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Continually improving the A-League is a must for football to even experience greater heights.
After nine seasons, and on the back of a few seasons where the league seemed to be struggling financially, football has really picked up and started to take off.
However, for football fans to experience further growth I feel a number of changes must be made to the current structure of the A-League.
1. Changes to the marquee structure
With half of the clubs this year expected to record a profit or break even, this is the right time to introduce a new marquee structure. We should keep an international marquee spot open, an Australian spot open and add another marquee spot for a player from an Asian Confederation country.
Many ask why, however when you think of the revenue streams, the television rights and the possibility to attract new overseas fans it makes perfect sense. Imagine the impact that having a player of Shinji Ono’s quality across the league in five out of the 10 clubs would have in terms of exposure across Asia.
2. Addition of two new teams before 2018
For us to be taken seriously, our competition must evolve to a competition which features at least 14 clubs, however 16 would be desired before 2020 by many people. What cities will represent these two new clubs is open to discussion, however I feel that Canberra and Wollongong should not be overlooked.
Both have recorded excellent crowds during a number of preseason matches and both cities have a decent football following. If they are modelled in a similar structure as the Wanderers and are engaged to the surrounding communities, there are no reasons why they can’t add an extra substance to the league.
However, question marks still hover. WIN Stadium is well out-dated to host a professional sports club without major renovation and Wollongong need the addition of a new grandstand or a completely new stadium. With current media speculation indicating Parramatta Stadium inadequate to host further ACL games next year, Wollongong would be totally out of the equation.
It is something the FFA must address with local and state governments before going ahead with a club from Wollongong.
3. A-League training facilities and junior academies
All professional A-League clubs should be looking within the next five to 10 years to establish permanent training facilities where their youth teams, women’s teams and first teams will train, eat and train again throughout the week. These training facilities should also include a model for a junior academy which will be similar to a conveyor belt for the production of young and structured future footballers for A-League clubs.
The development of junior academies also opens up new revenue streams through the sale of players, as seen through the sale of Daniel De Silva for $2.5 million to AS Roma. Imagine seeing reports in 10 to 15 years with speculation linking an Aussie kid to Barcelona or Real Madrid for $15 million.
4. Salary cap
The salary cap does more to punish clubs than reward and should be removed, along with the marquee system, however the FFA have stuck with their guns. If you look at the Besart Berisha situation, the Melbourne Victory situation (with them being the most successful club in the competition financially), the achievements of the Wanderers and the appeal of Sydney FC, the salary cap must be completely re-structured in the next five years.
It would allow the competition’s bigger clubs such as to sign even better players. Allowing these clubs to spend more on their squads will increase interest throughout, drive up TV right deals and increase gate revenue home and away for all clubs. One way the salary cap could be restructured would be having a minimum amount, for example $2.5 million, for the smaller clubs while having a maximum of $10 to $15 million for the bigger clubs.
If you look at it in perspective, the bigger clubs spend in excess of their salary cap of $2.55 million already by using the international marquee spots, the junior marquee spots and the Australia marquee spots, which is easily an extra $1.5 to $2.5 million compared to the smaller clubs that don’t even sign one marquee player.
5. Introduction of transfer fees
I believe the FFA should introduce a transfer system similar to Europe where the smaller clubs are rewarded financially through the sale of their players. However, going into detail for this point isn’t necessary as most already understand what I mean.
6. Price Money
The FFA recently changed the rules and price money is no longer split from other competitions such as the ACL between the clubs. However, clubs should also be granted a higher percentage of the TV rights deal the higher up you finish. Currently each club receives a grant of $2.55 million a year from the FFA through TV rights, which equates to $25.5 million across the league annually.
However, with the TV deal coming up shortly I believe we’ll see a significant increase and the grant provided by the FFA to A-League clubs will go up to about $40m to $50m annually. Awarding each club an even $5 million would be stupid. This would be the perfect time to introduce differences in grants with the first team receiving 20 to 25 per cent, which would be around $10 to $15million a year, with the last team receiving only $3 million.
These are six changes which I feel would even further improve the league.
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