A-League clubs are set to enter the new financial year not knowing the size of their grant for next season after rejecting Football Federation Australia's latest funding offer.
The rift between club chairmen and the FFA deepened on Tuesday when several clubs rejected the governing body's latest proposal, some labelling it "a slap in the face".
FFA CEO David Gallop has rejected the clubs' claim they were being undervalued. Photo: Getty ImagesAfter all 10 club owners stormed out of a meeting with the FFA in early May in response to the initial offer of $3.25 million, an improved offer of $3.55 million with several conditions failed to appease the clubs, who are demanding a significant improvement in their share of broadcast, merchandising, sponsorship and ticketing revenue after years of incurring significant losses.
Despite signing a record broadcast deal with Fox Sports in December worth $56 million per season, the FFA is yet to reach an agreement with the clubs on their share of the windfall. The clubs are suggesting the A-League is responsible for 85 per cent of the value of the broadcast deal as well as other revenue streams received by the FFA, such as its sponsorship deal with Hyundai.
However, the clubs were frustrated after an improved offer worked out at around 61 per cent of the value of the broadcast deal alone, which – while an improvement on previous grants – is proportionately less as a percentage share of the previous TV rights deal. The previous deal provided the clubs with $2.6 million each, the same figure as the previous salary cap.
Fairfax Media understands several clubs rejected the FFA's proposed grant on Tuesday. Their initial asking price was $6 million per season, but sources suggest the clubs would accept a lower amount of no less than $4 million in cash.
One club chairman warned of an impending stand-off akin to the one playing out in rugby league, which pitted the majority of NRL clubs against Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant, who recently resigned from his post.
Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin was one who rejected the FFA's proposal on Tuesday. The proposal came with significant conditions on how an additional $300,000 could be spent. It's understood the governing body was willing to grant the clubs extra funding for the purpose of marketing, but only with the agreement of head office on how the clubs intended to use the additional money.
"The latest offer from the FFA is again deficient and is conditioned so as to allow the FFA to attempt to impose further unwarranted control over the clubs whilst starving the professional game of funds to enable it to exist on the efforts and investment in the game by the A-League clubs," Griffin said.
FFA chief executive David Gallop rejected the clubs' claim they were being undervalued, suggesting the deal included contra valued at $470,000.
"The clubs have been formally notified of the funding distribution for the coming season following a series of meetings during which the likely outcome was explained. Funding for 2017-18 is just over $4 million per club," Gallop said.
"This is a significant increase over last season and has been achieved through increased revenue from the new broadcast arrangements and a reduction in FFA's own operating costs. FFA as the national governing body has a broad agenda and distributes its revenue to the clubs, the grassroots and the national teams with the largest share going to the clubs," Gallop said.
"The arrangement should be seen in the context where we are currently working with the clubs on a new ownership and operating model for the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League that will be designed to attract more capital into the game and provide better returns over time to the existing clubs and any new clubs."