the FFA's best interest to overload us with what is already deemed successful in a league terms. Good luck to those having to organise this and please separate club owners. In the end FFA will do what's best for them in their opinion but ensuring an even spread is vital to future growth and development.
langou
Roar Guru
Another good article Kellett I personally doubt it will be like others suggested where they pick the biggest rivalry’s and show all three of those games. It is likely to be a mix of games, include all 10 clubs with a few marquee games thrown in. One thing to keep in mind is that SBS will be covering Friday Night only. What games get played on a Friday night will depend on many factors not just TV. There are some ground sharing considerations, deals with stadiums (e.g. Docklands) and other factors to take into account. FFA will also have to take into account that Fox is still its main funder and the importance of promoting the game all around Australia.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
As someone without a club, I'm simply hoping for a good mix of all clubs being shown. Not Sydney FC or Victory every week. Due to the time difference, Perth probably won't get shown much on Friday night. As an aside, I'm not really up to date on the detail, how much say will SBS have? If Fox are the major contributors, and I assume but do not know that is the case, could they demand the prime games stay on pay TV and SBS be left with lower demand games? I'm also a little surprised it is the Friday night game. Fridays draw more viewers than Sarurdays, we all know that. But Saturday night is usually cricket free in summer on Free To Air (though the BBL may move to FTA), and is NRL free on FTA as well. For drawing the multi-sports viewer, Saturday may have been a better move for SBS as they would only be competing against the AFL very late in the A-League season. I'm sure they looked at the over viewer numbers, Fox numbers, and went Friday based on that and no doubt its the correct decisions - but it does seem there is less competition in FTA on Saturday.
Matt F
Roar Guru
SA is 1/2 hour behind the Eastern States right? It seems like this could easily be solved by starting Adelaide home games 1/2 hour eariler i.e. If SBS wants 7:30 kick offs EST/EDST on Friday Nights then have the game kicking off at 7 CST. I imagine that Perth could also host Friday night matches, they just wouldn't be the SBS game. Foxtel could show a later game after the FTA game and have a Friday Night double header which happens every once in a while now.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Kasey, Yeah. Thats why its important not to have the likes of Geoffrey Edelsten owning your clubs, because then things get very confused fast.
Kasey
Guest
If in doing so the whole pie increases, then logically so do the distributions to indiidual clubs fom Head office. Or the amunt of money availale for advertising spend. All clubs will get looked after, Reading Gallop's coments regarding MHT and WPX in this morning's Herald gives me confidence that Head Office has a solid strategic planfor the game and the means to impliment it.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
In any given season, you also dont know in advance who will be representing quantity, and who will be representing quality. If your schedule has flexibility built in for TV, then fans find they dont know far enough in advance when to make sure they can get to a game on a Friday night (hello Rugby League !). If it doesnt, then small clubs may find themselves with fewer sponsorship opportunities (hello AFL !).
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
"we will get the bare minimum of Friday night home games from next season onwards, its just a commercial reality" When you need to do things like that, you need to make sure all the clubs get looked after. Doing this when you have privately owned, profit-making clubs is ... interesting.
Midfielder
Guest
This may seem a tad unfair ... I think all Mariners away games should be on SBS ... you all know its the right thing to do... BTW on a other issue have received some feedback from a couple of mates ... they said DG has been impressive in the Football forums. Just on DG & FL a couple of interviews in the Sydney papers today... DG on smh http://m.smh.com.au/sport/football/changing-times-but-still-sitting-pretty-after-100-days-in-hot-seat-20130222-2ewsx.html FL at the TerrOR http://www.news.com.au/sport/football/frank-lowys-calculated-risk-pays-off/story-fndkzvnd-1226583894188
Kasey
Guest
sorry kellet, that should have read TC not you. Mistaken Identity, must inject more caffiene prior to early morning posting.
Kasey
Guest
Fuss, as an AU fan, I'm resigned to being "North Melbourned" in this deal. For those who start throwing their toys out of the football tab pram at the mention of 'Darth' Demetriou's code, please bear with me. IIRC, North Melourne petitioned the AFL to start playing Friday night games on a regular basis in the late 90s... it was a succes(in hindsight - easy to pick) but . No surprise to find that once it was established as a blockbuster timeslot that the bigger teams in Melbourne decided that they should be the ones playing on Friday nights...by the end of the 90s North slowly got less and less Friday Night Footy as the home team and Collingwood and Essendon got more and more. 3 seasons ago Adelaide United played 14 Friday night games, I distinctly remember this because I have flexible working hours on a Friday meaning I depart work between lunch and traditional knock off time - leaving me plenty of ime to get home and changed to go to a United game. My father who I go to the football with does not. There were a whole heap of games he could not attend. Friday nights historically have been very popular with Adelaide United's fans. We are not the biggest club in the land, in fact I think at best we are mid-pack. we will get the bare minimum of Friday nnight home games from next season onwards, its just a commercial reality. If we wat the game to grow, and I certainly do, I think we will see a mix of games like the one you have predicted: SFC: 12 MBV: 10/11 WSW: 9 NUJ: 9 BNR: 5/4 MBV: 3 CCM: 3 PER: 2/1 ADE: 1/2 For the good of the game I really hope that the SBS deal helps bring in those football fans who feel they have been unable to engage with the league because they lack Foxtel. If it does, we stand to see a second straight year of solid growth for our league. And following on from yesterdays comment-a-thon regarding traditional media and its treatment of our game...at least we know SBS will give our game the respect we feel it deserves..... No insulting snafu's like this one: http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/kaseydutchy/NewsLimitedsucks_zpsaecb96fc.jpg PS: how did you get an Audience of 102k, but kellet only had 64k? AU v MV is one of the non-derby highlights of the football calendar. Now if only CCM and NUJ could get their fans to treat the F3 derby as we 'p*sstards' do our little rivalry;)
Cameron
Roar Guru
So you're going with quantity and not necessarily quality? Looks like you put some nice detail into your proposal and makes sense but I still would love a fine mix of both quality football and an aim to increase the quantity of viewing numbers. A hard one to juggle that will cause a lot of headaches.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Adelaide games won't be on SBS? That's the first I've heard of this.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Some very good questions madmaco, i'm preparing a nice piece currently and hope to have it finished soon. Might answer some of those questions you ask. Though to answer your first question, I don't believe it will effect season memberships, in fact could aid in bringing more fans in due to exposure.