Being in any form of public relations is all about how you spin the narrative and Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany tried to spin harder than Shane Warne.
Speaking at the announcement of Foxtel’s commitment to a six year deal in the A-League, Delany was inevitably asked about the English Premier League.
The lucrative rights went to Optus Sport and Foxtel had to pull out all the stops to prevent subscribers from abandoning ship by adding extra football channels.
Delany surprised everyone with his take on Optus having the EPL, claiming it is actually helping both his employer and the FFA.
“The EPL’s gone invisible,” Delany said.
“It almost doesn’t exist anymore. No one can see it.”
“All of my friends don’t talk about it anymore. Instead they go to a real game that’s physical all around the country.”
WATCH DELANY SPEAKING IN THE VIDEO ABOVE
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Guest
Well it has suddenly became visible to me. I watch it on SBS Saturday night and highlights on Sunday of other matches... As where it was once not possible for me to watch any EPL live before..
Optusout
Guest
It's true I am a huge Liverpool fan and I can barley keep up with the games and we are having a great season. The vibe with my friends is hey did you see the goal? no I don't have optus but I might look later on youtube. thanks heaps optus PS: go Melbourne City
jamesb
Guest
"The EPL’s gone invisible,” “It almost doesn’t exist anymore. No one can see it.” Patrick Delany must be on some dodgy supplements program.
punter
Guest
An organisation who loses the biggest football competition in the world, turns around 6 months later & calls the competition invisible & people buy it, haha.
lesterlike
Guest
Lol. Who cares if it's invisible in Australian media, anyone who actually follows it now without optus is most likely watching on HQ Streams (which a child can figure out) and getting their media fix from overseas sources.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Media coverage is down because News Ltd papers/sites pump Fox Sports products
Chopper
Guest
Luckily, or unlucky if you know the real facts, my English team is no longer in the EPL. They are actually down in division one and as things go they are likely to drop even further. That discussion must be left for another day. Today, now, in this country, we have a good league that is exciting to watch on TV as well as live. In actual fact the passion and the atmosphere is twice as good live and you get to see the whole field with the moves eventuating like a giant chess board. But it is more than that, it is watching the kids faces when they see their stars (and mascots) in the flesh. It's seeing the fan groups the chanting of the RBB and The Den, The Mariners band, and the kids games at half time. Now it is going to get better. It will be more sustainable. It will grow in teams as well as fans. Anyone who does not think this is a great deal for both Fox and the Hyundai A League has got rocks in their head. Roll on 2018-2019 I say. Lets see two new teams entering a stable competition and lets see a 33 game season.
Jeff Williamson
Roar Pro
The EPL is still there. But I think the A-league is definitely catching more attention. The A-league is local, in our time zone, and in our stadiums. And it is a good standard. So it is no surprise that it is gaining in popularity.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The other thing to add is that the EPL doesn't really give a fig about how the game is presented in Australia. It's absolutely rolling in money and for them the Australian market is tiny and irrelevant. But it's a different story for the A-League, they do need to care about media coverage within Australia, so even if Optus was offering slightly more than Fox, they would have been crazy to go with them.
Mark
Guest
Of course he would say something like that and his line demonstrates quite a bit of hyperbole. However, media monitoring company iSentia recently found that media coverage of the EPL is down substantially compared to the same point in time 12 months ago, suggesting there is an element of truth to the claim that the EPL's move to Optus has diminished its presence in the Australian market. It's clever on the FFA's part to focus on the benefits of 'being there' as opposed to watching matches on TV. I'm a long time follower of both European football and the A-League and I think I have an understanding of the pros and cons both as much as anyone. While I love my European club, you can never have the same connection to a club that you can only watch on TV as you can to a club that you can watch in the flesh on a week by week basis. The atmosphere of a match in your lounge room just does not compare to the atmosphere of actually being in the venue. Celebrating a goal in front of a bemused wife/child/dog/cat is not the same as celebrating a goal scored right in front of you with thousands of strangers in the stadium.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
It is interesting that he used the word invisible. I said a few times back when we were talking about Optus, "the game changer" that if the A-League ended up on Optus, it would become invisible.