Can football afford to walk away from SBS?

"And why then is a football page dedicated to the AFC being linked to an AFL website (even though it is authored by someone else) in the first place? Just to be informative? I think not" As the person collating that information, it is meant to be purely informative. I have no association with the AFL beyond my traditonal support of Carlton.

+1

Good article Mid. I agree that SBS hasn't done the best job, but they can still improve it. We shouldn't leave them just yet. Give em a chance! But I do understand all sides of the coin though, on SBS we could become a stale product, not growing the ratings, and with SBS only chipping in $6m a year. I don't think they can afford much more than Basheer and co! As the old saying goes... You pay bananas, you get monkeys! All they need to do is scrap half the panel on the coverage, get some fresh blood in, and just take the Fox match commentary feed to save money. The panel needs to be very knowledgeable, but also fun, much like the Fox crew. As many people have already mentioned, the big 3 FTA channels already have their own high rating summer sports. At best we could get on GO, GEM, 7mate, 7TWO or OneHD. But there's also a couple of other points that haven't been discussed on here which will alter all our future TV rights, on any channel. 1. The FFA should get all Socceroos games on the anti-siphoning list, both WCQ and friendlies. The Socceroos do rate well, and would do well on one of the big FTA channels, and this would also build the profile and credibility of the whole sport on FTA. And competitions like the Asian Cup and our new FFA Cup final should also be on this list and played on FTA TV. 2. Expansion, if done correctly in the next 2-3 seasons, should get more coin out of Fox Sports alone, giving the competition 1 more game per week. This would surely increase the value of the next TV rights deal. 3. Higher salary caps and big marquee players - just like we've seen in the MLS, investment in top level talent does pay off. The scouting of these players must be spot on, but in the states players like Henry, Keane, Dempsie, Di Vaio, Defoe and many others have worked really well for the league. The better and higher profile of players coming in, the more eyeballs on the product. $$$$ 4.Divide the product up to maximise TV revenue. The 1st FFA Cup on Fox was a huge success, this would do well, particularly on SBS, with all the old NSL clubs being involved. We could have A-league and ACL on Fox, the FFA Cup on SBS, and the Socceroos on a commercial FTA station. I also get the people that still complain about ch7's history with Football. But if they bid for our game today, I don't think they could afford to hide it, as they'd have to pay good move for it, not the annual $1m they paid to then Soccer Australia to play games after midnight. We've actually now got a product which is worth good money.

Agreed

Agree that both could easily be hosted in the SCOTU.

Put this comment up here so it isn't lost One good Middle option is to let SBS keep it until next rights cycle, but the FFA can give HAL rights to Fox Sports + commercial FA network and give the FFA Cup plus delayed coverage of WCQ's to SBS This partly depends on how the FFA Cup continues to develop on the football calander, it was certainly well embraced attendance wise A big question no one is really talking about is the shit-fight that is slowly brewing, in the beginning the Socceroos value was seen as holding the HAL up but the HAL is at the stage where it can stand on its own two feet and the owners are going to get agitated and rightly so, the Socceroos are in decline and will struggle to qualify for 2018, the tide is slowly turning in the A Leagues favour A League can provide week-to-week content, which is the major bonus for subscrition based media services, the Socceroos can pull a big figure which is good for money to sell to an advertiser, but is rather occasional

There seems to be a difference of opinion of this by Sydnesiders and Melburnians on this, eg at the start of the HAL Sydney were going for the Yorkes and the Juninhos but Melbourne was going for the Archie Thompson and Kevin Muscats The media love Yorke and Juninho and whinged about clubs using the Marquee spot as an "accounting trick" but the other side is equally as valid, eg Melbourne has put an emphasis on a strong "community" following the club which is helped by local players with a strong bond with the team and by extension fanbase. The former translates in better TV interest and hence revenue, while the latter translates as a healthier membership base and revenue from season tickets For mine the most interesting example of both of these coming together at the same time was two seasons ago when firstly ADP went to SFC and secondly Ange went to coach Melbourne Both have positives and negatives, SFC's crowds collapsed before long (what bewildered me was SBS and other commentators 'surprised' that SFC weren't pulling 35k every week ala the Jets game), and MVFC's approach doesen't quite excite the media and wider interest outside of the Football fraternity as much as it could The MVFC approach does deepen the integrity of the football fraternity, eg when Archie came on against Jordan there was a notable cheer from the Melbourne crowd, unthinkable in the "are Viduka or Kewell playing" era of the late nineties and early noughties and as we can see there is a weakening hardcore interest at Socceroo level (atmosphere - Socceroos games are largely an event now) but the support for clubs at HAL level remains strong/steady Ironic now that the expansion clubs are the opposite of their original forebears, eg WSW went for the club-building approach and Man City for the Marquee glossy approach

Should not move Gallop is essentially being enticed by the idea of an increase in TV revenue dollars It's no major surprise that most income for sports now comes from broadcast rights, but the key for Football is STABILITY and not REVENUE (sorry don't know how to bold) Eg the EPL has never had more revenue flowing into "English" football but English football is in an unhealthy financial state. In this case we would have increased revenue, but then the PFA will whinge for more money on players wages, and frankly this will only lead to an inflation of wages but no real increase in quality because Asian and European teams will always be able to pay more Because the operating costs of the league are down, this means it is just practical enough to get smaller regional areas with teams, eg Canberra in particular which should have been given a team. This can be a big advantage for football because we can have a true national footprint to our league which the AFL and NRL are leaving behind, eg in Victoria the AFL basically plays out of two stadiums plus Skilled Stadium in Geelong occasionally, every club has virtually nothing to do with its roots in practical terms and the point of difference is branding NRL is facing pressures to move away from the suburban model. Gallop would take us the same way with this idea of 3 teams in capital cities. Two each is enough and they should look to regional areas again but get the Business model correct Last argument is that lower operating costs means the league will be better able to weather any shocks to the Business model compared to the AFL/NRL. It needs to be kept in mind that the Commercial networks who would offer money are facing Business Model pressures, Nine nearly went bust and Ten had difficulties etc, which was why I was glad we were on a Govt owned channel in SBS and it is not in Footballs interest to burn those bridges As for quality, is it any real surprise that SBS coverage is not quite what people consider up to scratch when Fox Sports takes any commentator who is respectable, Simon Hill comes to mind and I would say Ned Zelic was good at SBS but he has become a bit odd in his overcompensating style at Fox Sports

The Age had a piece on this and it claimed that the Victoria government did not want to have the Asian Cup head to head with the Australian Open. I'm convinced that there is room for both competitions simultaneously. A full house at the tennis centre and at AAMI is not unrelealistic in the Sporting Capital of the Universe :)

Good comment. Yes I know people who subscribe to foxtel just so they can watch the EPL. I don't think they watch A-League...

Football on the ABC, hosted/ presenter/ called by Gerard Whateley would be great for the game. I believe he has a genuine affection for the game, his knowledge of the game is good . Its shown when quizzing Ange about the game on The Offsiders program.

1860 Agree and we need to commend respect from the FTA rather than demand respect ... has always been an issue however of late and especially after ADP and Ono played here that respect has lifted.

Tow A very logical post and hhhhmmm astute having an ADP per team the FTA understand the overseas effect ... never quite considered it that way and it makes a lot of sense ...

We do know one clear factor regarding Football and TV, the bigger the football entity ,the bigger the interest.Examples are the ultimate biggie on SBS the World Cup (Which by the way has another factor in it's favour going back as long as I've lived in Australia, duration of interest by the General populace) and the recent visits by Liverpool and ManU on Channel 7. A few years ago The Becks show on Ten and of course Nine's 16 matches in our Timezone for the 2002 World Cup. Which leads to garnering interest via the " Biggie" on any FTA channel. What then can be done to put the "Biggie in the A-League "as far as Australians and Football are concerned. Well we can't be the EPL,Bundesliga,La Liga or Serie A ever,but we can bring some of that here in the form of Marquees like ADP who've played at that level. What that's doing is recognising the major difference in the historical following of football in Australia as compared to other sports( whose following I find similar to English football ie not affected outside the domestic arena). That difference being the overseas factor. It's real and cannot be ignored. I guarantee that if we had 5 or 6 genuine ADP marquees running around the A-League Commercial TV would be interested,because it's obvious they also think the overseas factor is important in broadcasting/ selling football in Australia. Would they be interested in factoring in an Overseas Marquee component into to a TV deal,who knows,but IMO it's worth a crack by the FFA.

In November I arrived back in Australia after a 3 year absence. One of the changes I have noticed is the sports bulletins of the FTA channels has improved with interviews of a league players and news about teams , injuries, charity work etc. It was a pleasant surprise to me. For Sure they are taking notice of footballs growth. I think we may have to put up with one more 4 year cycle of Foxtel/SBS before the FTA channels really bite and decide to put in a bid .

So am I on my own in finding Stephanie Brantz's schoolmarm-ish charms quite alluring? Anyone? No? Just me then...

Good post aladdin sane, I think you have got it just about right. Of course you are going to get alot more casual eyes on a commercial station like 7 as opposed to SBS & hence you would automatically see an improvement in ratings. The avid follower will follow the sport no matter what the channel is. TV channels advertise to try to entice the casual viewer not the avid followers. The issue is whether the A-League is big enough to entice a big commercial FTA station to take the risk. I see it as the chicken & the egg situation. Will the commercial station wait until A-League is big enough to become viable or take the risk & put money in the sport to make it bigger?

Junior No I don't think their rating would go tho the roof... but they would improve ... and its not their entire broadcast staff anyway.. Lucy, Zdrila and Craig need to managed not replaced and Basher needs to go ... and no Culina or Culina types... Agree on Fox poaching their staff ... also remember this article is written after a heap of articles and comments by media folk FFA are going to call the contract in early... Just for the sake of clarity if you read the article I said """" For now, football remains in a growth stage and I think it would be foolish for the FFA to leave. SBS have provided support during the dark times and the sport and SBS should continue to grow together."""""

When C7 won the NSL rights and “deliberately buried the NSL to appease their AFL buddies”, the ratings actually improved? It seems many people simply don’t ever watch or bother to see what’s on a Multicultural broadcaster with subtitles. If the ALeague was on C10 I’m sure the ratings would be 2 or 3 times larger. The problem, I think, is that you can’t run a million commercials during a Football game like you can in AFL, BB and other sports. The free flowing nature of Football with no breaks is what we love about our game but the commercial stations may not be willing to pay big money for the rights just yet without all that ad revenue. They’re quite happy to show less popular sports which cost less and you can fill with ads. Then you’ve got their existing rights with other major sports etc and you can see the challenge. I think we’re stuck with SBS for a while.

Midfielder Do you really think that if SBS sacked their entire on-air football staff then ratings would shoot through the roof? As many others have commented previously, it's easy to find fault with sports commentators but it doesn't seem to harm ratings for rugby league or cricket. In any case, Zdrila is OK, Lucy is good and improving, Culina is so-so, Basheer is good and Kalac is entertaining. Ned was better on SBS because on Fox he just seems to shout more. The commentator who annoys me most is Robbie Slater who is a regular on Fox (and turned up on SBS last A-League season). When a goal is scored he shouts "That was pure intent!" So other players on the field are failing because they don't have "pure intent"? Great insight! And SBS must be doing something right because Fox keeps on poaching their staff - Ned Zelic, Simon Hill and a few others all started on SBS! Back to the main topic, the FFA should pursue one live weekly A-Leag game with a commercial station along with Fox and SBS if the money is good. Just don't put all the A-League eggs in one TV station basket.