If there is one thing that I learned while spending ten years as SBS head of sport it was that viewers, certainly when it comes to watching sport, don’t choose channels when it comes to deciding what to watch. They choose content. And it matters not a hoot to them which channel broadcasts the content they want to watch.
In recent times there has been quite some chatter about the future of the A-League’s current broadcast partnership with SBS. The suggestion, or certainly the innuendo, is that the Football Federation Australia is not happy with SBS and are looking for a new free to air partner.
This, to be frank, is unseemly. By which I mean the way commercial partners should publicly act while they are in commercial partnership. SBS’ current four year deal as the A-League’s free to air broadcaster is barely through its half way stage. It is due to expire in mid-2017.
Yet as long ago as last December, when SBS was barely half way through only its second season as the A-League broadcaster (and that of the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifiers),
It was not a nice thing to read at SBS headquarters in Artarmon.
I too found it a strange thing to read, given that I was in the room just two years earlier , describing it as "a bloody good day".
Problems between SBS and FFA began early because of a number of factors. SBS chose to put the A-League on SBS 2, something that peeved FFA. SBS countered that SBS 2 was free and just as accessible as SBS.
SBS also said, "You give us Saturday games and we’ll put them on SBS One."
From the beginning SBS was not happy with the content they were getting: Friday evening games only, no derbies, no Big Blue, all of which were played on Saturdays or Sundays. SBS fought hard to get a better deal but were thwarted at every turn.
While I never supported the notion that the A-League games should be slotted on SBS 2, neither can it be argued that that under their contract SBS were ever given games that could potentially rate. In the current season allocation the two highest rating teams in the league, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, will appear on SBS just eight times between them out of 27 rounds. The allocation avoids Sydney FC like a leper. They appear on SBS just twice.
But what of the reasons why Fox Sports' ratings have also slipped, despite being able to screen the big blockbusters?
This can only be for one reason: the A-League has lost much of its entertainment value. And one reason has to be the total absence of genuine marquee players. The league which once boasted players like Dwight Yorke, Robbie Fowler, Romario, Benito Carbone, Kazu Miura, Juninho, Harry Kewell, Alessandro Del Piero, Shinjo Ono and David Villa, now has none of that ilk.
Nondescript imports of doubtful appeal are now being paraded as marquees under the supposition that football fans who come through the turnstiles are both blind and stupid.
The recent Sydney FC top of the table clash against Brisbane Roar, admittedly played on a drizzly Friday evening, attracted just 12,000 fans. Just 80,000 watched, out of the rain, on free to air SBS 2 and 73,000 on Fox. This would not have happened while Del Piero was playing.
There are two reasons for the lack of investment in marquees: (1) clubs have become more financially risk averse than ever, and (2) the coaches, who govern the acquisition process like self-serving czars, don’t want them.
I remember when one coach told the agent of Juninho, who was prepared to lower his wage demands by more than half, "I don’t want him."
I remember Tony Popovic telling the courtiers of Michael Ballack the same thing: "I don’t want him."
Sure, the technical quality of the A-League is as high as maybe it has ever been. But the star quality, so essential for financial growth and market penetration, is not there.
SBS has nothing to apologise for, nor to be ashamed of when it comes to football audiences. SBS attracted an audience of 11 million for last year’s FIFA World Cup. The 2013 World Cup qualifier between Australia and Iraq had an SBS audience of 1.5 million, despite being on a one hour delay.
Yet FFA is now embarked on a new broadcasts deal in the hope that it will get bigger rights fees, bigger ratings and bigger exposure. This is despite the fact that SBS and Fox Sports have iron clad contracts and the rights cannot go elsewhere unless those networks are willing to let them go.
My news to them is this: As long as the ratings continue to be low and on the slide on SBS and Fox Sports, no network will pay more for them. And if the A-League is not good enough to rate, it ain’t gonna rate on Seven, Nine or Ten either.
If the FFA wants better ratings for the A-League it should start its work at headquarters in Whitlam Square. By fixing the A-League.
