A-League clubs were forced to contemplate the controversial $12 million sale of their grand final hosting rights partly due to a shortfall in broadcast income this season, after failing to hit benchmarks in the first year of their TV contract with Network 10.
As the backlash continues over the Australian Professional Leagues’ three-year deal with Destination NSW, clubs have begun pointing to the A-League’s troublesome “commercial realities” as the primary reason the next three men’s and women’s deciders had to be sold to Sydney.
10’s co-chief executives Jarrod Villani and Beverley McGarvey with Danny Townsend, managing director of the A-Leagues.Credit:James Alcock
The Herald and The Age can reveal a big contributor to the hole in the APL’s budgets can be traced back to the five-year, $200 million broadcast deal signed with Network 10 and Paramount+ last season.
Sources familiar with the matter say that the APL was required by a clause in that contract to achieve a certain number of subscriptions for Paramount+, the paid streaming service which launched last year in Australia and shows the majority of A-Leagues matches, but fell short of reaching the required target.
As a result, the APL received less money than anticipated from Network 10 this season, and distributions to the 12 clubs were lower as a result – requiring A-League executives to look for another source of income to help make up the shortfall and keep some of the more precariously placed clubs from falling over.
The APL’s contract with Network 10 was renegotiated earlier this year, which led to A-League Men’s matches being moved off the main channel to 10 Bold on Saturday nights, and all A-League Women’s games taken off their terrestrial channels entirely and placed on 10Play, their free streaming service. 10’s co-chief executive Beverley McGarvey told this masthead in May that she “absolutely” wanted better ratings for A-League Men’s matches, which were averaging around 86,000 at the time according to OzTam.
The next three A-League Men and Women’s grand finals will be played in Sydney.Credit:Getty
Network 10 and the APL both declined to comment. Sources on both sides of the partnership insist they are happy, although there remains dissatisfaction within the APL over the lack of play, pause and rewind functionality on the Paramount+ platform for live matches.
Despite initially claiming their arrangement with Destination NSW would help build an exciting new tradition for the sport in Australia, and insisting it was not about the money, the APL and its clubs have changed their tune – now pointing to their stark financial outlook as the motivation behind the move – following the furious reaction from fans, players and other stakeholders.
Almost every A-League club or chairman has now released a public statement, either disagreeing with the move to strip hosting rights for the grand finals away from the highest-ranking team – dismantling a long-standing tradition that stretches back to the days of the defunct National Soccer League – or begrudgingly accepting it as a decision that had to be made for the greater good.
“The commercial reality for football in this country is still precarious,” said a statement released on Thursday by the Western Sydney Wanderers, whose chairman Paul Lederer heads up the APL board.
Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer also heads up the APL board.Credit:Getty Images
“We have just experienced two of the worst years in the history of football due to the impacts of the global pandemic – COVID-19. This unprecedented global event has affected our community as a whole and decimated the livelihood of professional football clubs.
“This grand final agreement creates a necessary step towards ensuring our game has a sustainable future. The APL board decision is for the benefit of every club in the League.”
Sydney FC said the frustration and anger of fans, many of whom have committed to staging various protests at matches this weekend, were coming through “loud and clear”.
APL chief executive Danny Townsend met with the club’s main active support group, The Cove, on Wednesday night, along with Sydney’s chief executive Adam Santo and club chairman and APL director Scott Barlow, and is believed to have outlined the A-League’s difficult financial situation to them, and how the Destination NSW deal would help clubs stem the bleeding.
The Cove has since announced they will boycott Saturday’s clash with the Central Coast Mariners, whose own active fans have said they will stop chanting from the 20th minute, and not attend any finals series matches for the next three seasons. Some fans at the Melbourne derby have vowed to walk out of AAMI Park at the same juncture of the match.
“Given the current commercial realities of professional football in Australia, we understand that this decision was a difficult but necessary one for the growth of the game,” Sydney FC’s statement said.
“Driving our league in the right direction will require tough decisions from time to time, and tough decisions are not always the most popular ones. It is critically important the A-Leagues transition to a model that delivers long-term security and sustainability.”
A-League club owners were due to meet in Melbourne on Thursday, with the APL’s governance structure – which gives only five of the 12 clubs representation on the board – believed to be high on the agenda of some chairmen.
Meanwhile, Socceroo Craig Goodwin confirmed this masthead’s report on Wednesday that he refused to directly promote the Sydney grand final deal in a promotional video shot for the APL because he didn’t agree with it.
“When they were doing the filming, there were two questions that I was asked. One of them I refused to answer … the question was, ‘Why do you support this initiative by the APL and DNSW?’” the Adelaide United winger said in an interview with Network 10.
“I didn’t want to answer the question because, as I voiced my opinion on social media, I didn’t support it, and I believe that it’s not in the best interest of the fans.
“I do feel it will affect the atmosphere at the grand finals. If you get, perhaps, us against [Melbourne] Victory, we’ll have maybe 10,000 going to support, Victory might get a little bit more, and then there’s a bunch of neutrals in the stand that won’t create the same atmosphere and passion as we’ve seen at every grand final to date.”
