The FFA may have described the new broadcast deal with Fox as a quantum leap for football in this country, however the A-league club bosses have responded by seeking assurances from the FFA regarding future distribution of funds to the clubs, and expressing regret at not being directly involved in the broadcast rights negotiations which resulted in a $346 million six-year deal with Fox.
According to their representative body, the Australian Professional Football Clubs Association ( APFCA), they say they were only notified of the deal with Fox by the FFA on the morning of the announcement, and “regrettably the APFCA have not been directly involved in the negotiations and therefore are not in a position to comment on the outcomes.”
The statement went on to say “in the interest of Australian football at large, the focus of the APFCA remains on the viability of the clubs and the league and therefore on seeking appropriate distribution of the revenues that the Hyundai A-league generates.”
The club bosses have long argued that clubs deserve a greater slice of the A-league revenue pie. Currently the FFA allocates $26 milion per year to the 10 clubs and the APFCA has been looking for a significant increase through the new broadcast deal.
At the announcement of the new deal with Fox, FFA CEO David Gallop said in relation to the funding arrangement to the clubs, “So we can’t set a level today but I’m confident we can move quickly over the next few months to get a more significant increase for our clubs. We want those licences to grow in value. We’ve seen the introduction of Chinese investment at the Newcastle Jets and it’s really important that licence value increases”.
Since the announcement, there’s been some media speculation that the FFA will delay deciding just how much the clubs will be allocated until it finalises its free-to-air licence deal. Currently held by SBS at $7 million per year to screen a Friday night match, the FFA hopes to attract substantially increased bids from the commercial networks for an alternative free-to-air Saturday night match of the round. However it is reportedly waiting for the outcome of the commercial networks vying for the Big Bash Cricket broadcast deal before it finalises its deal.
Some A-league chiefs reportedly fear that should the free-to-air licence fail to attract substantial bids from the commercial networks, then under the current arrangement with Fox, it would then be able to step in as fallback option and pick up the free-to-air licence at a bargain price and on-sell it a substantially lower price than the $10 million the FFA is currently said to be aiming at. The outcome could mean a less than hoped for outcome in FFA funding for the A-league clubs.
According to its media release, “the APFCA has sought immediate assurances from the FFA regarding the future distributions and associated financial models required to ensure the sustainable financial health of the league and its clubs.”
