Obviously we need 14 teams with 26 rounds
South Sydney, Hobart, Canberra & a fourth from either Geelong, Brisbane, Wollongong, Melbourne, Gold Coast or Townsville

Neither of last night's games made the Fox top 20:

17	PEPPA PIG	Nick Jr.	42,000
18	PAUL MURRAY LIVE	SKY NEWS LIVE	42,000
19	JONES & CO	SKY NEWS LIVE	41,000
20	MURDOCH MYSTERIES	13TH STREET	41,000

FFA may need to get Peppa Pig on board as a mascot

Looking ahead to this Saturday night, things are going to be interesting.
At 5:30pm Sydney FC play their final regular season game where they can clinch the record points total and receive the Premiers Plate (surely they're actually going present it at the game this season, right?) so I'll be curious how many tune in for that.
But after that game is over there's a three way tug-of-war:
- Adelaide United v Western Sydney on Fox Sports at 7:50pm
- The Milan Derby on Bein Sports at 8:30pm
- Tottenham v Bournemouth on SBS at 9:30pm

So what is essentially an A-League dead rubber will be going up almost directly against Inter v Milan in Serie A, and anyone who has Foxtel can choose to watch either. To throw a wrench in the works, those without Foxtel will be able to watch Tottenham v Bournemouth which has coverage starting at 9pm, potentially taking viewers away from Bein who have the most desirable match of the night. I think we all know how each of us would prioritize viewing...and it would be fair to say for most of us that the A-League would be at the bottom. I'd honestly be expecting abysmal ratings for Adelaide v WSW. Anything near or above 40k would be a miracle given the competition.

At least the first half of the A-League is not clashing with another game, so those gearing up to watch another match might tune in for the first half.

A few points..

Don't see too many fans interested in the Sydney game unless they are Sydney fans.. It's probably seen as a celebration for Sydney fans but it's a dead rubber for everyone else. Only time that would get huge ratings is if Newcastle were pushing to avoid relegation, coming up against a quality team like Sydney. That would be big.

I'm an A-League fan so most likely would be switching between United/WSW and the Milan derby. If Sainsbury starts (would be a miracle) I won't be watching the A-League thats for sure. I can't imagine the United/WSW game would be too entertaining seeing as there's nothing on the line, so yep what you've said ratings of 40k would probably be about right. 

No we are up against peppa the pig and her relentless army of young zombies. 

But brisbane picked up a winso we all g. 

The Roar's ACL game failed to make Foxtel's top 20:

18	PEPPA PIG	Nick Jr.	41,000
19	CURIOUS GEORGE	Nick Jr.	41,000
20	PAW PATROL	Nick Jr.	40,000

But but they won so everything in the Aleague should remain the same.

Shame footballs fans didn't tune in to the game. Must have something to do with the lack of promotion and relegation in he ACL.

The majority of football fans in this country are very much euro-centric. They have little interest in Asian teams

They also have just as much interest in seeing a bunch of teams consisting of state league players and 3 has beens take it in turns in fighting over which of the two titles given out in the same league is the most important

Pepper Pig >>>> Jacob Pepper

Long story short...nobody will ever watch A-League so who gives a shit.
Have a good weekend all (genuinely).

There's a fair bit of truth in that.

Top European teams = lots of cachet.

Asian teams = zero cachet.

This is precisely why so many theatre goers attend these pointless friendlies against top European teams but no one bothers turning up to meaningful ACL games.

Many hope that because these friendlies can fill the MCG that it will translate to more support for the local product, but in fact the reverse is true.

It's exactly 10 years ago that 80,000 turned out to watch the pathetic LA Galaxy in one of the worst games of football you are ever likely to see in your life, although some of the goals scored were pretty funny.  Did it mean anything back  then?  About as much as what it would mean today.

Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners: 48,000
Sydney FC v Newcastle: 37,000
Adelaide v Western Sydney Wanderers: 39,000
Tottenham v Bournemouth: 131,000 (Metro 101k, Regional 30k)

About what I expected to be honest. I'd be interested to see how many people watched the Milan derby on Bein Sports, since it overlapped with the 39k audience of Adelaide v WSW on Foxtel. And for a comparison to similar figures the Super Rugby games got 30k, 44k, and 55k.

Imagine if there were no finals. Even with promotion relegation would have made little difference to lastnights games. What a way to end the season with 30ks and 40ks.

Now watch and see how more people will be interested now that finals have arrived. How people think we are even remotely ready to have first past the post system is beyond me. The very vast majority of aussies are just not interested. And the ratings in the semi and gf will prove it i reckon. 

Anyhow cant expect any sort of good rstings when the games are dead rubbers. 

It helps when they put all their prayers into the finals system to turn a profit. The investment into the 3 week journey with the best 2 playing only 2 weeks is an absolute gobsmacking joke. 

But there are finals and the games are rating no better than if we had first past the post

You are effectively saying that a few casual fans spread across 5 games makes a difference to a 140 game season

If people are disinterested in 96% of games then finals aren't exactly a selling point

Summary of Foxtel ratings from the Easter weekend:

Good Friday:

12	PEPPA PIG	Nick Jr.	53,000
13	THE SIMPSONS	FOX8	48,000
14	LIVE: FOOTBALL: A-LEAGUE MVC V CCM	FOX SPORTS 505	48,000
15	BLAZE AND THE MONSTER MACHINES	Nick Jr.	48,000
16	PEPPA PIG	Nick Jr.	46,000
17	THE BIG BANG THEORY	COMEDY CHANNEL	46,000
18	RUSTY RIVETS	Nick Jr.	45,000
19	PEPPA PIG	Nick Jr.	44,000

Easter Saturday - did not make the top 20:

19	PEPPA PIG	Nick Jr.	42,000
20	PAW PATROL	Nick Jr.	42,000

Easter Sunday - some good ratings:

8	LIVE: F1: BAHRAIN RACE	FOX SPORTS 506	59,000
9	LIVE: FOOTBALL: A-LEAGUE PERTH V MELB C	FOX SPORTS 505	58,000
10	SYDNEY: REAL HOUSEWIVES OF…	ARENA	54,000
11	THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW	UKTV	51,000
12	FINDING DORY	Foxtel Movies Disney	49,000

No dead rubbers

The race to aviod the dreaded Wooden Spoon went right to the last round.

Ratings were up about 3% on each of the last two seasons and similar to the ratings the season before ADP, Heskey and Ono came.  Seems we are in a holding pattern.

Two Sunday evening games in the last 3 rounds had ratings up to 50% higher than others that were competing with the other codes.  Maybe we could target that time slot in the overlap period.

So if the ratings would be no different with or without a finals series, why would you get rid of something which, outside of World cup socceroo games, has consistently been the highest raring annual football games in Australia (the finals system and grand final)?

You make an assumption that the ratings would go higher without a finals system. Do you have any proof this woild happen in Australia? 

Better yet, do you have proof to the contrary?

Reality is we won't know till it happens.

I do have proof that the finals and GF consistently out rate the season avg.

And have so for as far as we can see. Probably even in the NSL days.

The GF is consistently the highest rating football game on TV every year (not including world cup socceroo games)

So me another football game that rates higher in Australia, domesticity (once again excluding world cup games). 

I never said ratings without a finals would go higher. What I said is ratings without a finals would not go lower which seems to be a popular myth

I don't give a shit either way

I have long said the FFA simply have to pick a model and support it. Either first past the post with 2nd and 3rd getting the ACL spots (if same as FFA cup winner). Or Grand final winner, runner up, and semi final losers playoff (if same as FFA cup winner)

Having two different winners in the same league is stupid

But the investment the ffa make towards the finals as opposed to the rest if2 the year is ridiculous. Of course more people would tune in with all the free tickets, build up and advertising. 

What investment. The finals get no more advertising than the rest of the league (next to none) and why would there be an excess of free tickets, the finals is the only ticket revenue the FFA gets.

Rubbish they get banged pillar to post. If anything it goes against everything you just said. 

Evidence?

What do you mean 'evidence'? Turn on Fox Sports. There's tonnes of ads I can point to as evidence. Social media. Radio ads on mainstream airwaves.

There are always ads fot football on Fox.  And how much of the social media is run by others not the FFA. Outside90 and others all talk up finals. Even expand the a-league.

Dont get me wrong i know foxtel push the finals hard. Probably because they know they will get the ratings from it.

There is no way you can prove they put more money into finals than the league itself.

Its a chicken and egg thing too. Maybe they do put more money into the finals but thats just because thats where they get more revenue. Like ticket sales and tv ratings.

And if finals were such a bad thing, how come every state NPL league run them too. They are run by the federation's not the FFA.

Stop flogging a dead horse, your trying to prove something that you like is better. There is no proof. Just accept that more people like the finals. And i am judging that on the increased TV ratings and Attendances.

Blame it on the FFA, blame it on Australian backward drongo culture, or blame it in the boogy.

In 90% or more of the tradtional, beautiful, perfect NSL competition, finals were decided with a Grandfinal system. They also had a two style championship (minor premier and champion) for most of its run. Maybe thats why the league folded.

Or maybe, just maybe this has always worked.