We Are The Reds

The real issue here is the broadcast money which is likely to collapse before the monetisation of other forms of viewership, particualrly streaming, is better understood. The FFA can see it looming and don't have the answers; hopefully an independent A-League will.

Thats a really good point.

At some stage in the future the aleague will be totally online, the problem is the sports streaming realm is still at its teething stage. There are no clear leaders in the sports realm like we see with netflix and Amazon streaming services.

The greatest potential for success would be for the aleague to produce its own distribution by selling the rights to a season directly to the consumer. I imagine this could be equally dangerous given a lull in the league would result in a direct loss of income with subscriptions taking away any ability to plan for the longterm future.

Prophetic words from blahblah and shin from July 2019.

Thankfully Foxtel have given us 18 months to test drive an online subscription model using the FFA Cup which definitely connects with all levels of football. If FFA can make a real go of that (keeping production costs down) then there's hope, I just can't see the dollars stacking up.

Does anyone know the Foxtel dollars involved? I though I saw it was a reduction from $57m to $32m for the next season. If so, that will mean clubs each having to cut say $1.5m in running costs. Presumably some admin staff, some support staff, smaller squads, and reduced player wages. Hopefully we'll avoid losing all our best players and dropping back to semi-professional status.

A prediction I was rather hoping to get wrong.

I guess we will find out where the game goes however at least the transition is happening now, when all of society is in flux. Football has a chance to re-engineer its league format and broadcasting to fit the "new normal". It will mean a leaner product (No idea if $32 million is the new number however we can be assured the final number will be significantly less than $57) however it is better to do that now, when tolerance for change from the footballing public and professionals is high.

"New normal" is moving from a buzz-word to a reality and we have a chance to fit that new reality.

The potential is now in place to realign the football calendars in Australia which opens the possibility of promotion/relegation in the future. Certainly the NPL final series suddenly has the veneer of a second tier

Yes its an incredible time for Football. We're certainly going to have to take a couple of steps backwards before we can move forward. But IMO that's really what the game needs. For too long many have complained about the gulf in class between the HAL and NPL in terms of playing ability and finance. Hopefully now we'll start to see the field level out and the prospect of a HAL club being relegated to a 2nd div now would be less likely to be a death warrant should that end up occurring.
I'm personally not massively concerned at to what this will mean to the standard of the HAL. With the state of the game now everyone from the top to the bottom is going to have to take a pay cut. We saw this week that Inter took a reduced offer on Icardi going to PSG from apparently £65m to £45m so players might not be pleased with reduced pay but the green certainly won't be greener elsewhere.
Plus if it does turn out a few visa players leave the HAL I'd hope the clubs give youth a chance to generate those clubs some transfer revenue in the future.

IMO the only hope for a viable 2nd Div was to get an increased deal off Fox and quarantine some of that money. Post COVID-19 there'll be no increase, but if there's going to be a Div2 then the best chance is negotiate funding as part of the post-Fox shakeup.
Of course, that would mean the PFA having to accept even lower wages for A-League players, and A-League clubs having to accept even lower funding levels, and i'm doubtful that either of those things will happen now that the clubs are running the show and the PFA has greater sway in the decision making.

I guess that comes down to the future value of professional athletes; something that has been driven by the value of television rights. The PFA have a tricky situation ahead as there is no secondary professional domestic market for their members to work in should the A-League collapse or turn semi-professional, so it is in their best interest to keep the show rolling.

Re: A-League clubs; most can absorb a cut in funding if licensing requirements are less. This will most likely need to happen as new funding arrangements evolve. There will be mistakes and inefficiencies on all sides and flexibility in licensing requirements will assist mitigating these risks.

Legacy broadcasting financing is on the wane, a trend that COVID-19 has only exacerbated. A two division competition was always going to require a rethink of the financing. The money would have been nice though.