On Friday, the structure for the 2018-19 A-League season was announced. The main talking points were; no international breaks, no split-rounds, some teams playing each other twice, and some teams playing each other three times.
The way this will be determined is by three priorities. The first priority is Foxtel Metrics, the second is competition fairness and integrity, and the third is match attendances. You read that right, TV ratings will decide who plays each other three times, and who plays each other twice.
So, its already blatantly obvious as to who will play each other three times. Western Sydney Wanderers versus Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory versus Melbourne City and Sydney FC versus Melbourne Victory are often the matches that are attended and watched the most. But what will the other ones be?
Take Perth Glory for example, because many of the games are scheduled at around 9:00 PM on a Saturday, not many people will watch in those areas. So, it will take a club with many fans to boost up those TV ratings.
If the FFA want these Fox metrics to be up to standard for Perth, they will need to play the following clubs.
Sydney FC, big club, many fans.
Melbourne Victory, also a big club with many fans
Western Sydney Wanderers, many fans.
Adelaide United, time zone being 30 minutes earlier than the Eastern States.
Brisbane Roar, well supported and friendlier time zone as they have no daylight savings. And then its probably a free choice for the next team.
The A-League Sydney derby is a big ticket item. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
I am a Glory fan so I’ll try and keep my bias away, but this will really hurt the Glory if they play these clubs. It was shown this season that Glory struggled against Sydney and Melbourne Victory.
Glory lost three times to Sydney FC, and once to Melbourne Victory at home. You’d imagine that would be a very annoying thing for Glory and they may drop a lot of points. And then we look at the clubs who do have those high TV metrics and attendances. Take Sydney FC for example.
Sydney FC are in the most common time zone in the country and are one of the biggest clubs in terms of support. Because they have the higher TV metrics, they won’t need to play big clubs three times to get good metrics.
Expect Sydney to play Melbourne Victory three times as that’s a rivalry, Western Sydney Wanderers because it is a derby, Central Coast Mariners, Wellington Phoenix, Newcastle Jets and then Perth Glory. Much easier draw than Perth Glory if you ask me.
Its kind of scary to think that people watching could possibly help a club win the league. Could this mean that fans will not watch other team’s matches because it will give the home team an advantage?
What if in 20 years, the whole league is based on metrics? Just imagine Melbourne Victory in finishing ten points short of the finals, but getting in because they had the highest TV metrics and attendances. Unlikely, but you never know.
There are already signs of this in the Semi-Professional leagues. My local club, who played in the second Division of Western Australia Football in the 2017 season, was promoted to the NPL that year but finished second.
The only reason we were promoted was because the club that finished first didn’t meet the “Non-football criteria” to play NPL.
Perhaps, as a bit of karma, we lot 8-1 on the final day of the season and were then relegated back to the State League and are currently around mid-table.
Alex Brosque of Sydney celebrates scoring a goal during the round 11 A-League match between Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners at WIN Jubilee Stadium on January 04, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Here is a message to the FFA, don’t make these types of decisions on the basis of TV metrics and make them from football.
If you make these decision based off football, then the league becomes more attractive to football fans in Australia that don’t follow A-League (Like Eurosnobs) because they are used to a football based model in the EPL and other big leagues and you know what, maybe you’ll get more money.
I hope I’m wrong but it looks like there will be a few teams getting easier draws next season because of their good Fox Metrics. And football will become more metrics based if we don’t make a change.
anon
Roar Pro
Youtube? A-League games get 20,000 views. Vloggers with an iPhone and a gimbal can get 10 times or 100 times that many views. Is Youtube going to throw $40 million at a vlogger doing foodie videos? That's where the A-League sits in the scheme of things.
Will
Guest
And that is the exactly the problem with the game here mate, too much short term views and not enough bravery for what is right for the best for the game. Foxtel should not be dictating the game's future, this is turning into a TV product and not a actual football league like the rest of the world.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The most recent SMH article states that the FFA are concerned about relinquishing control of the A-League because it might open the door for Fox to re-negotiate the TV deal (or exit the deal entirely).
anon
Roar Pro
A lot of teams will be pushed over the edge. They'll have to drastically reduce salary caps.
Sydneysider
Guest
What do you see happening anon? A-League getting a reduced media deal in 3 years time? $30 million per year or the league completely being shut down?
Punter
Roar Rookie
Excited and important are 2 different things. The team I coach are more excited about winning the GF. However, they get nothing but a medal for winning the GF, for winning the top of table they either get promoted or they get to play in the Champion of champions.
AR
Guest
What’s the mail this time round? $200M? $300M? Google? YouTube? Amazon?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I don't need to ask them. You can tell from the footage which trophy they're more excited about. Sorry if that messes with your narrative.
AR
Guest
Aha. Sure. Foxtel demands that the AFL GF is played in that traditional ratings bonanza time slot of 3pm Saturday.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Sydney will definitely play Victory and WSW. Same with Victory and City.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Ask any SFC player or fan on which was the best team. The team the finished first by 15 pts lost in xtra time in the semis or The team that finished 2nd by 7pts & won the GF on penalty shootout? I think most would say the former. It's hard for you to understand, your game gives a pt for missing.
Nemesis
Guest
For those who don't keep up with business news, Optus recently created a new role of Deputy CEO. This first person to be hired for this role is current FFA Board Member, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. And, within a few months of her appointment, Kelly has organised for every school-age kid in Australia to get Optus Sport for FREE for the duration of the 2019 Women's World Cup. As more information emerges about the financial catastrophe awaiting Foxtel, it's looking likely the 2019/20 A-League, W-League seasons will be broadcast on Optus Sport, not Fox Sports. Things are happening quickly. News Corp had to lend Foxtel $300 million at the end of April to cover debt that was maturing & no one else - not even the Big Banks - were interested in helping out. Now, it's nearing the end of May and the next Foxtel debt payment of around US$142 million is due.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Why celebrate like this: https://www.a-league.com.au/news/key-stats-sydney-fc-mark-premiers-plate-celebrations-big-blue-win When you can celebrate like: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-19/a-league-grand-final-perth-glory-sydney-fc-scorecentre/11128334 Only True Believers understand the passion of winning the Championship. Minor premiers are exactly that....minor. You can tell by the boredom on half the Sydney FC players in the first instance.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Reading the comments by these 2 on the A-league is like listening to Roy Masters & Craig Foster discuss the merits ALF expansion beyond Australian borders.
Nemesis
Guest
Posers who don't watch A-League continue to be fixated with every aspect of A-League. In a world where you can enter absorb information & engage in discussions on any topic that you enjoy, how empty must a person's life be to spend even a minute engaging with topics they don't like?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Technically, yes. Colloquially, it's known as the Minor Premiership by the True Believers. The scenario you describe is why all the best competitions around the world, i.e. A-League, play finals to decide their Champion.
anon
Roar Pro
Beggars can't be choose, chief. It's Foxtel or bust.
anon
Roar Pro
There's no basis for these expansion teams. Most of the established sides are on their knees as it is. The NSL introduced are swathe of expansion teams in its dying days only for them to all fail. Western United and Macarthur FC will be no different.
Will
Guest
The a-league should not held to ransom by Foxtel, considering it’s on the verge of going independent from the FFA it can’t afford to be run based on metrics through fox sports as it’s not in the integrity of the sport, would you see this anywhere in the world? Probably not. Both have put a lot of money into it but the aleague and not Foxtel should dictate the future of Australian football and if it needs to go away from Foxtel and move towards other revenue streams especially online as we are seeing in overseas leagues then it should for the long term health. I would be very intrigued when we get to the independent era and what it could look like.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I must correct you here Ghost of JL. It's not called the minor premiership. The official title is "Premiership". Of course whether many view it as a minor piece of silverware is a separate question. What we can say is that the Championship is won, presented and celebrated in front of a live audience of 50,000, while a mega TV audience of 400,000 might be watching as well. The quirk of winning the premiership is that it might be confirmed after two teams on the other side of the continent play out a nil-all draw (not that there is anything wrong with nil-all draws, I've seen some good nil-all draws). You might wake up in the morning to discover that your team has won the Premiership. Yay us! Fist pump! Have an extra waffle to celebrate! You are a winner!