Tasmanian A-League Bid - Close to Being Fully Backed by FFA

[Zidane98]

The announcement yesterday said that amount included Socceroos games that FFA "owns" (as well as Matildas and W-League.)

I interpreted that as the FFA is able to resell Socceroos games to FTA providers (I believe they are on the anti siphoning list).

The FTA rights for Socceroos will be significant with Confed cup & Russia 2018 coming up.

 

[Redalert]

I hope you don't deal with money for a living if you think $57m is in the same ballpark as the $80m figure that they've spoken about for 2-3 years.

Taking into account the free to air component it should get to around $65m-$70m a year.

And the A-league have always oversold themselves. If they ever succeeded in winning over more of the 2m people who play soccer in Australia than they'd have a chance to score a sizeable TV deal, but until that happens they'll be battling.

 

[craigos]

I wonder what the numbers are like for Tasmania in terms of "pay tv" viewership. Could be an untapped market with the A League being exclusively on Fox and the fact that the away trips would be hard as direct flights are pretty much to Sydney & Melbourne daily with Brisbane only a couple of times a week.

 

[Punt Road Feral]

I wonder what the numbers are like for Tasmania in terms of "pay tv" viewership. Could be an untapped market with the A League being exclusively on Fox and the fact that the away trips would be hard as direct flights are pretty much to Sydney & Melbourne daily with Brisbane only a couple of times a week.

I'm not that familiar with the Tassie airlines but would those direct airlines be an incentive for one of them to sponsor a potential side?

 

[craigos]

All the talk of expansion has gone eerily quiet since the TV deal was announced.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

I think the interested clubs are just waiting for the FFA to announce the framework/criteria for expansion clubs. From memory, was mooted to be revealed in Jan/Feb so might see something in the next few weeks.

 

[AJ_2000]

I think they'll can the expansion for this rights deal. If they do anything it will be in the last year or so.

 

[Punt Road Feral]

I think they'll can the expansion for this rights deal. If they do anything it will be in the last year or so.

Would be an absolute farce if that's the case.
The FFA have given the impression that the 18/19 is the season they'd be ready to expand, there are viable bids that will be able to stand on their own two feet without any assistance and if the FFA do sit on their hands and not expand there will be an uproar.

TBH if they do go cold on expansion I can see supporters of many clubs dropping off as the league can get stale at times.

 

[BobbyMorri]

I am already ready for the disappointment when Tassie get rejected for more "derbies". Only time i will watch Australian football will be my local comp and the FFA Cup if that is the case.

Could not give a damn about the a-league if that happens and Tassie can join Canberra, the Gold Coast and North Queensland(potentially Wollongong) as areas where they failed the football community, rightly or wrongly, and killed any chance of an A League side in these regions for a significant time. Great work by a governing body.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

Would be an absolute farce if that's the case.
The FFA have given the impression that the 18/19 is the season they'd be ready to expand, there are viable bids that will be able to stand on their own two feet without any assistance and if the FFA do sit on their hands and not expand there will be an uproar.

TBH if they do go cold on expansion I can see supporters of many clubs dropping off as the league can get stale at times.

Yup, would be hugely damaging if that did happen but I can't see it happening (thankfully). Remember there is still this season and another to come before any new teams join (according to their timeline of 18/19). Plenty of time for the bid teams to get everything sorted and organised so they can have the best chance to start strongly (instead of floundering like the Knights, GC or Fury did).

I am already ready for the disappointment when Tassie get rejected for more "derbies". Only time i will watch Australian football will be my local comp and the FFA Cup if that is the case.

Could not give a damn about the a-league if that happens and Tassie can join Canberra, the Gold Coast and North Queensland(potentially Wollongong) as areas where they failed the football community, rightly or wrongly, and killed any chance of an A League side in these regions for a significant time. Great work by a governing body.

Well in Tassie's favour, it seems Fox Sports (and a free to air network if they palm off one game like they did with SBS) will get a bit of input on the decision of where expansion goes next. And assuming they aren't completely dumb, they should be able to tell from social media (like their Fox Football facebook page) that a lot of current fans seem to be backing the Tassie bid - or are pretty adamant they don't want to see another Sydney team.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2016/12/08/tv-networks-sway-league-expansion-0

 

[Freomaniac]

Would be an absolute farce if that's the case.
The FFA have given the impression that the 18/19 is the season they'd be ready to expand, there are viable bids that will be able to stand on their own two feet without any assistance and if the FFA do sit on their hands and not expand there will be an uproar.

TBH if they do go cold on expansion I can see supporters of many clubs dropping off as the league can get stale at times.

I have said this many times. I know people want expansion by 2018-9 season, But I still think it will be delayed by 2 more years. That 57 million a year is definitely enough to fund 10 teams easily. To fund 12 teams is possible. I personally want the league to expand to 14 teams as a 26 round comp.

But back on the Topic. I wouldn't mind having a Tasmanian Team playing in the A-league. My personal opinion is they will probably be another Central Coast or Gold Coast united. They will probably average between 5-7,000 people. Only difference is they might survive like Central Coast provided their stadium has cheap rent.

 

[Punt Road Feral]

I have said this many times. I know people want expansion by 2018-9 season, But I still think it will be delayed by 2 more years. That 57 million a year is definitely enough to fund 10 teams easily. To fund 12 teams is possible. I personally want the league to expand to 14 teams as a 26 round comp.

But back on the Topic. I wouldn't mind having a Tasmanian Team playing in the A-league. My personal opinion is they will probably be another Central Coast or Gold Coast united. They will probably average between 5-7,000 people. Only difference is they might survive like Central Coast provided their stadium has cheap rent.

Freomatic wasn't their reports that the TV deal has a clause in it where expansion triggers a larger sum per annum?

 

[Freomaniac]

Freomatic wasn't their reports that the TV deal has a clause in it where expansion triggers a larger sum per annum?

there is. But would the FFA really want a 12 team comp at 33 rounds?

 

[NUFC Tiger]

there is. But would the FFA really want a 12 team comp at 33 rounds?

Fair question - it's currently 27 rounds for 10 teams. Maybe if they want to expand the match day 'weekends' to include Thursday and even Monday match it might be feasible?

 

[Established1870]

But back on the Topic. I wouldn't mind having a Tasmanian Team playing in the A-league. My personal opinion is they will probably be another Central Coast or Gold Coast united. They will probably average between 5-7,000 people. Only difference is they might survive like Central Coast provided their stadium has cheap rent.

I don't see that happening. As long as a Tassie side played both North and South and isn't a Hobart club, they'd get huge support. Just going off of what Tasmanians are saying on here says that it doesn't matter if it's A-League or AFL, they'll go and watch.

Well in Tassie's favour, it seems Fox Sports (and a free to air network if they palm off one game like they did with SBS) will get a bit of input on the decision of where expansion goes next. And assuming they aren't completely dumb, they should be able to tell from social media (like their Fox Football facebook page) that a lot of current fans seem to be backing the Tassie bid - or are pretty adamant they don't want to see another Sydney team.

I'm torn about it but I wouldn't mind a 3rd NSW side as long as it's Wollongong. A 3rd Sydney side would * me off tenfold though. Enough of this metrics BS.

 

[Freomaniac]

Fair question - it's currently 27 rounds for 10 teams. Maybe if they want to expand the match day 'weekends' to include Thursday and even Monday match it might be feasible?

Foxtel Prefers that it doesn't clash or overlap with the AFL and NRL. This is why I think FFA will expand eventually to 14 teams with each team playing each of their 13 opponents twice which equals 26 rounds.

I wouldn't rule out them having mid week games. Wellington take on Victory next Tuesday after this weekends round is completed. Wellington vs Victory was supposed to happen a month ago but an earthquake prevented that.

Still Remember Back in 2010-11 when the A-league had 11 teams with a 30 round season. The League were regularly playing midweek games in that season. They do it in European and Asian leagues.