The A-League must expand by 2017 for the next TV deal to be more than incrementally better than it is now. But where next?
You know the old saying – put a bunch of x economists in a room and you’ll get (x plus 1) opinions on the economy.
So it is on the A-League and particularly A-League expansion. The competition must expand by 2017 for the next TV deal to be more than incrementally better also.
It’s the big issue of the next A-League season: where to next?
FFA boss, David Gallop, has made it clear that the next expansion of the competition will be “in markets where the population is in the millions rather than the thousands.”
This certainly puts paid to the hopes of the Townsville-based former North Queensland Fury (population 300,000) it’s Far North Queensland rival in Cairns (275,000), Tasmania (513,000) and Canberra (360,000).
Based on the criterion of a population in the millions rather than the thousands, Central Coast Mariners (283,000) and Newcastle Jets (547,000) would not make it into the A-League if they didn’t already exist.
This article on The Roar today suggests the focus should be on creating more derbies and ‘rivalries’ with two teams to come from another Sydney team, Wollongong and Canberra on the basis that would give NSW six teams and even more derby-like matches and local rivalries.
We can see this point-of-view and FFA’s wish to maximise TV viewer numbers. But spend a day or two with the football fraternity in any regional location in Australia and you will also see and understand a very different perspective also.
If we are to be a game with a ‘national footprint’, can or should we ignore the likes of Tasmania and the 2,160km north of Brisbane? If we are to be a federation, can we ignore the development of the game outside the major cities?