By scott21 - 6 Feb 2017 9:28 PM
AFL Women’s League the latest competition to pose a threat to lethargic A-League
IN the summer of 2012-13, the A-League was the hottest summer property in Australian sport.
Western Sydney Wanderers arrived with a bang while Alessandro Del Piero headlined an influx of international marquee stars as record crowds and TV ratings followed.
It prompted Cricket Australia and the AFL to act and four years on, the A-League is battling to stay on the summer podium.
Cricket’s Big Bash has gone gangbusters, with extra content added to the crammed six-week schedule as the TV networks vie for the rights.
The Melbourne Derby was outrated by the AFLW clash on Saturday.
Even the NBL, thanks to the drive, vision and $7 million-dollar injection of Dodo founder Larry Kestelman is closing in, with regular sellouts piquing interest and two international franchises set to join an expanded 10-team league within two years.
But the mega opening round of the AFL Women’s — headlined by last Friday night’s Ikon Park lockout — would have caught Sydney-centric FFA off-guard.
A-LEAGUE: Dandy derby holds bold expansion audition
In a season that the W-League has trod water and been affected by water (a game was called off prematurely when the automated sprinklers turned on), Melbourne City’s dramatic, high-quality win against Canberra United on Sunday night didn’t register on the radar.
A packed house at the opening Women's AFL at Ikon Park.
It’s taken one round for the AFL Women’s to surge past the stagnant W-League, but make no mistake — it’s threatening to overtake the A-League.
The AFLW ratings dwarfed the A-League’s — Friday’s Fox Footy average audience of 123,000 for Carlton-Collingwood dwarfed the following night’s Fox Sports broadcast of the Melbourne A-League derby (83,000).
After one round, there is a push to expand the eight-team AFLW competition, extending the season, and schedule the grand final at the MCG.
While FFA is struggling to attract corporate support and its turnover has remained at around the $100 million-dollar mark for several years, at the AFLW the sponsors are queuing up.
The W-League Melbourne Derby barely registered on the radar.
Meanwhile after almost a year of discussion, would-be A-League owners and fans are still awaiting an A-League expansion blueprint.
Crowds and TV ratings suggest soccer is failing to capitalise on the Tim Cahill shot in the arm, just like 2012-13 when the game failed to exploit the Del Piero (and Shinji Ono and Emile Heskey) effect.
As for the W-League and women’s soccer, that’s in need of a complete overhaul with the legitimate international pathways — the sport’s point of difference — completely under-utilised (the Matildas haven’t played since Rio 2016).
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/afl-womens-league-the-latest-competition-to-pose-a-threat-to-lethargic-aleague/news-story/8a15aaeea5324bdb806312f60222147d
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By pippinu - 1 Jul 2017 11:29 AM
+x+xThat's interesting. I had thought after its first season that the AFLW and 8 clubs were earning sponsorship dollars that weren't too far off what the A-League clubs earn. This appears to suggest that if it wasn't happening in its first year, it certainly isn't too far off. It isn't entirely clear how they derive their rankings (it is proprietary), however it extends to profile, recognition, marketability, social factors, etc. It is certain that getting to number 5 in the first year comes of the back of the AFL, and its willingness to fully put its brand and clout behind the comp, something no other sport has yet done. I think it definitely makes marketing the clubs and comp much easier next time, now that they have an actual product to point to, and metrics to discuss.
No doubt, especially since the first season was so good regarding sponsorship dollars (made at a time when no one knew how the comp was going to go). Those sponsorship dollars can only head North.
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