Could the A-League secure a $1B TV deal?

Freddie - I think FTA will most likely start by dipping their toe in the water with preseason games involving big English clubs.I doubt there will be a pauline conversion,the industry is very conservative and so it should be, they are spending other peoples (ie their long suffering shareholders) money. The game is still niche but one thing I have noticed is the game gets really good coverage in the local papers I read.I have just returned from a few days on the Sunshine Coast and when browsing the local paper in a coffee shop this morning noted the Sunshine Coast daily on this particular day gave more space to football than any other sport. Also most was local football,there was a small article about the Wanderers getting rolled in the FFA cup and about one and a half pages on the local suburban comp, with about half a page on the local Rugby League comp and a similar amount on the NRL.

Hahahahaha!!! Finally someone who tells it how it is! :-) +1!!! Btw, I highly doubt - despite how much people might want an FTA broadcaster (other than the government-owned ones) to take up soccer - that the Aus economy can sustain the amount of money that is being spent on rights deals - $1B+ on AFL, $1B on NRL, $450M for Int cricket, $160M for HAL, $100M for BBL. That's a serious amount of cash over the next 3-5yrs for a domestic economy to pump into sport... These might be good times for the sports administrators, but they certainly aren't for the broadcasters so at some point the kitty will run dry and then it'll be like the old saying goes "It's all fun & games until someone gets hurt!"

Jack Russell. You are missing the point that those two games have the inestimable (well not really no doubt some people are paid to calculate it) advantage of being on the two biggest FTA networks in the country and all the cross promotion that comes with it from breakfast TV onto the nightly news bulletin and beyond. You can talk about new media all you like,commercial FTA tv is still the only place you will get a few hundred thousand Australians regularly looking at the same thing at the same time, and if Football really wants to crack the big time that is where Football needs to be,with the Ten network the most likely suspect. ,.

Few people seem to understand how TV as a business operates. On the one hand, we have those pushing for a $1bn rights deal for football, then others wanting the Asian Cup to be "given" to free to air. The real world just doesn't work like that, and the networks exist to make money, they are not charities. The reason Fox have the Asian Cup is because it costs money to acquire those rights, and they have the channels & resources to be able to show all the games, plus any support programming. SBS doesn't have a pot to piss in, and spends what little it has on the World Cup every four years, keeping it exclusively instead of recouping some money by on-selling to Fox or other networks. Fair enough too, that's SBS's baby, it brings in big money through advertising and ratings, and they do a good job. But to suggest it should be just handed over to fta ignores market reality. World Sports Group are looking to make money on behalf of AFC, who own the competition. That's how professional sport works. ABC doesn't have the purchasing power either, and the big fta networks aren't interested because the ratings return isn't high enough. 9 and 7 chase AFL/NRL rights because in Australia at least, they deliver viewers, which in turn, sells advertising. If football did the same, the fta's would be all over it, but it doesn't, at least not yet. Its simple economics. The only way football will get a huge tv deal is through sustained growth in tv ratings, plus continued improvement in attendances. Once the tipping point is reached, fta will be clamouring for the rights. At the moment, football in Australia remains niche, although much more visible than it once was. If you want football to grow, buy a membership, a season ticket or subscribe to Fox and watch the games (or watch the Friday match on SBS and boost their ratings.) There's no such thing as a free lunch.

I think $1b is a pipe dream at this stage. But that doesn't really matter right now, we just need to keep growing! I think we'll be at around $80m-$100m per year for our next TV deal. We're getting $40m a year at the moment, but that was signed well before the FFA Cup started, even though the Cup doesn't bring in huge ratings, it is extra content and does get extra eyeballs. The current deal was also signed more than a season and a half ago, well before the Wanderers really exploded both on and off the field. If we get $400m for 4 or 5 years, I think we've done well.

BIG deal. Haven't you heard yet? SBS already broadcast the Friday night game!

Nobody online WILL buy the AFL's product other than it's existing and diminishing tv viewership. It has a snowflakes chance of selling it's product internationally!

I know it is said that SBS2 attracts less of an audience than SBS1 (IIRC) so I know there will be some comparisons between the two this year, however I use to watch on SBS HD, is that a separate channel altogether compared to SBS1 and SBS2 ratings wise? One thing that was curious last year was the A-League wrap on Mondays was the only program not provided on catch up. Couldn't always see this so was disappointed to miss it. I feel SBS will need to raise the bar (which was very high with World Cup coverage) to have a better pre-round show and post-analysis. Unless Basheer anchors Friday nights (likely to be Zdrillic) he's back in box; perhaps a Simon Hill alongside although I think Simon is a chief caller rather than off-sider... Good news either way.

Remember I said last year that Roar, SFC, MV, WSW needed to be included in each broadcast ... only one match so far does not have one of these teams... 2014/15 HYUNDAI A-LEAGUE SBS FIXTURES Round 1 10/10 Melbourne Victory v Western Sydney Round 2 17/10 Adelaide Utd v Melbourne Victory Round 3 24/10 Brisbane Roar v Sydney FC Round 4 31/10 Melbourne City v Adelaide United Round 5 07/11 Adelaide Utd v Sydney FC Round 6 14/11 Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar Round 7 21/11 Melbourne Victory v Brisbane Roar Round 8 28/11 Melbourne Victory v Adelaide Utd Round 10 05/12 Central Coast v Melbourne Victory Round 11 12/12 Adelaide Utd v Brisbane Roar Round 12 19/12 Brisbane Roar v Western Sydney Round 13 26/12 Sydney FC v Adelaide Utd Round 14 02/01 Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory Round 17 06/02 Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar Round 18 13/02 Central Coast v Brisbane Roar Round 19 20/02 Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory Round 20 27/02 Melbourne City v Adelaide Utd Round 21 06/03 Newcastle Jets v Sydney FC Round 22 13/03 Western Sydney v Melbourne Victory Round 23 20/03 Sydney FC v Melbourne City Round 24 27/03 Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Round 25 03/04 Western Sydney v Melbourne City Round 26 10/04 Melbourne Victory v Newcastle Jets Round 27 17/04 Newcastle Jets v Sydney FC **Rounds 9, 15, 16 not yet confirmed

Great news and I just posted a similar attachment ... but great news .. now to get rid of Bashear ..

BREAKING NEWS All Friday night ALeague matches will be broadcast LIVE on SBS1 & SBSHD in season 2014/15. Looks like Harvey Norman will be the major advertiser with SBS marketing the broadcast: "Harvey Norman Friday Night Football". Full story: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/article/live-hyundai-a-league-moves-to-sbs-one/cd0y10g7nl7v1vui0uq3va5bf

@Carcass How would that be possible if the FFA is not privy to the contract? Only the Federal Government can enforce FTA Tv broadcasting of major sporting events by having the event on the "anti-siphon list". From memory, only the Fifa WC is on the anti-siphon list. Having said that, I agree that the tournament - and all football matches involving any Australian national team - should be on FTA Tv. Preferably on ABCTv, or SBS.

RE: Ads It'd have to follow the American model probably - DOGs (on screen graphics) next to the score bar like ESPN do, but FTA won't want to touch "soccer". Don't forget the C7 debacle, and that Seven and Optus bought NSL rights just so they could not screen the NSL and kill it. Fox will hold the majority of rights, maybe SBS continue an FTA one-match deal, but I doubt commercials (7-10) will want any look in. Maybe 7mate or One though.

NRL you can. Not afl. They don't have commercials, so you can hear the commentators at halftime (off mic) I remember a few years ago hearing Rabs swear like a trooper at half time. On an a league game, one commentator referred to Ross alosi as a "fat c*nt" , he working on the sideline or something

Australia is a member of the AFC and should have put it's foot down to make sure the event was on FTA to take full advantage of the tournament and build interest in all these smaller Asian nations. Now most people will only see a few highlights on the news bulletins and a bit in the paper. If Oz makes the final, a few more will get down the pub to watch it, that's about the extent of it. A shame, with so much positive news about the sport for this to occur. A major opportunity lost.

This is being discussed on the internet. Most people seem to prefer channel 10. It's not just the matches IMO that are important. Australian morning tv is popular. The ffa should ask whatever fta station to regularly promote the league and do interviews. If a fta station bought the rights would they co share them with foxtel? If so, who gets to show the derbies? Would both channels show them? You need these big games in the mainstream. With 12 teams in the league would they play each other 2 or 3 times? I know fans are against this, but I hope in the future teams only play each other twice in a season. And they hold both Sydney derbies at ANZ. If a free to air station had these games plus the Melbourne games and Adelaide victory, and hopefully Wollongong v SFC & wsw. Then they could hype them up really well. Interviews all week etc. coaches and players on the morning shows. A pre match show, showing previous encounters , teams forms etc. you can fit commercial in there. The next deal will establish the HAL on fta, the deal after that will be massive.

Can't you also watch all AFL maches for free on Bet365? What's the point of paying for ESPN?

Afl is shown on Eurosport already. So it airs all over Europe. In Sweden I can watch ALL the HAL games on bet365 for free. They even showed the ffa cup strikers game. It will be good if they show it live. Most games start 9am in the morning here, so there's no competition.

From all I've read: Asian Cup TV rights aren't owned by the FFA, so they can't sell them. All official matches organised by the Asian Football Confederation are owned by the AFC. The AFC has sold all these rights (ACL, Asian Cup, Asian & World Cup qualifiers, etc.) to a company called World Sports Group. WSG then sells the rights to TV broadcasters in the various member countries: e.g. selling to FoxSports in Australia.

And that sums it up. Any sporting association could get a billion dollar TV deal if they had the viewers. I'm surprised that the article doesn't really mention this, given it's the fundamental basis for how much the TV rights are worth to anything. SBS ratings for the A-League started off OK, but as soon as the Big bash started they dropped to diabolical, rarely getting over 100k nationally, and never really recovered. As a comparison, 7 gets around 6-700k on Friday nights for the AFL (not including the 250k or so on Fox) and the NRL around 5-600k on 9. Even the much hyped Juventus-All Stars game on 7mate could only pull a shade over 200k viewers nationally in the highly marketable Sunday night slot (which is a bit of a shame because it was a pretty entertaining game). The NPL, W-League and FFA Cup aren't worth a pinch of sh*t. At least not until people start watching. Until the viewers tune in, TV networks aren't going to get their wallets out no matter how many teams there are.