Football Federation Australia finally prepared to relinquish control of A-League to clubs

[midfielder]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/f...s/news-story/ad0331261a4dcd25c62a48e5b22b8d2e

A SEPARATED A-League is imminent after Football Federation Australia told club owners that they were finally prepared to relinquish control of their competition.

No transition plan was revealed by FFA and an expansion criteria is now unlikely to be released prior to the unveiling of separation plan, though the split could happen in time for next season with A-League clubs set to work on a blueprint in coming weeks.

Voting reform and the annual dividend to A-League clubs remain sticking points after two days of talks between FFA and club heavyweights in Sydney.

The Herald Sun understands that A-League clubs rejected an offer of two extra congress votes, after FFA pitched an electorate rise from 10 to 17 votes with five of the extra seven going to “special interest groups” such as beach soccer and referees.

Defiant A-League clubs insisted on more than three (of 17) votes they were offered by FFA chairman Steven Lowy and his executive team, while they’re also hellbent on a $6 million-dollar annual dividend.

FFA conceded that the A-League must be separated to grow the value of the club licenses and entice more investors and investment from the existing clubs.

Both parties refused to elaborate on the talks.

“There was a solid agreement not to talk about it outside the room, so I can’t comment,’’ FFA chief executive David Gallop said.

It’s believed that the A-League owners made ground in their talks with FFA, after a fruitless three-hour Valentine’s Day meeting in Sydney.

“The critical issues facing the game were discussed including the commitment to expand the FFA congress by the end of March 2017, the future operating model for the A-League and its expansion,’’ the clubs said in a joint statement on Tuesday night.

 

[FFC Mariner]

This could be a potential game changer

 

[dibo]

I don't understand why separating the A-League is necessarily a great thing.

Take out the FIFA discussions about voting rights within FFA, I think that's a quite separate issue.

I'm yet to be convinced that structural separation is necessarily a good thing.

What is it that the A-League will be able to do if separated from FFA that it cannot do now?

What is it that the A-League does now that if separated from FFA it won't?

I'm open to arguments, so convince me!

 

[Big Al]

I don't understand why separating the A-League is necessarily a great thing.

Take out the FIFA discussions about voting rights within FFA, I think that's a quite separate issue.

I'm yet to be convinced that structural separation is necessarily a good thing.

What is it that the A-League will be able to do if separated from FFA that it cannot do now?

What is it that the A-League does now that if separated from FFA it won't?

I'm open to arguments, so convince me!

Promote the league for one. The FFA have a strict budget of which the A League is just one of several interests.
The teams, any budgets will be 100% for the league

Mike expressed disappointment in the fox deal and reckons it's only good for fox. Gallop has major ties to them so maybe been doing preferential deals.

Splitting means the A League can just worry about it self

Then the self interest of the 10 teams can take over and give everyone something else to whinge about

Do you think the cap will survive if the teams run the league?

 

[dibo]

Promote the league for one. The FFA have a strict budget of which the A League is just one of several interests.
The teams, any budgets will be 100% for the league

In other words, other parts of the game will get less. What misses out? National teams? Game development programs? Coach or referee education?

Mike expressed disappointment in the fox deal and reckons it's only good for fox. Gallop has major ties to them so maybe been doing preferential deals.

Mike can be disappointed all he likes - it doesn't mean he's right.

Splitting means the A League can just worry about it self

Yay!

Wait...

Then the self interest of the 10 teams can take over and give everyone something else to whinge about

Oh yeah...

Do you think the cap will survive if the teams run the league?

Not a chance, and that's not even the worst bit.

FFA has a mandate to look after the game. They should absolutely be more democratic and transparent (not that it helps FNSW, but that's a story for another time...) but their purpose is to look after the game.

As a bunch of private companies, the clubs have a responsibility only to look after themselves. If they determine that that means looking out for the weaker clubs, so be it, but if they determine to cut little clubs loose, they're also free to do that.

The sunk time and effort to keep clubs like ours afloat is gone if it's no longer FFA's competition. There's no longer any impediment to us being cut loose.

The resulting league may be bigger and shinier and make more money for certain individuals, but it will be 100% business driven and won't [[ feel a shared responsibility for / be weighed down by ] delete as appropriate] the good of the game more broadly.

The biggest problem with the game in this country is not that A-League club owners don't get enough cash. The biggest problem is that all the money flows up.

Where AFL and NRL pour money into their grassroots, we hoover money out of it. A kid playing U12s in Gosford will pay $33.27 to insurance, FNSW and FFA on top of what goes to the local association and their club.

Other games have the money flowing the other way, so the other games are far cheaper to play.

Splitting the A-League off just ensures that there's no chance A-League dollars will help to turn that flow of cash around.

So my bottom line is that I see splitting the A-League from FFA as the solution to a problem (club owners not getting enough cash), but I'm struggling to see there being a net upside when we look at the broader good of the game.

 

[FFC Mariner]

See the entry under : Premier League (English)

 

[dibo]

...?

 

[FFC Mariner]

...?

When the EPL broke away from FA control they changed the face of football in England forever.

Hogged the TV money, stopped the even distribution of funds down the levels of the game and made once proud clubs the play things of overseas billionaires.
Football is (as MC said) a business, and businesses are about making money

 

[dibo]

The first line is axiomatic, I just really wasn't sure what your position was re: the latter part.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Simply that this will really work for the A League and do less than nothing for any other part of the game.

 

[Luca Brasi]

A SEPARATED A-League is imminent after Football Federation Australia told club owners that they were finally prepared to relinquish control of their competition.

This is now being disputed in the media, the extent of the agreement is being reported as 'new ownership structures in the future'.

Simply that this will really work for the A League and do less than nothing for any other part of the game.

There doesn't seem to be a great deal of recent considered thought about it from the stakeholders, from what I can gather the above seems to be accurate.
The Smith Report on the Sustainability of Football on behalf of the federal government in 2011 summarised along the following lines
FFA control reasons

• interdependence of A League, elite player development (national teams) and grassroots football
• co-ordinated media, marketing and promotion
• common back office systems
• FFA able to assist clubs with short term viability issues
• leverage in gaining corporate support for other FFA programs

Independent control by clubs reasons

• owners are significant investors and should have a greater say in strategic direction
• owners have a personal interest in reducing costs and maximising revenue
• decisions should be made in the overall interests of the A League
• clubs in the larger markets are restricted in driving club sponsorship

The report makes some fairly sweeping statements about the clubs that 'they are not mature enough to survive if separate from FFA' and 'the financial reality is that clubs are not self sufficient & depend on revenue from Socceroos programs'. I am not sure that either of these statements are still accurate, The Australian reports today that the FFA derives 80% of its income from the A League television rights.
CCM, Brisbane, Adelaide and Scum (twice) have all benefited from short term support and common back office systems makes this easier. The numerous junior and senior national teams depend upon financial support derived from the A League and grassroots. CCM benefit from sponsorships across the whole of the league like Hyundai as we operate in a small market and big sponsors are more difficult to secure compared to Sydney and Melbourne. Cross promotion is good for football overall and inspires new players and fans to the game. The effectiveness and extent of A League marketing over recent years however has been criticised by the owners.

As a bunch of private companies, the clubs have a responsibility only to look after themselves. If they determine that that means looking out for the weaker clubs, so be it, but if they determine to cut little clubs loose, they're also free to do that.

This is the risk for us. Think of all the CCM hate from the media and others in the game over the past couple of years, what sort of assistance could we expect from a purely business driven model?

 

[dibo]

I am not sure that either of these statements are still accurate, The Australian reports today that the FFA derives 80% of its income from the A League television rights.

This is simply not true, and the Oz should know better than to report that.

For FY2015/16, FFA reported revenue of $103m. Over the years that they've published reports they average over $80m.

The TV money is going up by about $25m a year (being generous) so the total revenue can be expected to hit about $130m. That's going from 40% to about 50%, and is nowhere near 80%.


Chart: Core FFA revenue from 2007 - 2016 (excludes AFC Asian Cup revenue and profit on disposal of assets)

 

[Luca Brasi]

I would have attributed the quote but I don't subscribe. It wasn't entirely clear from my reading of it but it said something like ''the A league, which signed an new tv rights deal this year worth so many million over so many years, generates 80% of the FFAs revenue'' so it could also include finals revenue and league sponsorship. Apologies if my translation has mislead.

 

[dibo]

I would have attributed the quote but I don't subscribe. It wasn't entirely clear from my reading of it but it said something like ''the A league, which signed an new tv rights deal this year worth so many million over so many years, generates 80% of the FFAs revenue'' so it could also include finals revenue and league sponsorship. Apologies if my translation has mislead.

You got it almost exactly right.

I've gone to Gatty's article:

"The A-League, which secured a $346 million, six-year broadcast deal with Foxtel late last year, is responsible for almost 80 per cent of FFA’s revenue"