David Gallop’s “unstoppable” A-League appears under siege with the Big Bash League threatening to become a summer juggernaut if the first free-to-air TV ratings of the Twenty20 tournament are anything to go by.
Football Federation Australia boss Gallop last week pre-empted the start of the BBL season with a series of remarks casting doubt over whether sports fans would embrace the short-form tournament while claiming his own competition was “unstoppable in Australian sport”.
But coming from a former first-grade fast bowler, those comments are beginning to look like pure spin.
Cricket Australia executives are delighted with the response from fans to the third season of the BBL as it appeared on free-to-air TV on the Ten Network for the first time.
Each prime-time match on Friday, Saturday and Sunday earned more than one million viewers across Australia in regional and metropolitan areas.
On Friday night, the only time the A-League and the BBL went head-to-head on free-to-air TV, the round ball code was well and truly hit for six.
The BBL’s Melbourne derby between the Stars and the Renegades was watched by around 804,000 people in the five capital cities.
By contrast, the A-League clash between Brisbane Roar and Newcastle Jets was viewed by only around 74,000 on SBS2 according to the official OzTam ratings system; less than a tenth of the viewership of the BBL.
The BBL competition enjoyed only minimal lead-in coverage due to the Ashes battle and CA hopes the ratings will only get better.
“We’re extremely pleased with the results from the opening weekend,” the BBL boss Mike McKenna said in a statement.
“To break through the million-viewer barrier on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night with our first foray into prime time free-to-air TV is a terrific result.
“We still have a long way to go but the first four matches have set a strong platform for the rest of the season.”
However Gallop can claim bragging rights in the battle for crowds in the southern capital.
The A-League Melbourne derby between the Heart and the Victory at AAMI Park on Saturday attracted a crowd of 26,491 while the Stars versus Renegades match at the MCG had a crowd of 25,266.
PhillNZ
Guest
As an independent view. To me at least cricket has been Australia's national sport , because it unites and is played all over Aussie and it doesn't have the other football code wars scenario. Since the A-league has infringed on crickets summer zone to avoid the football wars , it has made an impact but with Aussie winning the ashes and cricket re inventing itself via BBL the tide is slowly turning to the chagrin of David Gallop. Now everything these days is about ratings and Gallop now has to reconfigure how the A-league is going to compete with BBL something of which he didn't count on after A-Leagues growth in the last several years. Gallop also has an axe to grind against the NRL so any comment he makes to promote soccer an antagonise the NRL he will do it. The issue for the A-League is it going to get squeezed between Football codes and cricket if BBL continues on its way, lets see how Gallop reacts.
BigBen
Guest
What a load of BS.
Ash
Guest
if people will watch 'anything' on TV then why isn't anyone watching the A-league ? if you think BBL won't last, 1st after signing a $100m tv deal to get Every single game on FTA tv & then smashing everyone's expectations by rating over 1m viewers consecutively for 3 straight nights, then you're the one who's deluded !
Ash
Guest
& not to forget that the Ryobi cup average is for an 8 hour duration during working hours compared to 2 hours for A-league in prime time
Brendon the 1st
Guest
Rightful place? And that's the problem isn't it, soccer thinking its better than any other sport, typical attitude. Cricket will always be the summer king in Australia, and a I for one am glad of it.
Atko
Guest
Ah, they all say this. I remember John O'Neill predicting League's days were numbered and the Rugby World Cup would consume it (this was around the time of the 2003 World Cup). Yeah, look how that turned out.
Atko
Guest
Hmmm, Nigella doesn't have to be a day younger and I'd watch her in her lingerie. There, I've said it.
Simoc
Guest
Yes I have lived in a few backwaters where SBS was the best transmission available and I guess that's a factor in A League getting their meager numbers. If they showed EPL instead at least we could watch some quality instead of the third grade play on display.
Jorji Costava
Guest
The "demographic" you speak of is southern European descendants. Not everyone has that kind of ancestry.
IndianCricketFan
Guest
i hope this turns around the state of cricket in Australia and it regains its unofficial post as the National Sport of Australia....btw fun fact for you Aussies bloke- Cricket is not the national sport of India!! That title goes to Hockey.
IndianCricketFan
Guest
i suppose that's what these t20 leagues are for and plus they all bring a lot of money to cricket through sponsors,etc which helps in the development of cricket...for many years the popularity of EPL was thought to be a changing trend in Indian sports and that finally football along with hockey and some olympic sports will provide an alternative to Cricket but that was just a thought. People thought IPL would fail but instead it got many people who were bored with test cricket back to the stadiums...irrespective of the fact that EPL's popularity in India continues to rise but Cricket keeps on getting better. The only downside to IPL is that genuine cricket fans don't really watch the Ranji Trophy(Sheffield Shield) and the overall interest in good neutral series like The Ashes has decreased .
IndianCricketFan
Guest
considering the really positive response here about BBL,i might as well watch a match of BBL which apparently is being telecasted live here in India.
IndianCricketFan
Guest
hahaha great point Jorji!!
JayBob
Guest
I think the point of the article was comparing Summer sports. Do you really think the BBL would out rate the AFL or NRL when played at the same time? I doubt it.
Jorji Costava
Guest
Gallop has to talk up A-League. It is his job to pander to the fanatics like the ayatollah does over in Iran.
Radelaide
Guest
I quite enjoyed watching the BBL on ten last weekend it felt like to me watching the footy in the winter months (fast and entertaining), I just wish the rain could have kept away so Adelaide could have capitalized on their brilliant start and won.
JK
Guest
the ratings don't surprise me....all it shows is what's possible if you give a sport saturation news coverage. the hal as done awesome considering the zero coverage it gets from the FTA stations (SBS excepted) i'll be surprised if the ratings hold up though....personally i think the BBL is a novelty and will fade out
Titus
Guest
HAL was averaging about 120 000, with another 80 000 watching the same game on Fox. In all seriousness, I can't pick up SBS and I live within view of the Gore Hill transmission towers and the place where I previously lived got very poor reception indeed, in fact you need a special aerial to receive UHF, so that in itself is a factor, then you could also factor in things such as the fact that SBS is a low rating station that is thought to be underrepresented by Austam. I also don't know how the ratings work when it is on both SBSHD and SBS2. At the end of the day, the BBL ratings are very good but the a-league has a very solid support of avid fans as can be seen in its attendances.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Hard to compare as the Ryobi Cup was mainly on during the day instead of during prime time but also most A-League games aren't on FTA . There's no real "apples v apples" comparison. The overall Ryobi Cup average would be below the Friday night SBS/Fox ratings for the A-League, though the gap would fluctuate week to week and I don't have each weeks data to make the average
Brett McKay
Expert
Averaged 105K per game across the tournament on GEM, Titus, and 222K for the Final. How does that compare to the A-league? (Genuine question - I've no idea of A-L numbers)