A FFA proposal of cuts of up to 80 per cent to A-League player salaries has prompted the players’ union to demand a fairer sharing of the COVID-19 burden.
Australia’s professional footballers’ union is demanding a fairer sharing of the COVID-19 burden as A-League players face hefty pay cuts.
The A-League has been on hiatus since late March after strict biosecurity and travel restrictions were imposed across the country due to the global pandemic.
No official restart date has been announced, although FFA chief executive James Johnson has hinted the 2019-20 competition could resume in August.
A News Corp Australia report on Saturday announced a financial model put forward by the governing body would carry pay cuts of up to 80 per cent for players.
The proposal reportedly suggests a $12 million quarterly payment from host broadcaster Fox Sports would be spread throughout FFA, with the 11 A-League clubs to receive much less than the $800,000 each they normally would from the payment.
Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) chief executive John Didulica says it’s not fair for players to have to wear most of the economic pain from the crisis.
“There is no percentage figure or dollar amount that is a magical number,” Didulica told AAP.
“This is about understanding what needs to be done to rebuild the season, get a running start into next season and each of us fairly sharing the burden that comes with our shared challenges – which are as much about health as they are financial.”
A more pressing issue for the competition is almost half of the league’s contracted players are set to have their current deals expire at the end of next week.
With over 100 players facing free agency from June 1, the need to find some kind of agreement which would provide extensions until the completion of the season is paramount.
Didulica also said players were eager to be provided with a definite timeline for the competition’s resumption as soon as possible.
“The players want to return to training and are understandably vocal about needing an imminent resolution,” he said.
Johnson said broadcast payments were for multiple properties within the game, not just the A-League.
He said a significant reduction of revenue – particularly in sponsorship and matchday incomes – meant the allocation of broadcast revenues had to be altered.
“FFA and the clubs must be prudent to safeguard the ongoing financial sustainability of the league and broader game,” Johnson said.
“We remain confident that annual player payments will, in fact, be delivered very close to the previously contracted levels for the whole A-League 2019-20 season.”
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
"Even if Fox was to push for a reduced contract, FFA could in exchange seek more control over how it uses its rights and sell off matches, or other portions of content, to different providers to help make up the shortfall in revenue and set itself up for future growth. " This is a key point. To get a reduced broadcast deal from Fox in exchange for the loss of exclusivity, would mean that the A-League would be able make up the shortfall PLUS the cost of production by onselling rights to other broadcasters or trying to stream directly itself. It comes with some risk, especially in the first 2 or 3 years of such a set up, but in future years, the A-League would definitely be able to make up the shortfall. For example, let us assume Fox pays exactly half the cash they are currently paying (half of $48 million = $24 million per annum). The A-League has to make up a $24 mill shortfall, plus cover the cost of production (let's assume they can reduce the cost from the present $13.5 mill per annum to $8 mill per annum). So the A-League now has to earn a further $32 mill to leave it in the same position it is today financially. I could see Optus paying $20-$25 mill per annum for the product, which gets us quite close. If the A-League wanted to go it alone with its own streaming app, it would have to sell 400,000 subscriptions at $80 per annum to break even (or 320,000 at $100 per annum). If you assume earning some $8 mill in advertising revenue, you can reduce that to 300,000 subscriptions. It sounds improbable, but not impossible.
Nick Symonds
Guest
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, MAY 8: It appears likely that Fox will seek a renegotiation of the contract for less money, which has prompted FFA to consider different methods of structuring the 15-year partnership between the pay-TV provider and the sport. Industry sources claim FFA chief executive James Johnson recently toured the facilities of NEP, the company to which Fox outsources its production work for all sports in Australia, and also runs the NRL's bunker and the A-League's central VAR booth. Johnson confirmed the visit to the Herald but while he did not offer further comment on the A-League's future, other sources within the game say it is inevitable that the sport will take on production costs, which traditionally sit with broadcasters like Fox. Global Sports and Media director Colin Smith, a previous broadcast rights advisor to the AFL and NRL, estimates the cost of producing a season of the A-League at the moment would be between $12 to $15 million. By taking on the responsibility of production, FFA could find ways of reducing these expenses, then sell the content directly to Fox or its streaming subsidiary Kayo - or another media service if their partnership was to end. - Smith said the obvious example of a relationship that could be opened up by FFA wearing the costs of production is with Optus Sport. The telco does not produce any of the live sport it shows, but rather takes the vision directly from the competitions which it buys the rights for. The same applies for other streaming companies including Amazon Prime and DAZN, both of which are yet to enter the Australian market but have history with football. However, several key figures in the game have interpreted Fox's decision to pay the recent $12 million quarterly instalment to FFA as a sign that it may not completely sever ties with the A-League as was first feared. Sources say Fox executives have been pleased with Johnson's handling of a delicate situation and the respect he has shown the company. Even if Fox was to push for a reduced contract, FFA could in exchange seek more control over how it uses its rights and sell off matches, or other portions of content, to different providers to help make up the shortfall in revenue and set itself up for future growth. - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/really-smart-ffa-clubs-could-take-on-production-rights-for-a-league-20200508-p54r2c.html#comments
Nick Symonds
Guest
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, MAY 20: In the event of Foxtel's departure, senior A-League sources have not ruled out raising capital by selling a stake in the competition. However, such a move is unlikely to have the backing of the clubs. - FFA has looked at taking A-League broadcast production in-house should Foxtel seek to renegotiate the TV deal. [APFCA chairman Paul] Lederer said the clubs hoped they would not have to absorb those costs, urging Foxtel to honour the remaining three years of the deal. The Western Sydney Wanderers owner described a potential split as "unethical" at a time of financial hardship. - FFA began preliminary discussions with IMG and Dentsu late last year about selling between 30 per cent and 51 per cent of the A-League. Sources close to those discussions suggested talks had not involved the clubs but any sale would not have gone ahead without their blessing. While FFA still owns the competition, the club owners have operational control of the A-League and will own it outright in the coming years. An independent evaluation last year valued the A-League between $100m and $120m. IMG has a history of buying into sports competitions, having launched the Indian Super League in 2013, which it part-owned until 2018. Dentsu is a major player in international sports rights, having partnered with the Olympics, FIFA, the Japanese Football Association and purchased the rights for the J-League in 2019. - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/clubs-unwilling-to-sell-a-league-to-private-equity-firm-20200520-p54uos.html
Nick Symonds
Guest
"The way Fox have written about it" I think the first to report it was actually The Australian. - ANOTHER STORY FROM FOX SPORTS: Every A-League club has applied for the federal government’s JobKeeper relief package, a measure which Johnson says will buy some time until a return to on-field action. “It’s not enough but it is something, and it is something that is good for the clubs … but it’s also good for the players and staff as well,” he said. https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/aleague-news-football-ffa-coronavirus-season-restart-update-date/news-story/0519322ade14f4311286bd609542637e
Nick Symonds
Guest
"Importantly, there needs to be clarity relating to the calculation of $5.7 million which typically goes to players’ wages, in contrast we are to receive less than $2million." - Jamie Young https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league-players-hit-back-after-being-asked-to-take-reported-80-per-cent-pay-cut - The way Fox have written about it makes it sound like the players are losing ten million, but they are only losing about four million. Not all of the 12 million was going towards wages. There are 297 players in the A-League, so divide 4 million by 297 and you get $13,468 each. If the salary cap is $3.2 million per club and there are 23 players in each then they are getting around $139,000 per player on average within the cap. So it might be more like losing around 10 percent of what they were expecting to get at the start of the season. Of course, I haven't seen the full detail and I could be mistaken.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
About half the players are out of contract on 31 May.
NoMates
Guest
Im blaming Brisbane Roar for this mess, they need to be kicked out of the league and then the extra funds go to all the other clubs.
jbinnie
Guest
Waz -As a concerned fan your anguish is apparent but as someone who has had a direct and indirect interest in the game, I can ask you, what's different ????. Soccer /football has been "operating" under similar problems since I first took an interest in 1966 , yes, 56 years ago, and although things "appear "to have changed, very little has truly occurred to make things better. "Federation", the Australian Cup, the Philips League (the NSL), the Philips Cup, NSL expansion to two Divisions, the Hyundai A league, have all been supposed great leaps forward, and yet today we are left to read comments by concerned people like you in columns like this. The truth of the matter is that in many of these comments there is more than a modicum of truth in their content. Do we have a future? We can but hope. jb.
lesterlike
Roar Rookie
Just ludicrous really, the PFA was never going to agree to that. If this is really the best that the FFA can offer then what is the point of bothering to continue the season? The players are just going to walk and whatever club(s) wins the trophies will have even less legitimate claim to them than if they just handed them out to Sydney now.
Samuel Power
Roar Rookie
I heard that this wasn't true and was just a rumour??
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
This is quite unbelievable, an 80% pay cut. I shook my head when I first heard this report, and thought, nah, making it up. But here we go. I'd expect, if this plan proceeds, many players will desert the game, especially given the number who'll be off contract, and the season won't be finished at all. Then FFA will have to hand all the money back to Fox. I'd thought we'd turned a corner but seems we've done a U turn. Waz is right, sadly.
Waz
Roar Rookie
So it’s clear the FFA control the A-League and we don’t have any form of independence what so ever. And again we have the FFA out of touch with football and putting the A-League at risk by withholding money that rightfully belongs to the clubs, to cover the FFAs expenses. This country doesn’t deserve a professional football league, it really doesn’t.