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AFLW 2024 - Round 10 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Soccer TV rights to rival AFL?
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I must have been dreaming when Ch 10 showed the Sydney FC vs LA Galaxy game. Yes it had a lot to do with the "Beckham factor" but there didn't seem to be any problem with not showing ads. A FTA network can buy the ad space on the electronic signage and then on-sell that as a way of advertising.
As for the article, it's very speculative. 2013 is a long time away.
The AFL gets $156m per year for it's current deal, the NRL roughly $100m and the FFA $18.6. That is a major difference, so any jump for Soccer to around $100m per year is going to be of massive benefit to the code.
By 2013 the A-League will be a 12-team competition and by 2015 maybe a 14-team competition. That is 7 games a week. I don't think anyone would seriously think a FTA network would show all 7 games per week. Hell, they don't even do that for AFL and NRL.
They'd do what they do with AFL/NRL and on-sell games to Fox Sports. Say 3 or 4 games on-sold to Fox Sports for a tidy little sum. All finals would be on FTA networks.
The Socceroos are the big ticket item, of that there is no doubt. Getting exclusive rights to Socceroos games would guarantee 1m+ in the ratings for each game.
Let's look at the month between May 23-June 22. The Socceroos play 5 games. 4 World Cup Qualifiers and 1 Friendly. 3 of those 5 are in Australia and in prime time. If it were on FTA now, that's pretty much a guarantee of 1m+ in the ratings three times in a month. FTA networks would be falling over themselves to get such ratings.
Throw in Asian Cup qualifiers as well and then the actual Asian Cup (which will be held in Australia in 2015) and there is a lot to get FTA networks excited.
It wont reach AFL levels, I don't think anyone with half a brain could realistically expect it to, but it could rival the NRL deal.
As for the standard of the A-League. Sure it aint the best, but who is expecting it to be? No one seriously expects to watch the A-League and see something on par with the EPL, La Liga, Serie A. It's like watching the EDFL and expecting AFL quality.
But the quality is improving, we are attracting better players to the league. Australians that were once plying their trade overseas in lower leagues are returning and bringing quality to the league. That is what we need. Once teams become better at recruiting foreign players the quality will go up again.
A massive TV deal like this can only help the league too. Because the league gets more money, which will see an increase in the salary cap, which means better players which means a better league.
It can only be upwards and onwards for Soccer in this country. Even as a massive Soccer fan though, I can say that it wont topple AFL as the #1 sport whilst I am alive (and I'm only 23) but given time it could easily topple Rugby League from #2.
All these jokers talk about the low standard of A-League right now.Get the big picture.
But if A-League manages to score a big free-to-air TV deal, which I think it is pretty close to, then where do you think that money is going to go to ??
They won't have to spend money on grassroots participation, especially in growing markets, like the AFL does.
All of that money will purely go into player payments and marketing. They can afford to splurge more of it because they have half of the players per team and half the running costs of AFL clubs. This in turn will drive more spectators.
What I'm saying is that in monetary terms they won't even have to score a deal as big as the AFL's to do this.
All this could elevate A-League to the standard of the world's biggest soccer leagues and start attracting big name players within the next decade. A-League clubs will start to pinch membership spending money from AFL club fans.
Australia has the money because we are passionate about sports.
The AFL has to start looking outside of our tiny little 4 football code market to grow our game and make more money. They should be desperately pushing up the value of TV rights for our game in countries like the USA, Canada and New Zealand. That is where the money is.
No, the A-League will never, ever be able to match the standard of the EPL. The absurd amount of money in the competition is impossible for the A-League to obtain. For the A-League, to start getting better players, they'd have to get rid of the salary cap. Otherwise you cannot compete with the big leagues. That's why there's no salary cap in the EPL, because if there was, all the players would just go to the many other leagues in Europe or South America where they'd get more money.
With no salary cap in the A-League, you'd end up with a situation of the rich teams dominating. The majority of clubs don't have a fanbase to support a team that never challenges for a premiership. The AFL would have this problem too with a few clubs if there was no salary cap and draft.
Everyone understands that the quality of the A League will never match European leagues (EPL, Serie A, etc.) although it will definitely improve.
For Australians, the good thing about the A League is the fact that you can watch a professional team representing your area in a convenient time slot.
The 25k-30k Victory supporters that attend every game know that there are better players overseas but they still attend. A lot of people in Australia are not able to stay up until 4:00am to watch Arsenal, Chelsea etc.
where the a league is succeeding is with crowd attendance.
it's a great game to watch live, which i had no idea prior to the arrival of lowy. i love watching the epl, serie a and la liga on tv - while the a league is nowhere near that level of skill (and never will be), being able to go to games is fantastic.
that's where the a league is succeeding where nrl is faltering - in sheer crowd numbers. if the crowd attendance keeps increasing, it'd make sense that fta networks will become interested in televising the marquee games (eg. melbourne v sydney, newcastle v sydney, melbourne v adelaide, etc) but on-selling the lesser matches for pay tv, and taking the finals too.
the best thing the a league did was bypass fta for the current rights, selling them direct to fox, thus ensuring fantastic coverage of ALL matches.
$100m per season is a lot of money though, and i don't see that happening just yet. maybe in 10 years time; not in 3.
it's a great game to watch live, which i had no idea prior to the arrival of lowy. i love watching the epl, serie a and la liga on tv - while the a league is nowhere near that level of skill (and never will be), being able to go to games is fantastic.
that's where the a league is succeeding where nrl is faltering - in sheer crowd numbers. if the crowd attendance keeps increasing, it'd make sense that fta networks will become interested in televising the marquee games (eg. melbourne v sydney, newcastle v sydney, melbourne v adelaide, etc) but on-selling the lesser matches for pay tv, and taking the finals too.
the best thing the a league did was bypass fta for the current rights, selling them direct to fox, thus ensuring fantastic coverage of ALL matches.
$100m per season is a lot of money though, and i don't see that happening just yet. maybe in 10 years time; not in 3.
cezzz
Senior List
for those who wont watch an a-league game because of the standard,do you refuse to watch the VFL because the standard is not as good as the AFL?
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It's not for A-League broadcasting by itself though is it, it's also includes Socceroos, Asian Championship etc. that really muddies the waters as they are selling everything Soccer and not just their league like the AFL.
I find it hhard to believe that the soccer will come anywhere near the current AFL or NRL tv rights money in 2013. All crap about which sport is better aside, soccer only has a handful of games per year on FTA. It will be hard to generate great numbers of television viewers (which is of course what drives TV rights money) when only those with Fox can watch it regularly.
purremiers
Team Captain
hahaha do you think before you type....my god!
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For most people, yes. That's why the VFL doesn't command $100m TV rights deals either.
Magpiejack
Rookie
If all the Australians overseas could pull in the sort of cash on offer in England and Italy they would all come home, then we would have no trouble getting to and even hosting the world cup, cant see it though.
Not sure how many VFL games you have been to, but you will find that the crowds dont rival that of the AFL
Huh?? But I recently (Dec07) read an article indicating that the A-League ratings on pay TV were some what less than desirable and if they don't improve the pay TV deal will not be renewed!!
How does it go from that to rivaling the AFL by 2013? Who writes this rubbish and who do you believe?
But I recently (Dec07) read an article indicating that the A-League ratings on pay TV were some what less than desirable and if they don't improve the pay TV deal will not be renewed!!How does it go from that to rivaling the AFL by 2013? Who writes this rubbish and who do you believe?
I think you can answer that for yourself by the fact that there are not 30k fans at VFL matches.
No, most AFL fans don't watch the VFL due to the standard.
It is interesting to note that none of the FTA networks wanted to touch the A-League when it first started. That is why it is solely on Foxtel. This may have a changed a little but I seriously can't see a TV deal rivalling the AFL's
cezzz
Senior List
well i'll just be leaving with my tail between my legs now won't i haha
Well it already got 120 million last time around, that was before the 2006 World Cup, and before the A-league had proved that it is a growing, vibrant competition. Also, chances are 50% of people will have pay-tv by 2013, so lack of FTA rights isn't such an issue. TV viewers is not what 'drives TV money' when you are talking about pay-tv, pay-tv is driven by subscriptions, and exclusive rights drive subscriptions. Hence Fox would be willing to pay a lot of money just to keep exclusive rights.
I think it's definately possible that the price of football tv rights could at least double or triple.
The high standard of the EPL is not going to hurt the A-league. If anything, it just generates further interest in football, further interest in the Socceroos stars who play in England (hence further interest in the Socceroos).
I agree that it will never reach the standard of the EPL, however the clubs definately have the potential to get a lot richer than AFL clubs. The Asian market is a huge one, with a heap of money there. The AFL relies on money from Australian sponsors, and in reality there's no huge companies based in Australia (but just look at the massive companies in Japan and Korea). There are rumors that Star Sports (biggest Sports channel in Asia) will start showing a lot more of the A-league all over Asia in the next couple of years, that could turn the A-leauge into the "EPL of Asia".
Just look at the massive amounts of money that other Asian clubs have - similar amounts of money could end up in the A-league.
Anyway, if Aussie Rules was a international sport there would be better quality competitions in Europe and all around the world - the AFL wouldn't be able to keep up with the standard of the world's various leagues. There'd be a lot more money in overseas competitions, but I don't think that would mean that the AFL would generate any less interest in Australia.
The most sensible line of that article was the very last one -
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A-League is getting very good crowds...in fact most people who go to the Victory games in Melbourne are AFL fans adopting the Victory as their own, like they want their footy fix in any way, shape or form.
As for TV rights, it would be dependent on the A-League's growth, which would mean more teams in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, along with the ones being added along the eastern seaboard.
As for TV rights, it would be dependent on the A-League's growth, which would mean more teams in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, along with the ones being added along the eastern seaboard.
Huh??
How does it go from that to rivaling the AFL by 2013? Who writes this rubbish and who do you believe?
Is this the article you read?
Hyundai A-League ratings have increased by 23 per cent on FOX SPORTS this season. With competition for Premiership fierce, significant growth was driven by strong interest in the final rounds of the season.
Round 21’s Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory match ranked as FOX SPORTS most watched regular season game in the history of the competition, reaching a total audience of more than 370,000 and with average audiences of 136,000.
This year more than 2.8 million viewers have enjoyed FOX SPORTS regular season coverage of the Hyundai A-League, with total audiences growing year on year.
CEO of FOX SPORTS David Malone says “the success of the A-League on FOX SPORTS and the closeness of the Premiership is indicative of a very healthy competition. We’re confident this level interest will continue in the coming weeks and look forward to some more fantastic ratings results throughout the Finals Series”.
FOX SPORTS Live and Exclusive coverage of the Hyundai A-League 2008 Finals series commences this weekend and will culminate in coverage of the Grand Final on February 24
Probably not
