In the summer of '12-13, the A-League was the "hottest summer property in Australian sport," according to David Davutovic of the HERALD SUN. It prompted Cricket Australia and the Australian Football League to act and "four years on, the A-League is battling to stay on the summer podium." Cricket’s Big Bash League "has gone gangbusters, with extra content added to the crammed six-week schedule as the TV networks vie for the rights." Even the National Basketball League, "thanks to the drive," vision and A$7M injection of Dodo Founder Larry Kestelman is "closing in, with regular sellouts piquing interest" and two int'l franchises set to join an expanded 10-team league within two years. But the "mega opening round" of the AFL Women’s would have caught Sydney-centric Football Federation Australia off guard. It has "taken one round for the AFL Women’s to surge past the stagnant W-League," but "make no mistake" -- it is "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). While FFA is "struggling to attract corporate support" and its turnover has remained at around the A$100M ($76.6M) mark for several years, at the AFLW the sponsors "are queuing up" (HERALD SUN, 2/6).
UNCERTAIN FUTURE: In Melbourne, Caden Helmers reported A-League side Central Coast Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp said that it is up to the Australian Capital Territory government to "decide if the A-League will have a future presence in Canberra." The Mariners are reportedly "playing in Canberra at a loss and would need to be aided by significant government funding if a long-term partnership was to be struck." But the viability of a future A-League presence in Canberra "has been questioned after another small crowd turned out for Central Coast's clash with Adelaide on Sunday." Mielekamp said that the Mariners "are still open" to working with the ACT government, Capital Football and FFA to maximize the growth of football in the region (THE AGE, 2/6).
