A-League Head Greg O'Rourke believes the lack of a big kickoff will not "prevent the competition from reaching its targets this season," according to Michael Lynch of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. O'Rourke said that Football Federation Australia is "looking for the league to surpass National Rugby League and Super Rugby average attendances this season." He also forecast "a significant leap in TV audiences because of its new deal with network Ten," which will broadcast one live game a week on Saturday nights. Average attendances at A-League matches are around 12,000, while O'Rourke "is hopeful that the scheduling, which features many of the big clubs playing each other on Saturday nights," will boost TV ratings. He said, "We have done some preliminary work where we believe the uplift of free-to-air for our one game on a Saturday night will be up by about 50 percent on our current subscription TV, Fox ratings." O'Rourke believes the A-League "is gradually building in strength and that crowds will continue to grow." He said, "Our target for crowds will be to rise, which will be consistent with what we did last year, by about 4 percent" (SMH, 10/3).
