Sure did.
The fact that Optus never put in a bid for the A-League rights really surprised me initially. But it ultimately revealed the cynical nature of their EPL and World Cup rights acquisitions, and that in reality they have little to no understanding of football. The decision to acquire the EPL was probably made by some AFL/NRL loving douchebag who is part time Liverpool fan because he once saw Craig Johnstone score an FA Cup goal on TV.
As much as we hate Murdoch, the peak of football viewing in this country was matchday saturday on Fox a few years back. You could start at 2pm for the Wellington kickoff and watch all the way until 5am if you wanted. Not to mention hitting the coloured buttons to watch multiple EPL games at the same time or flicking over to ESPN or BeIN to watch some Serie A, La Liga or Eredivisie. I lost track of how many times I left my parentsâ place bleary eyed at 3am after a huge night of watching football with my dad. The A-League in the afternoon/evening directly followed by the late night European stuff was just the perfect combo.
From the looks of Paramount+ they have some serious cash and a vision for what they want to do with football, based on their acquisition of football rights in the US. It would not surprise me in the slightest of they go for the EPL rights the next time they come up and try to unify their football content. Optus would be up shit creek if they do and if it happens it will be glorious.
I also think the proliferation of streaming services will be short lived. Paramount/Viacom are withdrawing their content from other streaming services & Disney did the same, which will make it harder for those 3rd party streaming services. I think over time we might see some streaming services amalgamate or swallowed by others not unlike how the original Optus TV & Foxtel merged back in the early 2000s. I think in the long term Stan could be the vulnerable one as being a local service they wouldnât have the resources to fight foreign services like Netflix, Disney and Paramount.
The new A/W-League TV deal looks great especially that Viacom/Ten have skin in the game and will need to actively promote the sport on FTA to give themselves a return on investment
12 Likes
Good post. Nailed it.
From memory thatâs only friendlies, as WCQ is distributed separately by FIFA/AFC (as, obviously, are major tournaments themselves)?
I suspect that would be offset by the $50m not including FTA rights while the $32m does.
I like good news in Australian football.
2 Likes
You basically summarised what as been going through my head over the last week or so, nice one. Adam Peacock made a good point about Optus as well, yes they have the EPL rights, and in terms of any sort of local content, they produced that Football belongs series but they havenât invested a single cent into Australian football.
On the other hand, Viacom have not only bought the rights (an investment in itself) but are also putting forward an investment into the league itself.
Furthermore, Optus wouldnât do much for the league in terms of growing the brand. Itâs a niche platform which would isolate the league even further from the mainstream, and any FTA agreement would have to be a third-party deal with no real vested interest from the FTA partner (weâve seen what this is like in the past, and it hasnât really worked - games cut short, lack of pre-game/post-game shows and no marketing or cross-promotion).
Weâve landed on the best solution in my mind.
2 Likes
Australian football makes correct decision shocker. More at ten.
4 Likes
I know, correct decisions and good news are starting to scare me a little bit. Surely the wheels have to fall off shortly
If the clubs can collectively raise revenue from sources other than the TV deal on the back of the promotion that the TV deal (hopefully) will provide then the salary cap could feasibly go even further. The problem is that the ability of Sydney FC and MVFC to translate a higher profile into tickets and merch is far greater than that of the Mariners and Newcastle.
IMHO, any increase in the salary cap will require cost and profit sharing amongst the clubs to preserve the basic fairness of a salary cap.
To think you used to buy beer out of a wheelbarrow
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin the Optus CEO has history with the FFA so wasnât suprised at all.
Her term was coming to an end anyway but she stepped down early regardless, and the FFA didnât even publicly acknowledge, so guessing some bad blood there.
Anyway more money and more exposure from ten/paramount, particularly with the equity interest is hopefully a good thing
Very good post and brought up some serious nostalgia for meâŠman I remember staying up to 3am so many times and barely ever regretted it.
I have barely watched EPL in recent seasons and one thing that really killed it this season was having no fans, and itâs been trending down for a while for me personally. VAR, some sort of political activism campaign every game, money ruling everything, and no fans anymoreâŠitâs just not what it used to be (sorry off topic but had to rant).
On the other hand I love the A-League more each season that passes, it has so much potential and I believe we needed a change as a catalyst to spark interest and get us back to (and past) our golden era.
3 Likes
Actually I donât think itâs off-topic. Seems like a lot of people here share a similar story, including myself. While the A-League canât compete with the EPL in terms outright quality, itâs a league that is ours, is played in our timezone (Iâm too old to stay up until all hours of the morning - world cups excepted) and is a shop window for young Aussie talent. It also allows you to regularly attend games, be a (proper) member, and have a vested interest in your club because the club represents something that means something to you (i.e. the city that you were born/live). I think thatâs very relevant for the TV rights, and if exploited properly will allow our game to grow.
3 Likes
Thoughts from the always excellent Jonathan Howcroft.
2 Likes
Maybe you should stop watching Man City gamesâŠ
2 Likes
The âInevitability klaxonâ soundsâŠ
Who was it that posted a mock up of a potential A-League season calendar that had a summer break, international breaks etc. ? I thought it looked quite good and would like to take another look but I canât find it.
That bit about momentum and international windowsâŠ
If the socceroos are playing outside of a viable window you play Australia Vs Oceania or ASEAN nations
*assuming availability
Hill back would be fantastic. No real clear evidence in here but the right noise.
5 Likes
Seems a pretty obvious choice but glad they look to be doing the right thing. They are making all the right noises so far at least