Ok. We can still use it as an example though. Divestment isn’t a bad thing. More people in the game.

Yes they wanted to sell  the 40% the FFA would not let us use.  Now the Nix can run a Y-league and W-League team hope fully.

The Nix owners don't want to sell 40%, previously they wanted to sell 40% but they don't anymore.

Yup. Nix owners want to sell 40% for example to spread the risk.

Sad sad paulc. It's a shame you're still stuck in the Lowy era. The rest of us see positive and exciting times ahead.

This is interesting - is this just having clubs have more owners? Like, rather than a single individual owning a club, more consortium's becoming involved? What else could possibly be sold?

A-League owners are expected to pour in $10 million a year to promote the league and sign marquee players and could sell a chunk of the league to outside investors after clinching a deal with Football Federation Australia to privatise the competition.

The deal will result in a much diminished FFA and is set to cause exits of executives such as chief executive David Gallop, who may leave the governing body before his contract ends in November next year.

A-League owners will establish a new body to run prof­essional soccer in Australia under new management while FFA will look after the national teams and development pathways, though it will maintain a 20 per cent share of the A-League and receive annual payments of at least $4.5m from the independent league.


But those payments will not kick in until 2023, under recommendations of an in-principle agreement between the clubs and FFA released yesterday, which also includes the W-League and the youth Y-League.

The deal means the 12 clubs, including expansion teams Wes­tern United FC and Macarthur FC, gain majority control of an asset valued at $80-100m for no upfront payment. But club owners, who have accumulated losses of $350m since the A-League was formed in 2005, say they will deliver strategic plans for the three leagues that will ensure more investment in an effort to arrest sliding attendances and broadcast viewership numbers.

“These recommendations are the foundations for a critically needed evolution and vitalisation,” the billionaire chairman of the Western Sydney Wanderers and the clubs’ association Paul Lederer said.

“Once executed they will create the environment for investment and associated opport­unities that we all want to see.”

In a statement, FFA said “the recommendations will precipitate the injection by the clubs of significant capital in the leagues to enhance the on-field product and bolster their commercial and marketing appeal”.

FFA will emerge after a transition period as a smaller organisation with annual revenue of about $50m, according to sources, compared to $130m last year.

Agreements still have to be struck as to how the league and FFA will split the proceeds of the existing six-year $346m broadcast deal it has with Fox Sports and A-League major sponsor Hyundai, with figures between 82-90 per cent of all commercial deals understood to be demanded by clubs.

The Hyundai deal expires at the end of the upcoming season and FFA is likely to have already commenced negotiations with the car manufacturer on a new deal, as it is with other sponsors.

Otherwise, FFA will receive the annual $4.5m payment from 2023 onwards, plus 10 per cent of the sale of any new club licences or the net profit of the sale of existing clubs.

FFA will also receive 10 per cent of transfer fees any clubs receive from selling players abroad, as part of an assurance from the clubs it will not be worse off from the reorganisation.

It will also maintain a 20 per cent non-diluting but non-voting shareholding in the new league and receive 20 per cent of any funds received should the owners sell some of the league to outside investors to bring in much-need money to invest in marketing, new players and other initiatives.

While some A-League owners, such as Melbourne City’s Abu Dhabi and Chinese-owned parent body City Football Group have considerable funds, others may not have the capacity to inject new funds into the league. That could see owners explore selling some of the league to private equity or a global sports management firm, a strategy believed to have been considered by the owners and FFA.

The in-principle agreement will be finalised by August 1 ahead of a transition period before and potentially during the season, which begins in October.

Um yeah, erm, about that...

Exactly, explains why the marketing for Honda on MVFCs part was a bit dour last season. Why would they bother when they earn about 9% of the revenue? 

Agree. ADP was perfect for marketing but SFC couldn’t commercialise it because FFA owned the SFC brand - imagine if SFC had been able to sell 10,000 special shirts at $50 profit on each, and scarves, and calendars, and mugs, T-Shirts, key rings etc etc 

Hooray...finally we are starting to move in the right direction towards having a proper football league. Once the second division is up and running...the goal should be to instill pro/rel by the third season.

Putting it off any longer than that in order for HAL clubs to protect their place in the top tier would be counter-productive and the A league might well be a corpse by then.

Let’s hope the A league clubs realise that they will have nothing to protect if the League no longer has a pulse.

Interestingly, this now makes the big name marquees more viable as anything with their name/face on it will be going direct to clubs.

Your premise makes absolutely no sense....on the one hand you say the FFA will not be around to bail out a struggling club.....however where do you think the FFA got their funds from to bail out those clubs in the past  ?
They got them from all the money they got from the A-League clubs .
Now those clubs themselves will now be getting that money instead of the FFA.
The FFA probably also used Foxtel money .
I can only assume this will be ongoing in the short term .
So the FFA  did not use money it generated to help anyone ...they simply gave back money the A-League had generated and they kept.

I would also contend that now that clubs can control their own intellectual property they will be more inclined to invest money to keep their clubs going and also be more able to entice extra investors if needed.
I see this whole thing making investment in this league far more attractive .
It is common sense ...it is the same as in the normal business world .....already rich people do not invest in someone else's franchise ...they are used to running things themselves and keeping their profits (and/or losses) . 

Reap in what you sow.

Welcome to the bitters pauly, most on here knew it was only a matter of time

Lol. Nothing happens, slap in the face. Something happens, slap in the face. 

Please get over it. Being a Lowy bitter can’t be good for your health.

It’s not about Roar, it’s about what the clubs can now do.

This is a licence to print money for clubs like Victory with large support bases. 

But if Roar don’t open up a Leagues club with Pokies in Logan after this they’ll be mad 

even clubs with small support bases can now make money. 

No one will drink Roar light beer or Roar soy-latte coffee or eat there Roar Vegan burgers! Or is that Melb Victory?

There’s two simple reasons why this makes sense. 

The first is cost - the FFA overpay for everything including Gallop and O’Rourke’s salary, office rent, consultants, admin staff, marketing, and a lot more. That money will now go in to the 12 HAL clubs. 

The second is revenue - clubs can now brand merchandise, beer, coffee shops, Leagues (social) clubs and make money. Football is do underdone here it’s not true. 

if the nix or any other nz team gets relegated, and were to go to the 2nd division (which they shouldnt), they surely would have to contribute to the extra costs to the league.
there is no way a 2nd div team or league from australia should have to pay for costs to travel to nz.
if they want in to the oz pyramid, they (or nz fa) should pay for it.

So the A-League clubs now command the majority of the money and many here think the game overall will prosper lol.

Whilst it’s good to see the new governance continue to evolve what was partly initiated by the old Board, I can see a ratling gun of hands slapping a multitude of faces coming right up.

EPL:  and guaranteed parachute payments for two seasons . For the team relegated

Newflash: pro/rel in a traditional sense will not exist in Australia for at least 5-10 years. A second division will be established, and then when considered stable enough pro/rel will *maybe* be implemented. For teams to get promoted, they will likely have to hit a range of requirements in terms of stadia, investment, facilities etc.

It's not financially viable for ANY current A-League team to drop down.

Please tell me when the Phoenix were bailed out by the FFA? The opposite is true. We've got owners who stuck with us through absolute hell - can't say the same about any club.
Reckon people underrate that kind of loyalty in a league where owners are losing money hand over fist.

Yeah I thought this was obvious how it would work.

In the EPL model the promoted team takes over the share ownership of the relegated club. Not that we’re there yet but given we are following the EPL model that’s probably how they’ll handle it here. 

There won't be a second division in the foreseeable future. 

Will the 2nd division be able to buy out any A-league team that is in the relegation zone?

But what if they got relegated?!
It's not financially viable to have them in the second div.

So any A-League  team that gets relegated (If and when it arrives) just writes off their historical investment in the league,  the % value they own of the leagues value and the team coming up gets in for free.
You got to be joking!