The fast approaching A-League season seems to be overcome with a lack of hype. Apathy if you will, is this a sign of a general malaise affecting the league....or are we merely waiting for clean air post Footy season?

Matilda's are doing well
FFA cup getting good numbers
mainstream discussion about A-League......?

Or are we merely for ever more preaching to the converted?

I think the clubs and powers that be realise that there's little they can do this season to hype up the A league at the moment - the competition is in a rut as it was last year when Cahill and Yoshi and a rumoured $10m spend on marketing (really??) didn't get it out of the rut.

We know the FFAs attention is focussed on its own survival and we know the ffa can't do two things at once, so this is what we get.

For once I don't mind it - If there's general agreement that things are broken and need fixing I'd rather they figured things out before rushing off with more Yoshi-type campaigns

It's interesting that membership is slightly ahead of the same time last year, let's hope crowds life as well.

Certainly here in Victoria we need that clean air. AFL is a noxious smog that infects every facet of Victorian life. I think the main problem has been the lack of that big name signing. The pros and cons have having one have been talked about endlessly but it does generate a massive amount of publicity. The A League has had practically zero off season publicity for anything good or bad. 

We'll see how things are when there's some clean air and hopefully someone makes a big name signing. 

I would like to see an advertising campaign focusing on something like 'the A-league where stars are made' and celebrate our youth and home grown successes rather than rely on short term costly sugar hits...but we're probably not there yet.

I really hate to take another whack of the dead horse, but the league needs more teams. It's as simple as that. Getting big-name players doesn't have any impact on long-term growth. 

The league is stale and dying. 

FOX are running "I was made in the Hyundai A league" as part of their build up. So along those lines joffa?

When you know your going to die you rape the kitty. Politics at play here.

I do agree the hype generated by two new teams coming in next season would outdo the hype of just about any affordable recruit

@433

Dying? ffs - there's about 1.7 million reasons it's not dying. I do agree its stale and I do agree two more teams are needed (they should have been in this season) but dying is well over the top.

@Waz

Yeah, I think they're on the right track....maybe give it more oomph and get it onto the mainstream media

They have 12 months to prepare and don't know who they are , doubt there will be 12 next season even 

I wonder who the roadblock to expansion really is?

To me Fox is the blocker, FFA just get the blame.

Pretty obvious it's FFA for forcing a model that doesn't work

@ joffa m

I've heard it's the other way around - Fox have become frustrated at the lack of expansion and are blaming the ffa. Not quite sure where the ten clubs sit on this - Roar publicly say they support expansion and want a brisbane Derby but you never know

There's just no point this season. Lowy thinks it's all about his survival. It's not. It's our game, fuck off.

It's more of a sign that this shit with the FFA and the clubs should've been sorted years ago. That was the entire point of the Crawford Report.

What's the point of commissioning the report if you're not going to even consider any of its recommendations?

There are a lot of new visa players that have been signed across the clubs
I for one can't wait
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ffa cup results and matildas have been leading the sports news on abc24 - in eggball finals season.

that's pretty impressive.  can't say what it's like in the msm.  who really gives a fuck what happens there anyway? ,

The A League in its early years proved this "clean air" concept is a load of shit

If you advertise well and create hype then people will watch. If you hide in the corner while people go about their day to day lives then you're limited to those that actively seek you out

When the AFL / NRL seasons finish we will not be getting more media space than we normally do. We didn't last year. We didn't the year before. We didn't the year before that (etc...) ... Horse racing starts. Cricket starts. And some people just plum don't give a shit about the A League

The Matildas sold out and got good ratings in the heart of the AFL / NRL finals

@ well said bluebird.

Arguably football has the highest profile its ever had going in to a new season - let's hope the clubs/ffa use it well. Memberships are holding up, attendances should too, and I for one can't wait for the new season ..

Yep dying is a ludicrous word to use. Stagnating is more apt

One thing you can be sure of is that Foxsports is not a road block to expansion.
They have HAL rights for six years.They have even offered more money for expansion.
Foxsports want ratings and subscriptions over anything else.It's hard if not impossible to make out any case that expansion would reduce ratings and subscriptions.
FFA is the clear roadblock.No money for expansion,no plan to make more and of course a giant axe hanging over their heads.They clearly are more interested in their own necks rather than what is best for football here.

13,000 average attendance and holding strong despite little publicity or exposure.................is not a model that is broken given the continuing interest.

Perhaps a model that has reached its limitation but not broken.

If the purpose of the A League was to deliver average attendances then you might be right

I'd say a 6 year TV deal locked in at 80% of what was offered 8 years ago, Socceroos finishing 3rd, clubs turning against the governing body, FIFA stepping in, only ~180 national professional playing spots, no expansion or expansion options etc... are signs of a broken model

An ambiguous average figure that is only comparable against a defunct semi professional league, and indicative of no progress on that front for 5 years, is not the only benchmark

Once fans stop attending derby games, big encounters, and core support stop attending top tier football games, then we are well and truly fucked. If the FFA are waiting for that to happen before acting then they have less of an idea than I thought

There is no alarm
The league is going fine
There are a few sad people on this forum who can't get over the fact their dying little former NSL team aren't involed
Suck it up the A-League is here to stay and your team is not welcome
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ha ha - totally.

Er, it's in major newspapers across Facebook etc. 

It features players like Mooy with exactly what you said. What type of 'oomph' do they need to add to a simple message? 

I'm looking forward to seeing more football in a friendly Timezone. I do enjoy watching football no matter the level.

I'm not looking forward to the monotonous nature of the A-League.

This seems to be the bottom line.