David Gallop's "biggest test as Football Federation Australia CEO was always going to be his ability to negotiate a new TV deal that not only brings in significant revenue to underpin the game's financial base but also delivers a much wider audience" for football, according to Michael Lynch of THE AGE. It is "a tall order, given the current woes he and the sport's management are wrestling with: plateauing crowds, falling broadcast ratings and a raft of issues with fans who recently boycotted games." But given the "latest revelation of ratings figures comparing the Women's Big Bash League positively with the A-League, his task has become ever more urgent." What the figures do show in "stark clarity" is how important a good free-to-air deal is for the future if football is to "build its audience and strengthen its financial position." It "also illustrates what a poor return the game is getting from its traditional partner, SBS, where ratings for Friday night live games have routinely been disappointing." The "sooner Gallop and his negotiating team can extricate themselves from their damaged relationship with SBS the more likely the game is to prosper." FFA believed it had negotiated a deal with Channel Ten, "to take up the slack from SBS for this season, given that SBS was reported to be keen to get out of the last year of its contract." But "that chance fell through because of political and regulatory delays." Ten, and the other free-to-air networks, "have a dearth of premium sports content over summer and all are reportedly eyeing off the A-League as a potential schedule filler." The issue for FFA "is square the circle, especially if, in the new broadcast deal, the free-to-air networks are not keen on paying premium dollars for FFA's premium product." It "desperately needs the money to underpin the game's future, but, as the women's cricket has shown, it desperately needs a good free-to-air deal to increase its broadcast ratings and audience reach even if most keen sports fans regard the coverage of sport on pay TV to be superior to that of free-to-air" (THE AGE, 12/22).
