This year shapes as critical in football’s future. FFA signed 20-year agreements with all nine Australian A-League clubs in 2014, giving the owners a 20-year license, providing security and stability, thus making the owners more likely to invest in their clubs long-term.
With that in mind, relegation from the A-League is not on the cards until at least 2034, unless the FFA wants a heap of potential lawsuits on their doorsteps.
However, promotion from a new and yet-to-be-formed national second division is still possible and would add variety to the ten-team A-League setup.
Let’s say we setup a national second division by 2018 or 2019. We could then have a playoff every two years, starting from 2020, where the winners of the second division could fight it out for a spot in the A-League.
Fast forward to 2034 and we’d have 16 Australian clubs in the top competition (sorry Wellington, but you’ve gotta go!). This would have seen a brand new entrant into the A-League every second year since 2020 to keep things fresh and exciting, while giving more local coaches and players a career.
By 2034 we would’ve had promotion for 14 years, and from that season onwards, we’d also have relegation, where the bottom two clubs in the top tier drop to the second division, with the top two clubs in the second tier getting promoted.
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Sure the A-League would have an odd number of teams every second year, but this way the ‘A-League promotion playoff’ can also have a huge build-up every couple of years – it’s all part of building the football pyramid.
By then we’ll have two, 16-team competitions, with full promotion and relegation, an FFA Cup without the need for a rigged draw, as the gap between divisions would’ve narrowed even further, and the A-League sides enter the comp earlier on. We’ll have 30-game seasons, international breaks, 30-man squads, 3+1 visa spots, and every club in the top tier would have a mandatory academy and training base for both girls and boys teams from under 6s all the way to senior football.
While this happens, TV rights in the game will have boomed, and Australia will have become viable to players from all over the world, all the while giving our youngsters more opportunities, which can only help our nations teams with greater depth and quality.
This can become a reality with proper management and planning. Steven Lowy is right when he says that we can help shape the future of the game in this country with the decisions we make in the next 12 months. Let’s hope they make the correct ones.
The opportunities are massive, we just need everyone in the game to realise it, be bold and go for it! If we can sort out these present issues, the game’s future could be great.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
I'm lost.
Matt Jones
Guest
Nick, I thought your articles are bad but your comments are a lot worse
Nick Symonds
Guest
The AFL's last TV deal was worth 2.5 billion dollars. I'm sure they could break into the American market if they want to. Maybe they just need a bit more self confidence. You know how much American news anchors like talking about "Ossie Rules". It's a slam dunk.
valhalla
Guest
id happily join in on the joke along but something tells me youre serious
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Renewed hope for FFA congress consensus The frenetic talks are an attempt to strike an agreement before Thursday's vital joint meeting between FFA and FIFA, represented in Australia by former Georgian Football Federation president Nodar Akhalkatsi, AFC official Ravi Kumar and FIFA lawyer Rolf Tanner. Frustrating some parties is their perception that Lowy and Gallop have not been so much facilitating the process as lobbying to retain power. One representative felt the protracted affair had been "shambolically managed" by FFA. The FIFA/AFC delegation is due to leave after Thursday's all-day meeting, at which point they will report back to FIFA's member associations committee. http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/08/09/15/50/renewed-hope-for-ffa-congress-consensus
Stuart Thomas
Expert
There is a mighty big difference between a 'can do spirit' and 2.4 billion dollars.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
This is a very positive thing to know. Any guarantee given to teams to stay in the top flight without performance or financial benchmarks is foolish. As in life, earning the right is vital. A couple of clubs don't appear to be earning the right at this present time. We can give them more time, but boy I would like to see Wellington average 9-10 thousand a season. Pipe dream I know, but it needs to evolve otherwise this whole venture into NZ will prove fruitless.
steve
Guest
12 clubs isn't the right amount to start with, but anyway, another promotion/ relegation/ expansion write up that fails to mention where the money is coming from for all these new teams, new players, coaches, stadiums, training bases, club officials and employees etc. No one ever explains how all these things are going to be paid for and where the money is coming from for long term sustainability of the A League, let alone a second professional tier with another 15 or so imaginary clubs in second tier and the money that is going to be needed for that. Its all pie in the sky stuff. The money simply isn't there in a limited marketplace for corporate dollars.
Ken Spacey
Guest
I am more concerned that this will validate the idea that AFL will take off in USA. I don't think it will but the mere idea that there may be some larger fields will fire up that tired debate and help them swamp the media with some vague and ill defined claim that world domination and Olympic status is coming. Sorry have to go: There is a new twitter feed on how Taylor Walker's mail may have been accidentally delivered to a Power fan's house.
Ken Spacey
Guest
Odd number of teams means that idle team or at least squad can play promotional matches, take on NPL or other national teams below Socceroo level. Football has the ability to do this more than other football codes.
albatross
Roar Pro
re: Global Sports Ventures 1) A real estate developer who sees things no one else can (eg ". “What we saw [in Australia] was a lot of people were playing things like street cricket,” Pandya says, noting that many of the participants were Americans." - I haven't seen kids play pick up game of cricket in a park for years let alone any Seppos having a hit.) 2) An identified market of less than 1% of the US population - mostly newly arrived migrants most of whom are desperate to assimilate themselves into 'murrican culture. 3) No grounds to play on. What could go wrong?
pete4
Guest
If we are serious about a 2nd tier then 16 club A-League is too many to start with A-League at 12 clubs is right size followed by 12 club 2nd tier once the $ is there
pete4
Guest
I don't think the FFA has an issue with the idea of promotion/relegation. But say a 2nd tier gets up who would $$ fund those clubs if they run into financial difficulties mid-season? The TV deal covers the A-League until such time it can also cover from costs of the 2nd tier blaming the FFA acheives little
The Auteur
Guest
Are your comments meant to be satirical as well?
chris
Guest
Not sure about "cricket taking over America". He's bringing T20 there which will be the rough equivalent of the home run derby that they have in baseball.
Nick Symonds
Guest
16 teams by 2034. Is this meant to be a satirical piece? In the mean time cricket will be taking over America. Jay Pandya, the chairman of Global Sports Ventures is investing US$2.4 billion in building 8 new 26,000 seat stadiums across America in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, Washington DC, Georgia, California and Florida. The competition will start in 2019 or 2020. That's how you grow a sport. Can do spirit! https://www.sbnation.com/2017/3/1/14725986/jay-pandya-interview-cricket-usa-2-billion-investment I suppose there's always the F-League that could take off with investment... Or do FFA have a strangle hold on that as well?
chris
Guest
Oops, yes you're right. Cheers LH
Lionheart
Guest
No, the 20 year agreement did not include Phoenix (see 2nd sentence in the article).
northerner
Guest
MLS has a franchise model, and I don't think complacency is a problem there. The teams are investing substantial sums because their competition is not just against other football clubs in the league, but also against alternative sports products - college football, NFL, baseball, etc. I'm not saying I think that's the way Australian football should go, by the way, just saying I don't think that a franchise model necessarily leads to complacency.
Nemesis
Guest
"With that in mind, relegation from the A-League is not on the cards until at least 2034, unless the FFA wants a heap of potential lawsuits on their doorsteps." Unless we see the Licence Agreement, this is not a fact. It's a conclusion based on a premise that may be false. In fact, a letter from FIFA in May 2016 stated: " the licences granted to A-League clubs expressly provide that the licensee's club's continued participation in the A-League is subject to any promotion & relegation system implemented by FFA".. As I said: we need to see the Licence Agreement. But, based on Fifa's simple statement, we can reasonably conclude that the Licence Agreement signed by existing ALeague club's expressly tells them "even though you have a Licence, you may be relegated if we implement a Relegation System".