Football Federation Australia is trying to find "a more prominent free-to-air partner for the A-League than the current rights-holder SBS," according to Richard Hinds of the HERALD SUN. Just as SBS -- the network once "affectionately dubbed Soccer Bloody Soccer" -- has made it known it "is considering ending its long-time love affair with the world game." The A-League grand final "was not, in aesthetic terms, a great game." You "could hardly have staged a better occasion at which to convince would-be broadcasters to fall into your arms." Where other sports strive to create atmosphere with artificial "fan-engagement," the almost 30,000 fans crammed into AAMI Park "provided a boisterous -- sometimes even chilling -- demonstration of the football’s greatest advantage." The "organic connection between fans and the game." Of course the number those TV execs will carefully consider "is not the crowd but the viewing figures." An average audience of 442,000 "watched the grand final on SBS on one hour delay and 264,000 live on Fox Sports." The SBS figure was up 23% on last year "and the highest figure for an A-League match on SBS." The Fox Sports figure "was down slightly on last year" (HERALD SUN, 5/18).
