John Stensholt: FFA have stacked fixture list to improve TV ratings

John Stensholt: FFA have stacked fixture list to improve TV ratings

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With less than three months to go until the 2016-17 A-League season, focus has turned to the value of the new broadcast rights deal.

With the current broadcast deal expiring at the conclusion of the upcoming season, Football Federation Australia (FFA) has begun the process of securing a broadcast home for the competition, with initial negotiations rumoured to have begun shortly after the A-League decider in May.

Australian football’s showpiece event saw just over half a million viewers tune in to witness Adelaide United’s maiden A-League crown – defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 in a match that was shown live on Fox Sports and delayed on SBS.


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Writer for the Australian Financial Review, John Stensholt believes that the A-League draw is a component in helping the league  on TV this upcoming season.

“With the way the draw is being structured it is to make sure the relatively high rating teams on Fox, like the Melbourne Victory, are always in primetime. They’ve clearly trying to stack the deck as much as possible to get the ratings ticking up this year, compared to the last few years,” he said.

The A-League is coming off a particularly weak season both in terms of attendance – which saw an estimated 15% decrease from the previous season – and TV ratings, which saw a large 18% decrease from the 2014-15 average.

With the FFA heading into what could be a prolonged negotiation period, the question must be asked as to what kind of leverage does football’s governing body hold?

Stensholt believes that the ‘Cahill Factor’ could come into play should the player sign for Melbourne City as is strongly rumouredA similar positive upturn in fortunes could occur to that after the arrival of Italian icon Alessandro Del Piero, which saw TV numbers and match-day attendances enjoy a sizeable increase.

However, a potential spanner in the works of the A-League’s valuation is its packaging with the rights to Socceroos World Cup qualifier matches, something which the rights owners Lagardere Sports and Entertainment has opted to sell independent of the FFA.

This puts the FFA onto the back foot in some respects, with Stensholt noting: “the FFA would want to keep them [broadcast rights] together as much as possible, and if you are a Channel Seven or a Channel Nine, you’d want your Socceroos games because they are the ones that are actually the good ratings games.”

The persistent rumour has been that the broadcast deal could double in value, jumping to approximately $80 million annually. Large steps taken since the signing of the previous broadcast deal in 2012 – such as the signing of the aforementioned Del Piero, the Western Sydney Wanderers winning the Asian Champions League and the Socceroos lifting the Asian Cup in 2015.

However, the issue of valuation is more of a double barrelled issue. While the FFA has been attempting distance itself from talk of the $80 million price tag while negotiations are ongoing, Stensholt believes that doubling of the current $40 million valuation would be “in line with other sports have been achieving with their rights, such as the huge upticks for the AFL and NRL. It wouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility.”

Yet there is also the issue of exposure, as a move to a big three TV network – Seven, Nine or Ten – would allow more eyeballs to experience the sport and Stensholt believes “some clubs would be happy to take a lesser [valuation] if it meant getting on one of the big three networks.”

This all of course appears to be quite a way down the line, with Stensholt pointing out that Fox Sports have the right to match any potential offer that comes to the table of the FFA before any deal is struck.

This is a stark contrast to Optus’ deal for the English Premier League, whose rights were offered under a blind auction method and saw Optus snare the rights for a reported $50 million deal.

It appears Fox Sports still have quite a role to play in the final location of the A-League regardless of this clause however, with Stensholt revealing that Fox Sports are currently in a three-month exclusive negotiation period, which expires in September, after which other networks can contact the FFA and begin negotiations for the rights.

The FFA declined to comment and with regards to any prospective TV deal. With a deal unlikely to be struck in time for this upcoming season, it appears the broadcast deal could still take some time yet.

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