A-League aiming for big crowd, lift in TV ratings for Sunday’s grand final
On election weekend, the A-League is hoping for the grand final it needs to have. Alarmed at a bid drop in ratings, league bosses hope the season showpiece will deliver a big crowd and strong TV ratings.
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On election weekend, the A-League is hoping for the grand final it needs to have.
After a season of increasing concerns about TV ratings and crowds, and more off-field turmoil over the running of the game, around 55,000 people should cram into Optus Stadium between Perth Glory and Sydney FC, for a grand final that could at least close the campaign with a bang.
A-League executives are hoping that the return of the grand final to a Sunday night will reverse the sharp fall in viewers last year, when a spectator-friendly choice of Saturday night meant ratings suffered in competition with other codes.
The time difference between Perth and Sydney should also work in FFA’s favour, allowing a late-afternoon kick off in the stadium but an early evening broadcast time on the East Coast for Fox Sports and 10 Bold.
Fox Sports bosses have watched in increasing alarm at the 30 per cent fall in ratings this season, on top of a similar slide the year before.
Though some of that is due to A-League games now being available on multiple platforms, including the Kayo streaming service and via a Telstra football app – viewing figures for which are not publically disclosed – the fall in viewership has raised significant questions about what happens when Fox’s current football deal expires in 2023.
Last year’s final was watched by a combined audience of 410,000, the lowest since the grand final was first broadcast on free to air as well as Fox.
It was also a fall of 30 per cent on the 587,000 who watched Sydney beat Melbourne Victory on penalties 12 months previously, in which Fox’s share of 367,000 was its highest for an A-League game.
The same two teams were involved in the highest combined audience for a grand final, 601,000, who watched Victory’s triumph in 2015. When they faced off last Sunday in the semifinal, 86,000 people watch on Ten Bold and 58,000 on fox Sports.
This is meant to be the last grand final before the A-League is devolved from the control of Football Federation Australia and run as an independent entity by the clubs themselves.
Last month the clubs promised to spend up to $120m over the next four years once the league is independent, to “turn the professional game around and fulfil its potential”, after some three years of stalemate over who should control the league and receive the bulk of its TV income.
Some clubs are actively hunting marquees now, aware that they remain the factor seen as most likely to reignite interest in a competition where only two and a half years ago more than 61,000 fans attend the Sydney derby at ANZ Stadium.
This year attendances overall are down some 3.5%, though that figure should be reduced to less than 1% depending on the crowd figure at Optus Stadium.
That would still represent a decline of almost 20 per cent since the high point of 2013-14, the second season that Alessandro Del Piero was Sydney FC’s marquee player.
“We do expect to fill the stadium and to optimize our broadcast reach on a Sunday night,” said Greg O’Rourke, head of the A-League.
“We expect the combined audience will show the potential this code has, and give the people of Perth a home grand final they can’t get in any other football code.”
How crammed Optus Stadium is exactly will depend on the 3000 or so complimentary-ticket holders, with a total capacity possible of some 56,000.
“Certainly we want to try to beat the records of around 55,000 set both in the 2007 Grand Final down in Melbourne, and for Chelsea against Perth at Optus Stadium last year,” said O’Rourke.
Originally published as A-League aiming for big crowd, lift in TV ratings for Sunday’s grand final
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