Last week followers of football were shocked to hear that the A-League had laid off 50% of their staff. Then probably the bigger shock was that this equated to around 40 people. Which caused many to ask why the A-League needed 80 staff in the first place?
Is this another example of football living beyond it’s means?
Seriously, 80 staff is a very large workforce even though they are running three competitions, the A-League men, A League women, the youth League and oversee the Australia Cup.
It was only five months ago that Nick Garcia, Commissioner of the A-Leagues said “We are building from a successful season 2022-23 where crowds grew 44% and broadcast viewership was up over 50% on free-to-air television for the finals, and saw a 48% growth in minutes viewed for the Isuzu UTE A-League Men regular season.”
Although these stats were very carefully worded to try and put a positive spin on a declining product. the words, “saw a 48% growth in minutes viewed” are very loose, and do not tell anyone very much. So how many minutes were viewed? Are fans sticking around to watch the whole game? The “broadcast viewership was up 50% on free-to-air television for the finals.” What was the baseline that they were starting from? As fifty percent of not very many doesn’t have to be that high. The answer is most likely a very strong ‘no.’
The A-League owners have control of the A-League now, something they fought hard for. However, it would appear that they are finding running the game as hard if not harder than they find running their franchise clubs. This was always a concern. (The A League A Time To Reflect and Change) With nearly all the A-League clubs losing money how were they collectively going to change this, by taking on the added responsibility of running the league?
Then again they have not helped their cause by making some astounding decisions. In November 2021 the A-League launched KEEPUP, a digital app and website that it hoped would convince the supposed 8 million football fans in Australia to champion Australia’s domestic tournaments. This we were told was going to be “the centrepiece” of the APL’s ambitious plans to grow the A-League,
Many questioned whether this was a prudent investment. Did those behind such a platform actually understand the market that they were hoping to attract? When told that the league had invested a staggering $30 million in its creation, – some claim it was closer to $40m, – there were more than raised eyebrows. How was the game ever going to recoup that cost?
Having consulted a digital media expert with over 20 years experience in this field, they felt that the A-League paid too much. “There should be some utility or usefulness for the football community,” they said. “That’s where you spend $30m, in discovering and delivering what the user wants or needs, not dictating what you think they want.”
Further research into an area that this writer is not an expert, revealed that a global multilingual app and website can be and has been created for around $5m. So it would be extremely interesting to see a breakdown of how the $30m was spent.
This digital platform was supposed to become a one stop shop for football fans. It was where fans of the English Premier League and La Liga would go for their news. Yet what the creators of this site failed to realise is people already have tried and tested websites they go to for up to date news on these competitions, why would they possibly go to a new site?
Coupled with the fact that much of the writing on the KEEPUP website was of a poor standard. In fact this was a topic on a fan facebook page in the UK just a week ago when someone shared a story. So credibility became a big issue. If you fail to deliver quality people will not come back and use you. In addition by trying to be all things to all people, the site was extremely cluttered in its appearance, which is again something that website developers will tell you straight away is never a good thing.
It would appear that this site is no more, with no new stories having been posted for four days. Which would mean that a $30M investment has been closed down after just 14 months. That is more than a cost of $2m a month. No wonder the A League is in trouble!
The Paramount/Network Ten deal was one we were again told had to be done. They needed the money. Viacom/CBS invested $200M over five years to televise the A-League across its free-to-air television network Ten, and streaming service Paramount+. Yet one has to ask was this really the right decision?
The argument was once Fox Sports walked away from the A-League following falling viewing figures; in part due to Fox losing the English Premier League to Optus. This had a huge impact as for football fans they would tune into the A-League as a warm up for the EPL. Once the EPL was gone there was no longer a desire or a need to watch the A-League.
The first season of the new deal with Channel 10 many fans found that they could not find the games. Then there was confusion over which games were free-to-air and which were being streamed. To many it all became too hard and so they walked away.
In addition the production values of what was being offered was and is extremely poor, resulting in only the truly dedicated fans sticking with the televised product.
NTFS believes that as would be expected, part of the Viacom/.CBS deal was that they wanted the A-Leagues to tap into their fan base in order to win subscribers to Paramount+. There was allegedly a number that had to be achieved or the A-Leagues would have to pay a compensation fee to the broadcaster. This could be another body blow to the League’s management depending on when the cut-off is, or was if they failed to meet that magic number.
It is no coincidence that seasons two and three of the A-League saw the biggest average crowds over a season. The 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons coming hot on the back of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Australia’s first for 32 years. There was a buzz about the game. Not only that, there was a marketing campaign to promote the A-League. There were television advertisements, billboards, radio advertising, and adverts in newspapers and magazines.
There is no doubt that marketing today is far more complicated. There are so many platforms. In some states for example a newspaper advertisment would be a complete waste of money as the readership has disintegrated. However, there still needs to be marketing of the league and there hasn’t been any for years.
The average A-League crowd this season currently sits at around 7,500. If it remains at that level it will be the fourth season in a row in which the average crowds have been under 10,000; however covid did impact previous seasons. In the two highest seasons with less teams the average crowds were 12,911 in 2006/07 and 14,610 in 2007/08.
Which begs the question was expansion really the way to go? Is the A-League trying to run before it can walk?
The quality of the football, while at times good, is not what it was around season six or seven of the A-League. Therefore, one has to ask is there really merit in broadcasting every game every week? Would the game not benefit from say two live games a week and then a show like Match of the Day in the UK where extended highlights of the other games are aired alongside the show case games. This show could also have real discussion on player movement, coaches etcetera and would be more likely to attract a large audience than what is currently on offer. What is more it may also drive fans back to the stadia to watch games.
The same applies with the NPL games, do all of these games these really warrant being shown in full each week? Take Football West’s investment in this service, in the annual report for 2022 the organisation spent $329,335 on this service. What is the return on that investment? Does it pull in new players or sponsors?
One has to ask when one looks at this and the $30m spent on a website and an app, could these funds be better spent? Could they be reinvested into the clubs where every young player starts playing, rather than in the elite level? As we are seeing in the UK and was discussed on our last podcast with CEO Niall Coupar from Fair Game UK if the clubs underpinning the top sides in each country are not given a share of the spoils the game will die. (Podcast #125)
As many have said the biggest problem with the A-League and the broadcast of the competition is that it tries to be something it isn’t. We are told that things are “world class,” which is unlikely as this is far from being one of the top football leagues in the world. It is time that Football accepted the the A-League for what it is, it is the Australia’s top competition. Stop comparing it to other leagues and establish a strong brand an identity of its own.
Did the A-League try and grow the number of teams in the competition too quickly, just as the National Soccer League did? The answer has to be a resounding yes. It needed to happen, but the pace at which it did happen saw clubs drop out, and now extra costs that nearly all A-League clubs are failing to cover. Of course the reason for expansion is the League receives the licence fee from the franchise owner. This was when the A-League started around $1m. It has risen over the years and is alleged to be around $15m now.
The question in relation to this is, how is an investor going to recoup that money? Which then makes one ask what sort of person buys a licence knowing that they are unlikely to ever see a return on that money? Football, we know has been used the world over to launder money, so has the A-League become the perfect place for such practices?
Perth Glory is currently up for sale. They have no training facility that they own, no offices that they own. The original plan was that they would be housed at the new State Football Centre and use those facilities, but as yet that has not eventuated, allegedly due to cost. They do not even own the ground on which they play their A-League matches. The food outlets inside the venue have agreements with the venue management so even on a match day they do not see any return on the food purchased by their fans. Why would anyone hand over $20M for that?
At the end of the day all you are buying is a badge, a name, and a reputation along with the existing player contracts. Is that worth the asking price?
The A-League was a competition that when it was launched gave many hope that football would finally rise to be a top sport in Australia. Yet after a promising start it has sadly gone down a far too similar path as the old National Soccer League; Expanding too quickly, and signing past greats well past their best to pull in fans.
Many in the past week have quoted the words of Steven Lowy when he stepped down as Chairman of Football Australia just prior to the A-League clubs taking control of their own destiny, “careful what you wish for.” Yet if one looks at his whole speech he also warned of what is now happening,
“The clubs want to take a larger share of the revenue from the game,” he said. “By definition the national team and the grassroots will lose out. We shouldn’t allow representation to be driven by money. We should not move to a model where the money flows back automatically to where it comes form. The governance model advocated by our critics leads to the trading of political favours between a few individuals who would control the many.”
Lowy was well aware that FIFA wanted to see the A-League run separately from the game’s administrators as that is how it is across the world, now with the exception of the USA. Yet he wanted to ensure that before this happened the best model was put in place that would protect the future of the game. That has not happened. With the A-League owners taking complete control.
While Lowy’s governance of the game was hardly seen as being perfect, and that of his father’s dictatorial, he also said as he left “We are now at a tipping point, the game could get stronger or it could break, if vested interests prevail.” Were those words prophetic? Have the events of the past week proved to be the tipping point?
One thing is for sure that the game across the country has to start being more responsible with its finances. Clubs and state associations need to cut their coat according to their cloth. In other words live within their means. It should not be acceptable from anyone’s perspective that the outgoings in a State Association outstrip their incomings by over half a million dollars. A quick look at the salaries in their accounts and one can see that these and many other organisations are over-staffed, or staff are over-paid.
If sport is a business, as many of the top dogs tell us, then start running it like a business. Make decisions that benefit the business in the long term, because if you don’t you will not be around in the long term. Don’t look at what other sports are doing and try and match them due to image and ego, look at what they are doing and learn from that, but plough your own furrow.
Football is sadly seeing history repeat. The mistakes of over 25 years ago are coming back, and interestingly so too are many of the individuals who were part of the games demise. Is that a coincidence? Plenty have come and gone, made a name for themselves in “new Football” and advanced their bank balance and their reputation, but did they advance the game?
Steven Lowy in his parting speech as Chairman of Football Australia also said “For the stakeholders who must determine the future in coming weeks I issue this warning: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.” This was an accusation levelled at his father, but sadly is proving to be the case with the whole game in Australia. (Is History Repeating With the A League?)
Most fans now the famous chant that goes as foilows:
And it’s a Grand Old Team to play for,
And it’s a Grand Old team to support,
And if you know your history,
It’s enough to make your heart go…
How do fans feel at the moment in their hearts knowing that history has not been heeded?
