Play Nice 2019 Non AFL Admin, Crowds, Ratings, Participation etc thread

[BobbyMorri]

Also, having a look at the fixtures, a lot of the Saturday afternoon games involve the Wellington Phoenix.......(6 out of the 27)

Obviously not caring about the A-league ratings at all now. Makes me think the real reason for this deal by the ABC were the internationals and W-league, believe it or not, more so than the A-league

Edit: (wrong numbers)

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

it was quite interesting watching the broadcast of the first NBL match last night. ESPN has done it on the cheap. interesting business strategy by the NBL/ESPN.

The commentators(Russell and Gaze) were not on location at the stadium but instead, we're in a studio. So they commentated the match on the screen. Basketball is a sport where you can easily do this as there is little off-screen action than say the footballs. But still... The graphics were also not fully synched and it wasn't broadcast in full HD. I am sure they will improve certain aspects of the overall broadcast in the coming weeks but interesting take. I still found it watchable.



Had to get the a-league finals live....what is the point otherwise.

they need to plan, an actual plan, for what to do when the TV rights end. Are they going to do a 2nd div or not? It has decided now, one way of the other. This season will be worse than the last 2 seasons, which were the worst on record. The league just aimless and going nowhere and it is quite sad. Shocking mismanagement.

I really fear what will happen to Western United. Last time I checked, they had under 2K members, which is low even for the a-league. They have no home and not a great outlook for one. Such a stupid expansion team.

Yeh I had no issues with the NBL last night. Not perfect but good enough.

The A league is in a precarious position on all fronts. They seem to be just holding on to relevance and then they go and put a pointless side in like WU.
I actually feel sorry for them because it seems near impossible for them to be able to turn things around. They nearly have to go back to the old soccer clubs and communities to expand but in expanding and doing that they are insuring they have unsustainable clubs or at least amateur clubs trying to be professional when they are completely out of their depth and will send them broke. Plus bringing in Ethnic base clubs is probably the most pathetic thing imaginable in this day and age.
They are too poor and small to have a major competition with top level players and too big for smaller clubs to be able to be included.

 

[NoobPie]

Also, having a look at the fixtures, a lot of the Saturday afternoon games involve the Wellington Phoenix.......(16 out of the 28)

Obviously not caring about the A-league ratings at all now. Makes me think the real reason for this deal by the ABC were the internationals and W-league, believe it or not, more so than the A-league

The reason the ABC is showing the A league is because no commercial network was interested. This is not a commercial transaction, it is a taxpayer funded broadcaster coming to Australian soccer's aide again.

 

[Professor Knowall]

God, it seems weird being able to just open up Ticketek and buy tickets to the NRL Grand Final, especially more than 6 hours since they went on sale to the public.

...and 2 days later, they're still trying to move them - even cutting their prices. Also ran ads on Melbourne TV last night about good GF seats still available.

Such a complete contrast to the demand for AFL GF tickets every year, regardless of who is playing.

[NSW] NRL Grand Final Tickets at Members Prices from $50, Diamond $350 (Normally $380) @ Ticketek

Deal: [NSW] NRL Grand Final Tickets at Members Prices from $50, Diamond $350 (Normally $380) @ Ticketek, Store: Ticketek, Code: FANFEST, Category: Sports & Outdoors

www.ozbargain.com.au

 

[Kwality]

The reason the ABC is showing the A league is because no commercial network was interested. This is not a commercial transaction, it is a taxpayer funded broadcaster coming to Australian soccer's aide again.

Spot on, although there is Fox, poor ratings but its there.

Love to know what the club owners strategy is, are they united or is everyone for themselves - given there are a number of self made blokes sitting around the table, big egos at play as always .... challenging days ahead.

 

[giggler99]

it was quite interesting watching the broadcast of the first NBL match last night. ESPN has done it on the cheap. interesting business strategy by the NBL/ESPN.

The commentators(Russell and Gaze) were not on location at the stadium but instead, we're in a studio. So they commentated the match on the screen. Basketball is a sport where you can easily do this as there is little off-screen action than say the footballs. But still... The graphics were also not fully synched and it wasn't broadcast in full HD. I am sure they will improve certain aspects of the overall broadcast in the coming weeks but interesting take. I still found it watchable.



Had to get the a-league finals live....what is the point otherwise.

they need to plan, an actual plan, for what to do when the TV rights end. Are they going to do a 2nd div or not? It has decided now, one way of the other. This season will be worse than the last 2 seasons, which were the worst on record. The league just aimless and going nowhere and it is quite sad. Shocking mismanagement.

I really fear what will happen to Western United. Last time I checked, they had under 2K members, which is low even for the a-league. They have no home and not a great outlook for one. Such a stupid expansion team.

Western United will be an utter disaster worse than Heart and I don't think that stadium will be built anytime soon if at all! nobody was screaming out for a second Melbourne team let alone a third! I mean at least with Heart there was some buzz around town that a new team was entering the league but with WU nothing! Zero buzz no promation no articles in the papers or media some people I've talked to don't even know there is a new club in the league! The whole process was expansion for expansion sake in order to guarantee and extend the Fox TV payout! In the long term its going to hurt the league. Not sure how McAurthurFC is tracking probably a little better but still in the some boat.
The New independent A-league group have a long way to go in order to fix all the FFA mismanagement of the League, This is getting to the final straw pull of the league now there would be no coming back if they can't revive it from here.

A Second division isn't the answer either as much as purist football fans want it, it will not work in the current climate.

 

[giggler99]

Spot on, although there is Fox, poor ratings but its there.

Love to know what the club owners strategy is, are they united or is everyone for themselves - given there are a number of self made blokes sitting around the table, big egos at play as always .... challenging days ahead.

Well they just pulled the 'big' advertising campaign because the 11 club owners couldn't agree on which direction to go, that should show you how well its currently going, seems a case of to many voices. An indepentant body needs to be appointed quickly.

 

[BringBackTorps]

Oh dear!

The creation of the independently run A League (ie not run by the FFA, but by the Clubs themselves) was supposed to have solved all of soccer's problems, and reversed its freefall in metrics (It's crowds, average c. 10,500, though, are still respectable by international standards- but Western United crowds may be a disaster, thus drag down the A League average crowd no. considerably).

Now, however, the A League clubs appear to be bickering not only amongst themselves, but, again, with the FFA management.

And Foxsports, in its national Summer Of Sport print advertising campaign, has"...no mention of the A League..." in the ads, or that it will showthe A League!

'Cloud' hanging over A-League

Western Sydney Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas admits the first season of the new independent A-League has a cloud hanging over it...but he's convinced it will all come good.

www.ftbl.com.au

Amazing!

EDIT:

The NBL had a very good start last night, with its new team, South East Melb. Magic beating Melb. United- in a 10,000+ full house.
The NBL has staged a significant resurgance in the last few years, obtaining strong crowds around Australia.

 

[Our Game]

ABC strikes deal to become free-to-air home of football in Australia

The ABC has struck a landmark deal to become the free-to-air broadcast partner of the A-League, W-League, Socceroos and Matildas.
What the deal includes:

Most Socceroos matches, including World Cup qualifiers, live
Every Matildas match, including Olympic qualifiers, live
One A-League match live per round, and selected finals on delay
One W-League match per round and every final live

The two-year deal will see one A-League and one W-League match per round broadcast live on ABC TV and iview around the country throughout the entirety of the 2019/20 season.

Every match of the W-League finals will also be available live, and a selection of A-League finals on delay, including the grand final.

It will also mean the Socceroos' next two rounds of World Cup qualifiers will be broadcast live and free across the ABC and SBS, as well as all of the Matildas' upcoming international friendlies and Olympic qualifiers.

"We are thrilled to welcome Australian football into the ABC family," Judith Whelan, the ABC's Director of Regional and Local, said.

"The ABC has unrivaled reach into every corner of Australia and we will be using that reach to help build the profile of football. We plan to use all our platforms to drive audiences to our coverage on ABC TV."

Follow this story to get email or text alerts from ABC News when there is a future article following this storyline.

The deal means A-League games will be broadcast by ABC TV for the first time, and marks a return for the W-League, which had a home with the ABC from 2008 until 2017.

"We have always been a big supporter of women's sport in this country and will use every means possible to build the biggest audience we can for the W-League," Ms Whelan said.

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold said it was exciting to have ABC on board for football coverage.

"It is fantastic news that live, free-to-air coverage of a variety of elite Australian football will feature on the ABC," Arnold said.

"I remember when I was playing in the National Soccer League that the ABC showed the match of the day, and provided great exposure of the competition.

"The ABC provides a truly national platform across many mediums — TV, radio, and online — so having the ABC involved to provide coverage of the Socceroos, Matildas, A-League, and W-League is a big win for the game.



Not ideal to have delayed telecast for 'some' finals in this day and age of streaming, 5pm Saturday isn't ideal either, but I surpose any free to air is better than none. It just shows how far the A-league has fallen in the pecking order of Australian sport. Not good!

I wonder how much the allegded cash strapped ABC is paying for the soccer?

 

[Kwality]

drag down the A League average crowd no. considerably

Not that that number is of relevance to those who know whats happening, understand, just fodder for the insecure cheerleader set.

 

[Kwality]

An indepentant body needs to be appointed quickly.

How does it work with similar structures elsewhere ?

Can recommend a strong diktator (sic) of Euro heritage, experienced sports administrator, do you know Andrew?

 

[Kwality]

I wonder how much the allegded cash strapped ABC is paying for the soccer?

Even cost sharing.

 

[Our Game]

Looks like the NRL are struggling to sellout their GF tomorrow according to LU.

 

[BringBackTorps]

The reason the ABC is showing the A league is because no commercial network was interested. This is not a commercial transaction, it is a taxpayer funded broadcaster coming to Australian soccer's aide again.

It is generally considered that Ch.10 paid virtually nothing, in cash, for its current (but expired in 2019) deal to show 1 live A League game pw. Ditto, the new ABC deal to telecast 1 match pw of the A League?
A League games, since SBS vacated in 2017, are unwanted by commercial networks.


How do we explain the Soccer Broadcasting Service EXTREMELY generous payments, to the FFA, for the low rating A League matches up to 2017?

Channel Seven to make late move for A-League broadcast rights

Football Federation Australia is becoming increasingly desperate to find a Free-To-Air partner.

www.smh.com.au

This 16.5.2017 link states, re the FFA & its previous FTA negotiations

In 2017, re the FFA"...it is already braced for a significant drop in the income for the free to air component of the Rights, which could yield as little as $2 million in cash each season over the course of the next 6 years.
The current price SBS has paid for the last four years of between $7 million to $9 million...".

This suggests that the Soccer Broadcasting Service was previously paying $7-9 million PER YEAR to the FFA, for its one live A league game pw then- is this correct?
Does that include Socceroos matches etc. (which occasionally rate highly, during a WC)? What would have been fair value then, for Socceroos matches alone?

If the $7-9 million per year was only for the 1, low rating, A League game pw, how do we explain (with genuine commercial justifications) the Soccer Broadcasting Service EXTREMELY overpaid amounts to the FFA up to 2017?

Has the taxpayer been rorted again/shameless fraud (ala previous World Cup bid & $45 million losses), with this disgraceful overpayment, in this cosy relationship between the FFA & "The Home Of Football", the Soccer Broadcasting Service?
How could the 1 game pw be worth $7-9 million per year up to 2017- but virtually zero dollars after 2017?

Was there any independent oversight of the SBS financial deal with the FFA?

 

[Kwality]

It is generally considered that Ch.10 paid virtually nothing, in cash, for its current (but expired in 2019) deal to show 1 live A League game pw. Ditto, the new ABC deal to telecast 1 match pw of the A League?
A League games, since SBS vacated in 2017, are unwanted by commercial networks.


How do we explain the Soccer Broadcasting Service EXTREMELY generous payments, to the FFA, for the low rating A League matches up to 2017?

Channel Seven to make late move for A-League broadcast rights

Football Federation Australia is becoming increasingly desperate to find a Free-To-Air partner.

www.smh.com.au

This 16.5.2017 link states, re the FFA & its previous FTA negotiations

In 2017, re the FFA"...it is already braced for a significant drop in the income for the free to air component of the Rights, which could yield as little as $2 million in cash each season over the course of the next 6 years.
The current price SBS has paid for the last four years of between $7 million to $9 million...".

This suggests that the Soccer Broadcasting Service was previously paying $7-9 million PER YEAR to the FFA, for its one live A league game pw then- is this correct?
Does that include Socceroos matches etc. (which occasionally rate highly, during a WC)? What would have been fair value then, for Socceroos matches alone?

If the $7-9 million was only for the 1, low rating, A League game pw, how do we explain (with genuine commercial justifications) the Soccer Broadcasting Service EXTREMELY overpaid amounts to the FFA up to 2017?

Has the taxpayer been rorted again/shameless fraud (ala previous World Cup bid & $45 million losses), with this disgraceful overpayment, in this cosy relationship between the FFA & "The Home Of Football", the Soccer Broadcasting Service?
How could the 1 game pw be worth $7-9 million per year up to 2017- but virtually zero dollars after 2017?

Was there any independent oversight of the SBS financial deal with the FFA?

Fair comment other than running a commercial ruler over the SBS, its not a consideration EVER, the question is exactly whose plaything is the SBS.
I ask the same question* of the ABC, less so in sport but there are many other forums in BF to examine that & offend their brethren.
* plaything

I add my interest in motor sport as its relevant - SBS stepped in to broadcast the developing 2 litre class (TCR) and has been offering live telecasts with growing audiences live & streaming. 7 are interested to taking over as the class grows, have SBS locked in the TV rights/an earner if they lose the rights to FTA or Fox.

 

[MemoryLane]

Western United will be an utter disaster worse than Heart and I don't think that stadium will be built anytime soon if at all! nobody was screaming out for a second Melbourne team let alone a third! I mean at least with Heart there was some buzz around town that a new team was entering the league but with WU nothing! Zero buzz no promation no articles in the papers or media some people I've talked to don't even know there is a new club in the league! The whole process was expansion for expansion sake in order to guarantee and extend the Fox TV payout! In the long term its going to hurt the league. Not sure how McAurthurFC is tracking probably a little better but still in the some boat.
The New independent A-league group have a long way to go in order to fix all the FFA mismanagement of the League, This is getting to the final straw pull of the league now there would be no coming back if they can't revive it from here.

A Second division isn't the answer either as much as purist football fans want it, it will not work in the current climate.

Western United have done a shitload of work in the Western Victorian space, getting into schools, communities, holding forums.

Even the public schools you'd send your kids to could have access to them if only the teachers picked up the phone.

The only disaster is your totally uninformed opinion. How embarrassing.

 

[NoobPie]

Western United have done a s**tload of work in the Western Victorian space, getting into schools, communities, holding forums.

Even the public schools you'd send your kids to could have access to them if only the teachers picked up the phone.

The only disaster is your totally uninformed opinion. How embarrassing.

Harsh. Pretty sure giggler was talking more generally about how effective Wu have been at generating visible energy to launch a new team on.

Guess we will see soon enough how effective this school and community activity has been.

I am with giggler and think this will be a monumental failure. We'll know soon enough

 

[Kwality]

Harsh. Pretty sure giggler was talking more generally about how effective Wu have been at generating visible energy to launch a new team on.

Guess we will see soon enough how effective this school and community activity has been.

I am with giggler and think this will be a monumental failure. We'll know soon enough

The question is how the investors measure success, its private money.

 

[jatz14]

Western United have done a s**tload of work in the Western Victorian space, getting into schools, communities, holding forums.

Even the public schools you'd send your kids to could have access to them if only the teachers picked up the phone.

The only disaster is your totally uninformed opinion. How embarrassing.

Not enough to go to schools. They need people watching on TV, and interest in general. I have heard virtually nothing about them. If I was stopped on the street and asked who the A league expansion teams were, I wouldn't have been able to name them, and I do not know 1 player. Why would I watch a game that involved them?

However, you are right, he does have an uninformed opinion, as do I, because we haven't been informed, which is the whole point he is making.

 

[jatz14]

The question is how the investors measure success, its private money.

Investors in sports clubs generally measure it by the `cool factor` of owning a sports club. If they measured it by profitability, there would be a lot less investors in sports teams.

 

[NoobPie]

The question is how the investors measure success, its private money.

It might already be a roaring success for the "investors" if they've been handed cheap rezoned land in Tarneit.

Could be an unmitigated disaster for the a league though

 

[Kwality]

Investors in sports clubs generally measure it by the `cool factor` of owning a sports club. If they measured it by profitability, there would be a lot less investors in sports teams.

If I'm correct the Melbourne A -League clubs have changed hands at a handy profit. Most dont though.

Playthings for the wealthy, e.g formerly Bombers President aul Little sold his Supercar team franchise for a tidy sum (not sure it covered his losses/Toll sponsorship).

 

[Kwality]

It might already be a roaring success for the "investors" if they've been handed cheap rezoned land in Tarneit.

Could be an unmitigated disaster for the a league though

Begs the question what the real plan is ... Lifeboats 101, every man for himself.

 

[jatz14]

It might already be a roaring success for the "investors" if they've been handed cheap rezoned land in Tarneit.

Could be an unmitigated disaster for the a league though

That is a pretty consistent rumour, do not know if its true, but if the investors are `property developers`, it would make sense. Property developers have a pretty good track record of involving themselves in things like local councils, so they can then undermine local planning in their favour. Saw a statement once that a breakdown of the industries local councillors were involved in showed a massive over representation of property developers, relative to other professions.

So getting involved in a sports club because it involved access to valuable land would be par for the course.

 

[Kwality]

That is a pretty consistent rumour, do not know if its true, but if the investors are `property developers`, it would make sense. Property developers have a pretty good track record of involving themselves in things like local councils, so they can then undermine local planning in their favour. Saw a statement once that a breakdown of the industries local councillors were involved in showed a massive over representation of property developers, relative to other professions.

So getting involved in a sports club because it involved access to valuable land would be par for the course.

Having had a rugged relationship with the City of Wyndham for a decade, it wouldnt be an easy row to hoe.