Generally, the consensus among the football community has been that the A-League needs to move to independence for it to grow.
By distancing itself from the FFA, the A-League would be allowed to divorce itself from an organisation that has been conflicted between its need to support the non-professional (grassroots) and national teams versus the need to grow a professional competition.
The release of the Australia Professional Football Clubs Association (APFCA) blueprint for an independent A-League on Wednesday morning has given us our first look into what an independent A-League may look like – and it has raised a number of concerns within the football community.
The document provides a window into the thoughts of the club owners, with a lot of information on how they see the future of the competition. Several of the suggestions within the document though will be controversial and sure to ignite serious debate.
Some of the more worrying recommendations made in the document are;
- Increasing the visa player allowance
- Increasing the split of the current broadcast money that is provided to the A-League
- The A-League paying a dividend or licence fee directly to the state federations rather than the FFA
- Allowing A-League clubs to sign a full squad of academy players
Increasing the visa player allowance
It is a recurring theme through all professional leagues around the world as to how many international players you allow per team.
National football bodies worry that the exclusion of young players from their own country impacts their development and impacts the overall development of players for the national team.
The fact that the APFCA see the current level of foreign players as too low and want to increase it further should be a concern to all Australian football fans.
It is laughable that the document tries to sell the idea that increasing the bench size to seven will actually increase the minutes that an U20 player would receive in the A-League.
What it will do is see a lot more of our young players riding pine, watching imports instead of receiving minutes in a competitive environment.
There is no doubt that increasing the visa player allowance would increase the quality of the A-League – but at what cost? Do we really want to lock out more of our young players?
Increase the split of the current TV right money that is provided to the A-League
The blueprint makes a case that the current split of revenue between the FFA and A-League is unfair. They argue that currently up to 35 per cent of the current broadcast deal is being used for non A-League activities, and they propose that this amount should be reduced to 10 per cent to reflect the true percentage of non A-League content in the deal.
This alone would remove approximately $9 million per year from the FFA.
However, this is not the only financial impact to FFA budget contained in the document. If we also take into account the removal of A-League sponsorship money, merchandise money and A-League finals gate receipts, the impact will be much greater.
A quick estimate would see the FFA move from a $135 million organisation to around $30-40 million. Of course, many of the expenses the FFA now incur would also disappear.
Player salary, marketing and competition costs (including many staff) would all move to be an A-League responsibility.
You would also expect an organisation that is losing somewhere around 65-75 per cent of its revenue to also have to significantly reduce its executive remuneration as it downsizes the team.
However, the revenue and costs around the national teams will not change. The current Socceroos collective bargaining agreement means that, once you deduct players costs, coaching and support costs, travel, stadium costs only a small amount of revenue from Socceroos matches remain for use elsewhere within FFA.
Our other national teams will continue to need funding to compete on the international stage.
So where will the vast majority of FFA revenue be derived from to fund these activities once the A-League is spun out? From the grassroots of course
Currently around $9 million of the FFA’s revenue is collected from grassroots players via a national registration fee, a fee that has not change significantly since the A-League was introduced.
There is little doubt that, with the loss of the A-League money, this fee will need to be increased to help fill the funding hole that will result. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable guess that it will at least double (and may increase even more than that).
The A-League paying a dividend or licence fee directly to the state federations rather than the FFA
This little pearl was a complete surprise to a lot of people. It effectively is suggesting that the A-League bypass any licence fees that it would pay to the FFA and divert that money directly to the state federations. It is hard to see this move as anything other than a bribe to the state federations to support the proposed structure that the APFCA is proposing.
The benefit of it is questionable, however, any money directed to the state federation would likely only mean that the FFA would need to introduce charges to recoup the revenue.
It would likely have a disastrous impact as it further erodes the relationship between the FFA board and the state federations.
It is worthy to note that no estimate of the size of this payment is discussed within the APFCA document. One of the biggest areas that will need to be agreed to when the A-League does moves to independence will be the size of this licence payment.
Moving forward, it will be the only revenue the grassroots of the game will receive as income from the A-League so its agreement is critical to the long term success of football in this country.
Allowing A-League clubs to sign a full squad of academy players
On the surface, this sounds great; more young players in A-League clubs means more elite development. However, it is worrying this suggestion comes with no discussion on how grassroots clubs would be compensated for the loss of these players.
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
An increasing criticism of the current A-League environment is the total absence of reward for grassroots clubs development of young players. The absence of any discussion of this within the APFCA document is worrying as it is an area that needs addressing before the A-League is spun out into an independent league.
It should be noted that the document does contain the view that the W-League should be expanded as quickly as possible and supports the continued operation of the youth league. At the same time, it clearly outlines the APFCA cynicism that a second tier of football is on the horizon or even possible in the medium term.
The establishment of a second tier and the introduction of promotion and relegation to and from the A-League cannot be left to an organisation that’s sole vested interest is the continuation of the current situation.
Any deal for an independent A-League must include provision for this decision to sit outside the independent A-League Board, otherwise it is difficult to see how it will ever happen.
The blueprint is, of course, only the view of the A-League owners and the other stakeholders will hold differing or even opposing views on many of these items. But the real question is how much of the decision making will be left to an independent board and how much can be written into agreements to ensure the ongoing benefit of football at large in this country?
Football in this country cannot afford to get this wrong.
William Doughty
Roar Rookie
sorry, meant the foreign players cap
Brendo51
Roar Pro
JB In hindsight I agree with your comments, I could have pushed harder and asked the real question, can football in this country really afford a competition like the A_league where the money is used solely for itself. I think you are right that my last comment was trying to get there but I didn't hit the mark. Waz has made some great points that the A-League shouldn't really have to fund the wider football community but who will? I really hope we don't end up back in the days pre-2005 where the FFA couldn't afford 1/2 of the programs they now offer. B
Beni Iniesta
Guest
"Furthermore, a group called the Australian Football Consortium hope to soon buy a club in the EFL system which they can then promote to the Premier League. https://www.australianfc.com.au/ With grassroots funding sorted and a clear pathway to the EPL for Australian players about to arise it makes you wonder if we even need the A-League anymore anyway?" Um. Seriously? This is pie in the sky stuff!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
read their document pete4. You'll see they propose a salary cap of $1mil and anticipate funds required will be raised through broadcast rights, sponsors, merchandise and the similar.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
"not enough women at the top" Isn't the number of women on the FFA Board mandated? Certainly that was the recommendation, at 40-40-20, being 4 men, 4 women and 2 doesn't matter, but I don't know if that was passed. I'd think we would have heard if it hadn't. Mind you, given the FFA's efforts on the Matildas coach, it's easy to imagine that we now have the wrong women at the top.
Waz
Roar Rookie
“money for grassroots football should go to the FFA for distribution relevant to the state’s footballing population” I think this is one of the underlying issues though; the HAL has given money to the FFA and - along with other funds - it has led to a bloated administration with a CEO on a seven figure salary plus bonuses and a management team with several members earning over $500k per year (these are detailed in the annual reports). So in bypassing the FFA the States (who asked for this) and HAL are calling the FFAs bluff and giving the money directly to grassroots - something Lowy said would suffer under an independent A League.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Morning all, Whoa, where do i start? Ok, so my interpretation of the APFCA's blueprint is that they have gone from 0 to 100 in about 3 seconds. Yes we need an independent A-league but it should be at least loosely based on an incremental approach. As the independent league grows, as income etc grows then so too do the financial responsibilities. As for a direct payment to the states, that has to be written by someone who had their brain in neutral. The money for grassroots football should go to the FFA for distribution relevant to the state's footballing population. At any time has anyone suggested that we get one or two people from Germany or the U.K or the Netherlands to bring their experience knowledge and professionalism to help build our football. Currently we have a mute guy who presided over the National Felonies and Misdemeanors Competition (a backyard sport), some guys that were involved in the old NSL one or two corporate backgrounds and not enough women at the top. This needs experience, there's no other way round it.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Frank Lowy setup a model whereby owners of HAL made losses year in year out, effectively subsidising the FFA. Something was going to give and it took owners with clout to force FFA, with FIFA and AFC also joining the chorus, to consider a different model. It’s little wonder that FFA is not in the good books with many football stakeholders. Otherwise this is the discussion that was always coming. It’s also not unusual for there to be some element of ‘ambit claim’ in negoatiations.
pete4
Guest
Why not the APFCA would call any 2nd division A-League2 anyway
pete4
Guest
Making the jump from semi-pro to fully professional football club will require the funds from somewhere. I noticed the AAFC are encouraging bidders/investors to come forward not just NPL clubs now
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
The NPL clubs, the Association of Australian Football Clubs have had a plan for a second division for quite a while now, not dependent on A League funds. Read about it here, in a nutshell http://www.thechampionship.com.au/in-a-nutshell.html
Waz
Roar Rookie
Why should the A-League fund the second division? There’s no logic to that, let the A League fund itself This has been one of the major problems these past ten years - the A League is seen as a source of funds for the FFA, 9 national teams, grassroots and now Div 2. It can’t do all of that ...
pete4
Guest
Once the league actually becomes independent that may change very quickly The whole 2nd division will basically require TV revenue $ to trickle down to make it possible. Try explaining the benefits of that an independent league
jbinnie
Guest
Brendo (and others). While it is all very well to wax lyrical about the suggestions that are emanating from "bodies" all around the game, there is one unanswered question that they all seem to ignore and you almost get to it in part of the final sentence in your comment, I cite------ "Can football in this country afford all these suggestions" or is this what you mean when you say the game "cannot afford to get it wrong". Other than that lots of good potential discussion in your article . Cheers jb.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
so why do they talk about it then? (p/r)
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I can answer my own question about a second division, and I don't think it's so much cynical as pragmatic. Up front it supports a second division, then says that for P/R 'to be achieved, it is imperative that a second-tier of Australian football is established and evolved in order to create appropriate football and economic proximity between the two tiers ... The investment and time horizon for achieving a second-tier of this calibre should not be underestimated. The APFCA is committed to playing its part.' That sounds like a fair assessment to me, given they are talking next season for the independent league.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
they could probably save money by just sending them to train in QLD Waz
pete4
Guest
That's right they don't and once the APFCA control the A-League there won't be anything anyone can do about it
Waz
Roar Rookie
There’s a fair bit of smoke n mirrors going on with these discussions and I’m still not sure how much money we’re talking about. The percentages being bandied about are 65% increasing to 90% (which on a tv deal with real cash of $50m is an increase from $32.5m to $45m) So effectively the change is a loss of around $12.5m/year to the FFA. That’s not insignificant but equally it’s not earth shattering.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Thanks for the heads up that this document’s been published Brendo51. I hadn’t noticed it elsewhere. I think the important ingredient going forward will be level headed cooperation. All groups will have to listen and understand, and be prepared to give a little for a greater gain overall. That’s normally fairly hard to achieve in football, from what I’ve seen. I can’t see any reference to a second division or relegation/promotion although I note your comment Brendo51, about the AFPCA’s cynicism on this issue. Can you give us a page number? I see where they do note that (local) NPL clubs might be invited to join an expanded NYL, which is a rather aggressive way for the AFPCA to approach the issue, given that for the most part, presently it’s the other way around (NYL clubs participate in the NPL). The AFPCA needs to be more level-headed if they want to progress their major agenda of independence. And given their thrust to the FIFA model, it’s impossible to imagine they wouldn’t support a second tier national competition and pro/rel eventually, even given they have substantial investments to recover.