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If the English Premier League has taught Australian football anything, it’s that within the next couple of broadcast-deal cycles the centre of power will shift to the A-League’s clubs.
The first TV deal saw that Socceroos’ broadcasting brand prop up the infant A-League and its mostly start-up teams.
But 10 years later, the brand of A-League teams may be more significant to committed football fans than the Socceroos. This is hardly surprising, and is known as the ‘club before country’ phenomenon in mature football markets.
When this shift inevitably occurs, there will be an increase in tension between the A-League owners and the FFA over how revenue is allocated.
This is particularly important when considering the on-demand subscription direction of the media industry.
The Socceroos often get higher audience numbers than A-League games, and this is good for traditional free-to-air broadcasters that sell mass audiences to advertisers.
However A-League teams are the bread and butter of fans’ football fix. Social networks within the fraternity are subsequently built around the week-to-week exposure, which means stronger affection.
In social terms it explains why the atmosphere and complexity of chants is of much higher quality at A-League games.
In business terms this equates to intense ‘brand loyalty’ and a higher likelihood of being the beneficiary of discretionary spending.
In broadcast terms, the week-to-week content combined with a smaller, albeit more committed consumer-base means the A-League and its teams are better aligned with the business model of subscription networks. Thus the centre of power is set to shift from the Socceroos to the A-League within the next few TV-rights cycles.
Instead of bloating the complexity of the A-League with more revenue as the principle of diminishing returns begins to rear its head, better value will be elicited if the A-League is kept as a financially viable, lean competition.
Once viability has been established a much better return for football will be elicited if the surplus in TV money is channelled into building the FFA Cup as a substantial ‘dual competition’ that involves group stages featuring a mix of A-League and lower-tier teams, and with occasional weekend fixtures in place of A-League games. Daytime fixtures would certainly neutralise any ‘lighting’ issues.
Elite European compete in dual competitions – predominantly being the local domestic league and the UEFA Champions League for example. These are often broadcast on different networks, as the teams have global fan-bases
Within this dynamic is the opportunity for the FFA to mitigate some of the sensitivities around broadcasters.
For example a relationship with a commercial free-to-air broadcaster like Channel Seven can be cultivated in terms of dual A-League rights with Fox Sports, while a relationship with traditional partner like SBS can be maintained at the same time through dual FFA Cup rights.
There is also a form of risk hedge in place as all the TV revenue flowing into football isn’t pegged to one network, and if both competitions are kept relatively lean there is less susceptibility to revenue shocks.
In Australian terms, it is important to understand the primary focus of committed fans will be channelled through the A-League teams, and through this team into different dimensions of the football industry.
One competition (A-League) is a national domestic competition tuned to the AFC fraternity via the AFC Champions League, and the FFA Cup is tuned to the grassroots football fraternity.
This is once again the mix of top-down and bottom-up perspectives and in both cases we have a two-way feedback loop.
For example A-League clubs are marketed to the sizeable grassroots and Asian fans/sponsors/owners. In return, A-League fans’ money is trickling down toward grassroots level and are marketed at by Asian clubs and sponsors.
Under a dual competition approach any harmful dichotomy between owners and the FFA over the spread of broadcast revenue can be mitigated, as the owners can have a national-level, professional competition which they have more administrative control of. An autonomously run A-League with standalone TV rights will see benefits largely kept in-house to the benefit of the A-League as a standalone commercial business and its teams. This means A-League teams remain attractive to private investors.
It is important to note that the broadcast rights of the league need to remain collectivised more in line with the American model for sport, where the equitable distribution of league sponsorship can be used to ensure the viability of smaller, regional teams.
The large teams with sizeable fan-bases, which traditionally favour individual team broadcast rights, can be placated by giving them the capacity to negotiate rights for pre-season fixtures against large overseas clubs. If managed well the larger A-League teams can gain a decent windfall from such fixtures.
The FFA can have a competition (FFA Cup) which they directly run and can more easily justify the revenue flowing to both themselves and lower tiers in order for it to then be be re-distributed to subsidise women, youth and other programs that are in the national interest, such as physical infrastructure.
This way high-yielding professional teams aren’t hoarding the profitability to themselves, but the social benefit is extracted without a direct taxation structure.
In terms of a more diverse media market place, football as a whole has the flexibility and capacity to sell a diverse range of TV products (competitions) to new subscription media organisations, which typically buy sports rights to attract subscribers.
For example, the FFA can prospectively sell standalone A-League rights to one subscription broadcaster and bundled Socceroos/FFA Cup rights to a free-to-air network.
The current issue whereby A-League teams face restrictions in terms of major shirt sponsors if they conflict with A-League sponsors can also be mitigated.
A strong dual-competition model would mean A-League teams can still form a relationship with otherwise off-limits sponsors for the FFA Cup, offer exposure beyond a mere handful of games, and establish a business relationship that would be otherwise closed to them.
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