Football Federation Australia could announce its improved $50 million a year A-League TV deal with Fox Sports as early as Tuesday, as club owners seek assurances they’ll get a bigger slice of the pie.
The governing body and its major broadcaster have reportedly agreed to renew the rights on a four-year contract worth around $200 million.
But a free-to-air deal taking in Saturday night’s match of the round is unlikely to be done until the Big Bash rights are purchased early next year.
Channels Seven, Nine and Ten are prioritising the highly popular T20 competition but all are believed to be keen on broadcasting the A-League should they miss out.
While FFA’s exact revenue won’t be known until all components are in place, News Corp reports the free-to-air and digital rights will bump the total figure up to around $65 million.
It’s an increase of nearly two-thirds on the current $40 million a year deal but short of the $80 million former FFA chairman Frank Lowy had ambitiously targeted.
The rise in revenue is set to push the salary cap up substantially from $2.6 million, with clubs expecting to receive a greater share of cash in surplus to their required player payments.
FFA chief executive David Gallop was cagey when asked about broadcast rights on Monday.
“It’s too early to be speculating about the TV rights deal now,” Gallop said.
“It’s an important part of the sport’s future, not much more we can say about it.”
It came as the players’ union warned there was no guarantee the salary cap would remain in place when a new collective bargaining agreement is negotiated in 2018.
Many clubs already spend well beyond the cap given marquee wages are unrestricted, but to scrap it altogether would open the door for a rush of high-profile foreign players.
“An agreement to a salary cap in football is never an absolute and cannot be taken for granted,” Professional Footballers Australia chief executive John Didulica said.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
He's almost certainly got 1 leg over the balcony — he just needs someone else to help with the other. I'll be brutally honest: I thought he'd have been sacked by now, but then again, I didn't think this deal would take so long.
AR
Guest
- 6 years - $54M per year - no FTA yet (waiting to see which networks are left over after the BBL rights are concluded) - no mention of expansion Make no mistake, the owners will be filthy about this. Gallop earns a reported $1.4M per year. I reckon a few people will be asking how he is justifying that salary.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Possibly Sydney The AFL is exploring having its own digital platform, but this is a massive risk and investment to partake in. We just don't know what's going to be around in 6-7 years time — it's a very long time in the tech industry, as stated above to Fuss. What I do know is the current delivery system will provide stability to all the players involved for the next 5-6 years. They'll start worrying massively about these issues in 3-4 years I suspect.
Sydneysider
Guest
Rick the big change will be direct subscriptions via digital platforms. That may not be so good for all sports because if FTA TV goes the way of the Dodo then the NRL and AFL will have to charge the same customer base more to increase their TV revenue. AFL has strong membership and other revenue streams which may not affect it as mush, but the. NRL is the one that will have to lift it's game in terms of other revenue streams because the majority of their annual revenue is from TV rights. Someone mentioned it yesterday.
The Link
Guest
Are the current rights 28k per year?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Fuss, you need to knock the chip off your shoulder buddy. I can understanding you venting your frustration with these comments — 100 million was massively off. I'm also sorry that they didn't go with your Woolworths food voucher scheme. It's hard to except that people like me (who are objective) are going to be right once again. I told many here it was likely to be near identical to the AFL's structure earlier this year.
tully101
Roar Guru
its a 50% increase per year and hopefully the 60m mark is covered
Sydneysider
Guest
That's a fair point Nemesis. Maybe FoxSports sees some value in the A-League, and potential for growth, otherwise they would bid $0.
Ahmed
Guest
Anyone got any interesting articles on the direction sport broadcasting will be heading with the NBN coming in? This a-league deal doesn't seem to be any where near the quantum leap that they were after after you consider inflation, and the size of crowds/tv audiences seen this year. I'll be interested to see what type of expansion the deal includes.
Nemesis
Guest
Doesn't explain why a buyer locks in a long term contract and increases the buy price when the content it is buying is poor quality and no one watches.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
telegraph_sport @telegraph_sport 18s19 seconds ago FFA announce improved, $346 million, six-year deal with Fox Sports for @ALeague ANNOUNCEMENT STREAM: http://bit.ly/2hBWRXs
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"Why should Foxsports (the buyer) care if it leaves Aleague in no man’s land?" ...precisely because of the reasons I stated. I believe we'll see a major shift in context delivery around 2020 to mainstream Australians. At present we don't have the infrastructure in place. News Corp wouldn't want to leave itself exposed to losing any live content until they have their own tech in order. I don't believe they have invested enough in their digital content delivery platforms. I think they know this. Six years is a long time in the tech industry. This either buys them time to catch up, or invest in new delivery systems.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/fox-sports-will-remain-home-of-aleague-until-at-least-2023-after-new-broadcast-deal/news-story/4d82a015c0b7b13e7814c5da51296cbb
Mister Football
Roar Guru
6 year deal worth $346 million (includes all A-League, socceroos, matildas, W-League and FFA cup)
Mister Football
Roar Guru
FOX SPORTS Football @FOXFOOTBALL 35s36 seconds ago BREAKING NEWS: Fox Sports agrees to 6 year to broadcast @ALeague
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I expect the structure to be near identical to the AFL — as mentioned a few months ago: — All games to be broadcast live via Fox. — FTA most likely will pick up 2 games live, but they won't be exclusive. — Telstra or Optus will most likely hold the digital rights for mobile platforms. — Aleague GF exclusive to FTA Total around $60-70 million pa over 5-6 years Future expansion most likely won't add much value, more a sweetener to the broadcaster. It was reported the expansion of GWS and GCS in the first 5 years added very little value to the AFL's Tv rights.
Nemesis
Guest
Why should Foxsports (the buyer) care if it leaves Aleague in no man's land? We know the Aleague is a rubbish quality competition that no one watches? In fact, why is Foxsports doubling the fee? If there are no other bidders and no one watches, why not tell the FFA "we'll pay you $0. Take it or leave it"?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"Wonder why FoxSports would want a 6 year deal for a competition that’s rubbish and no one watches?" Because it coincides with the completion of the NBN most likely, which allows Foxtel to maintain its current infrastructure needs for live sports broadcasting. NRL, AFL & Aleague will all be coming out of their contracts come 2022ish. Major shifts in content delivery I expect to occur around 2020, by which time stability and bandwidth capability will allow for more players to enter the market. Four years leaves the Aleague in no man's land.
Casper
Guest
Someone else's wages should be of limited importance, except for people like you.
Lionheart
Guest
good deal