Celebrating Milestones, But Still Struggling for Recognition

The A-League is celebrating ten years in existence, and is soon to enter those terrible teenage years. It has faced a number of challenges in recent years, clubs withdrawing, owners walking away and this season probably one of its biggest, with Perth Glory being found guilty of flagrantly ignoring the salary cap rules and regulations.

What is most worrying about this is the fact that the game’s governing body, the FFA,  was so blissfully unaware of the fact, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to investigate by the media. Hopefully they have learned a vital lesson, and that is if you are going to implement rules you must police them and be prepared to hand out harsh punishments to those found guilty of breaching them.

As the A-League celebrates its 10th birthday the MLS in the USA has just celebrated its 20th birthday. As with Australia the same question arises, will the world’s most popular sport ever truly win the heart of the nation?

Comparisons are interesting, as Australia in recent years has veered towards a more American style of life than a European one. Many of the various sports in Australia head to the USA to see how they do things and come back looking to adapt those methods to their clubs, and sports.

The A-League flirted with expansion in its first ten years, but it failed and Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury fell by the wayside. Australia still has an 10 team competition. The USA started with ten teams and very nearly collapsed, now they boast a league with 20 teams.

The big plus in the MLS is that no longer are teams forced to play in baseball or American football stadia. Today the majority of teams have purpose built football stadia, and the Seattle Sounders boast average crowds of 44,000. In Australia one of the things holding back the A-League clubs is the fact that none of them own their own grounds and so are not only unable to generate any revenue from the stadium, but also have to pay to use it.

In Australia there is a salary cap and a limit to the size of a club’s squad. Something that many believe needs to change, and will no doubt be discussed at length. In the USA they too have a salary cap, but they take matters a step further with the players interestingly not contracted to their clubs but to the MLS itself. The motive at play here is to try and prevent the franchises entering bidding wars for the best players. In Australia the consistent home-based players switch clubs and each time command slightly more money for their services. In ten years many of these have played for 3-5 clubs.

Some would say the American system which has the same aim as the Australian one, to make the league even and competitive, has worked. DC United who were perennial also-rans, are now one of the top sides. In 19 years of competition nine different teams have been crowned Champions. In Australia 5 teams have won Championships; one team winning three and two others two titles.

One theory on why the leagues have not taken as strong a hold in the public consciousness is the fact that neither league has promotion and relegation. In the USA, just like they do for Baseball and Gridiron they have a finals series to decide the season’s Champion. Australia, has a similar system in many of its sports, and it too has adopted a similar finale. It has been explained that ‘this is the Australian way,’ it is what the fans want. Is it a coincidence that both countries despite successful competitions have the same alien format to most followers of the game and cannot make that vital breakthrough for acceptance?

It is interesting to note recently that as attentions turned to the 20th anniversary of the MLS many writers conceded that the standard of football was low. Australia tries to talk up the standard on show, but it too is very low, and in fact in the opinion of many, has regressed in the past three seasons to its lowest level yet.

Again there are similarities. In the USA national team player Jose Altidore who scored 1 goal for Sunderland in 42 appearances was lauded on his return to the MLS when he signed for FC Toronto. The same is true of many Australian players who have returned from clubs in Europe playing a lower standard of football than Altidore and far less games.

The national coach German star Jurgen Klinsmann has upset the MLS Commissioners by saying that if the US team wishes to seriously challenge at the World Cup, they need the best players playing in the best leagues in Europe. When Australian coaches have said the same they too have been lambasted. The sad fact is this is the truth. It is one thing to qualify for a World Cup finals but to be competitive in those finals is another thing altogether. Interestingly both nations now find their path to qualification rather easy.

The MLS like the A-League has a “designated player” system in which top name players at the end of their careers can come and play for money four times or more what their team mates are receiving, but that falls outside the salary cap. In Australia the same situation sees the player labelled a “Marquee Player.”

Despite the likes of Kaka, Stephen Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard playing in the MLS, clubs as a whole have not seen memberships rise as a result of the investment made in these players. Many A-League clubs also find themselves questioning the investment in big name players past their use-by date, with crowds dropping substantially after they have made their first appearance.

To be fair New York City, the Manchester City affiliate, did have a sell out 60,000 crowd for david Villa’s debut against Orlando City boasting new signing Brazilian, Kaka.

These guys are making big money. The rest of the players in the MLS in the main are not. Recent figures showed that the average pay in the MLS was two-thirds of the wages received by Championship players in England. Yet again the standard is a long way behind the Championship.

They have just re-negotiated a new minimum wage in the MLS. Last season one in five players was on the minimum wage of USD36,000 per year. This was well below the national median cost of $50,000 for a family of two to live. The minimum wage has gone up to USD$60,000 and the salary cap to USD3.5million.

While the lower paid players in the A-League will be looking at these figures and realising that their minimum wage was on a par with the MLS last season. The higher paid players will also be comparing notes. Of the 572 registered players in the MLS 15 were paid over USD$1million.

Also negotiated with the pay increase was that players have free agency once they turn 28. In other words they may seek a transfer when they turn 28 or after eight years service.

The MLS commissioners like the A-League bosses continue to talk up their crowd figures, the MLS claiming that their average crowds now top the NBA and the National Hockey League. Yet still clubs are losing money. The television money received in America barely covers the losses of the 20 Franchises combined. The same is true in the A-league with virtually every club bar Melbourne Victory losing money despite massive hand outs from the FFA from their TV deal with Fox Sports.

In both nations the participation at grassroots level is high and growing as parents worry about health risks to their children in other sports.

So why is Football still struggling to become mainstream? Many will tell you it all comes down to money. Until football can offer the same salaries as the other top tier sports it competes with in each country, it will always lose its best athletes to those sports. As long as those sports have the money they can invest in marketing the code, and promoting the perception that it is one of the top sports in the nation. As we all know when it comes to marketing, Perception is everything.