Yes, that's what they say. It may have been true 5 years ago, but I doubt its the case now. The A-League provides substantially more content at prime time. It generates supporter loyalty and this would lead to paytv subscriptions.Originally Posted by furns
The Socceroo World Cup qualifiers are now on the anti syphoning list (which would devalue them) and are not even owned by the FFA, they are owned by some Asian confederation sports group whos name escapes me. FFA only owns the rights to friendlies. To gain any revenue from the Qualifiers they would have to buy them off that sports group and on-sell them, which would only result in marginal profit.
In any case, I highly doubt the Socceroo rights are the reason for tv rights going from $17m a season to $40m. The only reason I can see for the A-League not getting most of that increase is if the FFA were determined to decrease the cost of playing football for registered juniors, but that could end up being a dangerous black hole for money. I'd rather it be spent at the elite level.
