Mid,
the press reports are unclear about who the FFA will give any “bonus” or “additional revenues ” to. But I don’t think the FFA themselves know how much they will end up with at this stage because:
1. There has to be an FTA component because of the new Anti-Siphoning list that comes out later this year and makes all Socceroos WC Qualifiers FTA. The Socceroos games are good TV raters and should get a good price.
2. The international demand for A-League games, highlights packages and Finals from a growing list of cable companies around the world and Asia
3. Internet and Electronic media, which had not been priced separately previously
4. The FFA’s share of Asian football competitions and WC Qualifiers
5, The amount of growth in revenue from the A-League
Plus many other unknowns.

However, it seems clear that they will give $2.8m to each club by the end of the year or next season at the latest, no matter how much money they get from the media deal.

That suggests to me that Foxtel have already offered them more than double the last deal and they are negotiating for more, and this I repeat, is just the pay TV component of any media deal.

So in a sense Ian is correct, but I think he is still underestimating the earning potential of the FFA and the A-League.

A major company like NRMA Insurance has just signed a 3 year multi million dollar sponsorship of WSW, a completely unknown quantity and risk.

Ian,
stop being an Ian Whitchurch and pouring cold water on the FFA every time there’s some positive news about the A-League.

The FFA are going to cover the $2.8m salary cap costs by the end of this year, whatever the media deal is worth. That’s a very generous offer and gives the A-League clubs a big boost in their quest to be profitable.

If they get a lot more than that, then the FFA will spend it on Australian football from juniors up to the Socceroos so the sport and ultimately the A-League will benefit in other ways.

Why not count on the government to keep up the annual grants to the FFA. They just gave them 8m to kickstart west Sydney and women’s and junior football in the area.

The government realises that football is the biggest participation team sport in the country, so the social, economic and health benefits will be returned to the country in so many ways that you can’t put a figure on it.

I did say that in the article – para 13-15.

It would take a large collapse of the Socceroos attendances and A-League revenues to reduce the figure, but given the Socceroos are likely to qualify for Brazil 2014 and that WSW has replaced GCU, its hard to see that happening.

The Fox deal will cover it to $2.8m anyway, so its a mute point till then.

Thanks Futbanous,
wasn’t aware of that and thought it was from year one.
That makes sense since the deal expires at the end of this season and the FFA are hoping to sign a new deal by the end of this year.

Interesting Neil also said back then that it would allow the FFA to give back to clubs between $1.5 and 2 million a year to “wipe out their debts”.

Titus,
there must be an FTA compnent in the next media deal because the Socceroos WC Qualifiers are going to be on the Anti-Siphoning list when its made law later this year.

And the club’s share of revenues from FFA will go up to $2.8m per club by the end of this year – a truly remarkable turnaround in the FFA’s fortunes.

The WSW are surely generating a lot of media interest up here in Sydney, whether its to praise them or bag them.
Every sport in Australia is claiming Western Sydney to be their “heartland”.

Its way too early to say what sort of success they will be, but some guy said that he went to the game and had to park a long way away and queue up for 20 minutes just to get in, even though there were no tickets.

Exactly – not a fair comparison.

The original media deal in 2005 was with Fox Sports exclusively for $120m over 7 years or about $17m a year.

It was an unknown start up league and a business risk, so Fox got the exclusive rights to all FFA’s games including the Socceroos and the most benefit and sold the rights to other media and internet and overseases cable networks.

The next deal should be more equitable and in the FFA’s words, worth at least double that just for the Pay TV rights alone.
The FFA will also be more media savvy and business wise and the total revenue package should be $50m a year or more.

The FFA have admitted that to the clubs, but they also pointed out that if Australia had won the bid, it would have brought substantial benefits for football and the A-League as well.

Owning the WSW also guarantees that the FFA are very much involved in making the A-League competition a success.

And while the A-League revenues are not that great on a world scale, the costs aren’t that huge either with a growing supply of great young players, so they don’t need a billion dollar media deal to be profitable.

The FFA should be back in the black again this year.

Its hard to say what the “other revenue” will be and how much they allow for FTA or other overseas networks.

Maybe FFA are dealing directly with ESPN, FOX Soccer, Star Network, Sky Sports and the other overseas networks instead of letting Fox Sports Aust sell the rights like they did previously. That could be worth another $40-50m a year. Who knows.

You also have to add state and federal govt grants with a new deal to be announced later this year. The last deal was worth $12m a year and the federal govt recently gave the FFA an $8m one off payment for West Sydney, Women’s and Youth football.

Fussball amazing turn around by FFA in the last 6 months.

In boxing parlance the FFA have climbed back up off the canvas after being king hit by Clive Palmer and kicked in the guts by Nathan Tinkler to land a left hook right on the chin of Jesse Fink and Professor Foster.

The bell has rung and can’t wait till they come out swinging in the next round.

Yes, seems like $40m is realistic enough for the Fox deal and maybe in hindsight they should have taken the $60m a year offered a couple of years ago.

But they are also hinting at “other TV interests”, maybe FTA and the electronic media and internet which could be worth another $10-15m per year.

So the total media package could still be as high as $50-60m a year, which will help fund a lot of new initiatives at all levels.

Thanks Titus.
Sorry, but I did misunderstand the comment by Mike Cockerill “$450,000 of last season” in his article above.
It seems that that is the increase, not the amount of last season’s payment.

You are absolutely right, when the new Fox deal comes in, which may even be this year, the payments to clubs will grow to $2.8m or more which is an increase of $1.4m or more.

Anyway, if you look at the comments as a whole its absolutely great news for the A-League and its prospects into the future, because it will have a flow on effect for clubs viability and investment in the league by owners, players, managers and sponsors into the future.

For the first time ever, in a few years we will have a financially viable national football competition.

What about the difference in pay Adrian?

If the A-League could pay the same as the EPL it would be a no brainer and why would you want to leave our great country.

Raising the revenue share to A-League clubs to $1.9m and the promise to go to $2.8m once the new deal with Foxtel comes in is not good news for A-League clubs?

One of the most important things is that the FFA is talking with A-League owners and listening and making concessions. That will attract new investors as well.

Its a big turn around from where we were a couple of years ago and has helped lift the veil of secrecy over what the FFA is doing. When you don’t communicate, your critics assume the worst and start negative press about you. Maybe we can thank CLive Palmer in some small way for that.

I think its mainly related to the World Cup Bid and the FFA not having the time or resources to focus on the A-League and letting it slide a couple of years ago.

Obviously with their heavy involvement with WSW now, they are shifting focus and resources back to building the domestic national football competition and not too soon either.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/aleague-clubs-get-a-pay-rise-20120724-22nkv.html

I agree with Slater that Tim has a better chance of playing at Brazil 2014 and in better shape if he plays out a couple of seasons in the MLS, instead of the EPL.

After he returns home a hero for scoring the winning goal in the WC final against Brazil, he can play out his twilight years in the A-League.

Yes but if you reject the transfer you might get black listed and sit on the bench for a while.
Look what happened to Tevez after Man CIty refused his transfer request.

Tim Cahill and Everton are on good terms and the decision would have been mutual.

Cahill or his agent had no offer on the table from WSW to consider.

A whole Formula One racing team is named after the same drink.

Hardly as spectacular at “The Suns” which is a really good original name for an AFL team.

Its only a couple of years since SFC won the double with a team that on paper was not as strong as this one looks.
However the rest of the league looks to have improved a lot and the standard needs to be up there to just make the finals, so all teams will have to improve on last year.

Its going to be a very interesting season on a number of fronts.
Will Brisbane still challenge without Ange?
How much will MV improve with Ange and Flores?
Can Perth improve on last season?
Will AU bounce back given their ACL performances?
How will Sydney go?
How will all the new international signings go.

Ian Crook is very astute coach and has learnt a lot in the past few years. Given the salary cap and the limited budget they have, SFC look to have done well and are bringing on board a number of good experienced players and promising younger ones who are one year older and one year more mature than last season.

I’m also looking at WSW and how they’re going to fill their roster with only 9 weeks to go till the start of the season.
Looking forward to the Sydney derby.

Bit hard on AU there Damo.

There are literally millions of professional footballers around the world and like anything else in life, you always get a few bad apples.

AU did well actually to not spend any time or money on the guy and asked him to pay his own way, rather than give him a free holiday in Australia.

Looking forward to AU’s AFC CL QF.

Memberships are different to participation rates.

The AFL use these “participation rates” to lobby councils and governments to take facilities off rugby, rugby league and football clubs and juniors who are desperate for somewhere to play in a crowded city like Sydney, where there are few open areas or parks left, especially in the Balmain/Birchgrove area.

They AFL falsify the information and throw money at councils, which is effectively bribing and lying to get what they want.

In the end the AFL ovals are rarely used and other sports have o suffer because of the AFL’s corporate greed.

I will give the AFL some credit though, for finally admitting that their figures are wrong. All their figures are wrong.

Yes and what’s their definition of “participation”?

Even the reduced figure is still very dodgy because their idea of “AFL participation” is some AusKick guy visits your school or club and you touched the Sherrin for at least one second.