onya Tezza - tell us something we dont know. TV rights deal will hopefully spur football on in this country.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article 'Expansion Saved The A-League'?
EXCLUSIVE: Sydney FC’s foundation player Terry McFlynn says A-League expansion has been vital in revitalising the competition for players and fans alike.

Have your say.

It means nothing if the clubs aren't profitable.

I guess its meant we can see God and Jason, but maybe the wrong economic time to expand - who knows.

I guess FFA were hamstrung by the one city one team policy, but the 2nd melbourne and second Sydney teams should have come first a coupla years ago.

Anyway, I'd rather watch a German second division team train than the A-Leek.

How many clubs from the other football codes are profitable,with plenty of promotion,entrenched networks,big media deals etc.

These teams will benefit from a larger rights .This will allow them to promote,etc

Yeah, there was a Sydney Tele article a few weeks back about how the FFA were negotiating a new deal with Fox already, worth about $300m or about $60M a year or more and the clubs would get half of that and cover most of their expenses.

Most AFL and NRL clubs are struggling too and the AFL clubs mainly survive from handouts from teh Victorian govt for "Ground improvements" and some NRL clubs with News Limited money.

Keep on building it up.

Expansion is important (and should continue) but so is economic stability.

good stuff.

He's correct, the league was stagnating. Expansion means more markets are exposed to the A-league which increases its profile.The FFA has spin-doctored that net increase, however the across the board drop in crowds is a worry. Gold Coasts contribution to that net increase needs to improve.

Yep - certainly some perceptive comments - the league was getting stale and needed some freshening up with the introduction of new teams. But we can't keep on expanding the competition, so there must come some more leadership from clubs and the FFA to keep the punters showing up. For one, I'd like to see FFA take less control over the clubs and let them forge their own separate identities.

I still cant understand why and how to teams so close together (CCM & NJFC) was allowed, and now we see another 2 so close (roar & GCU) and another coming (MVFC&Heart)this could be why crowds are down. OR is it healthy and promotes rivalry between fans?????????

Considering the majority of Australia's population live on the coast between Melbourne and Brisbane, you are bound to get more teams in these areas, hence the closeness of teams to each other.

For starters 55% of the registered players live in NSW so 4 teams (including Rovers) in a 12 team competition is actually underrepresentation in that market strictly from that view point. Of course other issues need to be taken into account as well.

As for Queensland it has the second highest number of registered players in the country with the majority of them in South East Queensland so that is an obvious place for 2 clubs.

In my view one of the major shortfalls of the A-League is the lack of local derbies that fire up the fans. GCU v Roar and Jets v Mariners are basically the only two where fans can mingle at games in reasonable quantities although when Sydney FC plays in both of those locations they get a good number of traveling fans to the games.

Interest in the game will enjoy a big lift with the advent of the Victory v Heart derby and the Sydney FC v Rovers derby over the next 2 seasons.

Terry McFlynn. Legend :)

fair enough, i would have preferred a team north of sydney,a team south of sydney(wollongong), sydney and rovers then all demographics are represented,makes more sense than NJ & CCM

Have you heard any endearing comments from CC or Newcastle folk? They hate each other, with or without football.
A team to cater for all of them probably wouldn't work.

Same as SFC and Rovers. The divide has been there for decades. The NRL has shown that with Manyly, Roosters on one side, and Parra, Bulldogs et al on the other.

Wollongong and Canberra are definite future inclusions and will create another derby.

Well said Erebus.

Expansion is necessary and will continue to improve the league as it opens up the field for senior players to return, allows youth players a higher goal to acheive as wel as bringing some big names to the country (Fowler, York) to promote the league O/S.

We hear alot of talk about expansion making the pool shallower but it has actually depended it. Look at the players it has brough us in Williams, Daal, Culina, Calavera and Bridges. Not to mention the return of the likes of Burns Coyne and Sterj.

once we hit 14 teams we should stop, focus on creating a B- League non promotion and FFA Cup. 10 years on bring in promotion relegation and see how it works.

Don't you hate those silvertails from Manly!!!!

Stuff this once the word goes out that there will be a 2nd WA team I will put money into that. Perth only derby games are Wellington and Adelaide. Spread more love to the West.

Given that there are already 3 locations worthy of a team (Tassie, Canberra and Wooly), I think it should go to at least 16 before stopping. Not sure where would be best for the 4th though (Geelong or maybe a second NZ team perhaps). I'd like to end up with an 18 team comp eventually, but I don't think that would be sustainable at this stage.

I agree with timmo there is too much on the east we should expand to the west as well but we do need a team in canberra and wollongong possibly one in geelong and Hobart but you must have the financial backing. And I also agree with rocknerd!!!

Well not to gloat but Im doing fantastic with my investment properties so when the word goes out about a 2nd WA team I want to be a part of it. WA largest state in Australia and only one A-League team. Also bring in Darwin AS WELL

not sure about the rivalry between SFC and the rovers.......
im from the blue mountains and support SFC and will support ROVERS ...................

batfink: I have been told my many CCM & Jet's supporters that if their team didn't exist, they would support the other. I totaly agree that the Sth Coast of NSW will not be represented for a long time (Canberra may be the closest team there, but a vastly different market). I think we need the Syd/Melb inter city revalry, as we need teams in the growth area's of Aust... Outer Sydney & Melbourne (GC also). The expansion of Canberra/Tasi & reagional VIC should also be explored too as these are untapped by the NRL and AFL.

Mulgoa isnt really the Blue Mountains. its more the plains then the Mountain.

I live in the Blue Mountains and I support the Jets. I thought about a ship jump but came to my senses real quick. To much blood and misery to let go of.

If the Jets didn't exist how ever i wouldn't support the Coast. I would have bi partisean supported SFC but definently would have jumped about the Rover then. Never CCM.

yeah im in mulgoa,im right up the top backing onto the nepean river,1200 feet above sea level, were not on the plains where the village is.....

ok.....well im looking forward to the ROVERS as its much easier for me to get to games and their our westie team.....

brick by brick

WA may be the biggest state - but in population terms it's smaller than Melbourne! Most of that population is in Perth, and they struggle to support their A-League franchise.

So the big questions are - (1) who would invest in another franchise in Perth when the first is struggling with numbers, and; (2) is there any populated area outside Perth that's capable of supporting a franchise (and 3 - who would invest in it?)

Listen even if crowds of every team was at 5000 average and all club were doing poorly the FFA got $120-140 Million for 4 years of coverage from foxtel for rights of the A-league.

That is enough money there to fund the A-league, socceroos and youth development for a decade. The Salary cap in the A-league is like 2.25 million so I’m sure money isn’t the problem.

Plus the FFA gets a lot of profit from socceroos home matches and MV and SFC is also reaching high numbers of fans along with WPFC which is resulting more money for the FFA I’m pretty sure they get a certain percentage of $$$ from clubs.

Also the sale of players is producing a lot of money in the short term generally speaking.

As long as the FFA has plenty of money the A-league will be fine.

The FFA imo selling all T.V rights to foxtel has resulted in the poorer fan fair and thus has resulted in them being granted large amounts of capital not the clubs.

If it was on free to air fan numbers would be up and sponsorship dollars would be up. However the FFA wouldn’t be as cashed up as it is now however clubs would be more financially stable.
The FFA knew they couldn’t have it both ways you can promote a sport just on pay T.V only something like 72,000 Australians have pay T.V. that isn’t nearly enough to support a whole code that’s un-established.
Imo I think they are doing a good job they ensured they have the capital to continue growth in the sport for many years to come. However they have also isolated there market making it harder for clubs in the competition to promote their team.

Having lived in both Newcastle and the Central Coast, i can say that they don't 'hate each other' as much as people think. CCM and NJ fans definitely hate each other, but not the general population.