Carpe Diem A-League

Del Piero introduced to the media

So now that it is the Friday after the Grand Finals it is finally sinking in that footy season, at least AFL and NRL season really is over. Sure it leaves a hole in my heart but the sun is shining and more important I’m genuinely excited for the start of the A-League season.

I, like many people I know, do like the A-League, want it to thrive and desperately want Australia to be a real power in the biggest sport in the world. However, unlike most of my other teams, I can’t claim to go to many games, buy merchandise or buy a membership. I’m a casual fan and I must admit that despite the fact that I want Sydney FC and the A-League to succeed, I don’t do all that much to support it. I’ve been to a couple of games and watch them on TV, but that’s not going to help pay the bills.

This season however really could be the making of the A-League. See whilst the A-League has had marquee signings before that have worked out, such as Dwight Yorke and even Robbie Fowler, what I think was missing from making it really help the league was having multiple star players across the league. The signing of Alessandro Del Piero for Sydney FC is obviously massive in-and-of-itself, but I think the reason this time it might lead to real success for the league is because other teams are also making waves. Newcastle has signed Emile Heskey, the new Western Sydney Wanderers looked close to signing Michael Ballack but have at least ended up with Japanese star Shinji Ono and the pressure is going to be on other teams to start looking for their own big money man.

The MLS in the States has finally caught on and has a loyal fan base and even gets decent coverage on ESPN. They pulled this off both by targeting cities starved for a team to support, but also by bringing in not just David Beckham, but plenty of other big names on the backend of their European career like Thierry Henry and now our own Tim Cahill. Now any game you go to has not only some good local talent, but likely also some guys you used to have to watch on TV as they played in the best leagues in the World.

I already have my tickets to the Sydney FC home opener to see Del Piero vs. Heskey and I’m going in a group with friends who are all equally excited not just for the game, but the season as a whole. The A-League might finally convert us casual fans into fans that actually make a dent in the revenue column.

Of course all this couldn’t come at a more important time for the FFA and the A-League. The existing TV deal is expiring and the league needs serious numbers to justify being paid the serious money it requires to cement itself as one of the premier sports in the country on a professional level.

Were this season to have similar crowd and TV ratings as they have had in recent seasons, I highly doubt the TV contract the sign will meet expectations. I also hope the A-League gets to move on to free-to-air TV as unfortunately not enough people in Australia have Foxtel and to get the mainstream publicity on a regular basis, not just for news stories and player signings, but for the matches themselves, the league needs to get onto FTA TV.

But for the first time, I am confident the A-League can pull it off. After years of teams struggling to pay their bills, changing owners or going under, the 2012-13 season is make or break and I’m actually putting my money on ‘make’.

Hopefully new CEO David Gallop gets to walk into a league with increasing revenue, ratings and crowd numbers as a shiny new TV contract (which he interestingly has been actively left out of, but that’s another story).

The season kicks off tonight with the Melbourne Derby and I hope it’s the start of something big.