By Vince Rugari
Network Ten has outlined its bold ambition to make football the number one sport in Australia after securing the rights to all Socceroos and Matildas matches outside of World Cups until the end of 2024.
Ten tied up a five-year, $200 million rights deal for the A-League and W-League last month together with the network’s soon-to-be-launched streaming subsidiary, Paramount+.
The Socceroos and Matildas have a new home on free-to-air television.Credit: Getty
The Herald can reveal that Ten’s owners, ViacomCBS, have invested a further $100 million into the sport – according to sources with direct knowledge of the deal – to secure a suite of key international fixtures involving Australia’s men’s and women’s teams as well as the FFA Cup and other Asian tournaments.
The new contract, struck with Football Australia, covers the next three and a half years and includes the Socceroos’ final round of qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, the forthcoming Asian Cups for women (2022) and men (2023), and all friendlies and qualifiers for both senior national teams.
Football has struggled at domestic level over the last few years but Ten is bullish about the sport’s potential in Australia and is planning a huge advertising blitz in the coming months to improve its visibility - and as part of this new deal, along with cross-promotions involving flagship shows like The Project and MasterChef, it will commission a children’s program focused on promoting participation in football.
Having once made the Big Bash League the country’s hottest sporting property in the summer, Ten believes it can now make the round-ball code the most popular in Australia.
ViacomCBS has splashed $100 million to secure more soccer rights to broadcast on Network 10 and Paramount+.Credit: Getty
“It’s good to have a big ambition like that,” Beverley McGarvey, the chief content officer and executive vice president of ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand, told the Herald.
“We’re not in this for a quick win. This is something we will build together with our partners. And I think all of the partners involved know that there’s a long-term goal here, but to do it you’ve got to do it one step at a time.
“Being the number one sport in Australia, that’s not going to be true by next year. But I think it’s a good ambition we can work towards and this is kind of where it starts for us.
“We really believe in football ... in terms of making this sport more accessible for all Australians, it helps it get there because we really believe in how the brands fit together and the ambitions of all of our businesses are really well aligned.”
The arrangement is a boon for FA, although the rough $100 million figure is not all pure profit for the governing body. The deal also includes a significant amount of contra, while FA had to spend an unspecified amount to buy the rights to much of the Socceroos and Matildas content off the AFC’s confederation’s marketing agency to facilitate the package it has now sold to Ten.
After sealing the A-League’s independence at the end of last year and having unveiled a series of lucrative sponsorship deals – including Commonwealth Bank’s naming rights sponsorship of the Matildas – in recent months, FA chief executive James Johnson said the organisation had weathered the worst of COVID-19 and was now on solid financial footing.
“It’s been a remarkable 12 months for the sport. We’re in a really good position,” Johnson said.
“This partnership with Network 10 is very important to us and I think it flags the bringing to life of a new era for our sport and we’re very happy with where we are and also where we’re going. ”
Anti-siphoning laws dictate that all of the Socceroos’ home World Cup qualifiers must be shown on free-to-air television, but McGarvey said a “considerable amount” of other match content – including the annual FFA Cup final – will be broadcast via Ten.
All other games will find a home on Paramount+, which will launch in Australia on August 11 at $8.99 per month.
“We set out with the target of obtaining both sets of rights [A-League and W-League, and national teams] a few months ago and we’re very, very happy we’ve been able to obtain those,” said Jarrod Villani, chief operating and commercial officer and executive vice president of ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand.
“We think it puts the fan at the heart of what we’re trying to achieve here and that is deliver the Australian base of the sport to Australian-based fans, and we’re going to be very focused on making sure we get the balance right across our free-to-air and subscription-based assets.”
The rights to the next men’s World Cup, Qatar 2022, are held by SBS, while Optus Sport last month secured the rights to the 2023 Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Industry rumours suggest SBS could be open to on-selling their rights after announcing it would shut down its iconic The World Game digital platform. Optus, meanwhile, is currently on the hunt for a free-to-air partner for its Women’s World Cup coverage.
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