‘Fan experience’ set to improve after American company invests in Australian football

A-League officials are hoping American company Silver Lake’s investment in Australian football will help with attracting supporters back to matches.

Low crowds at A-League games are concerning. Picture: Ashley Feder/Getty Images

A-League chiefs admit low crowds are a problem as they look to a “global leader in technology investing” to help improve Australian football’s “fan experience”.

American company Silver Lake has bought a 33.3 per cent share in the Australian Professional Leagues, who run the A-League men’s and women’s competitions.

Silver Lake’s managing director, Stephen Evans, will become an APL board member as part of the deal.

“The Australian Professional Leagues has a large, growing and passionate fan base across its 13 teams and the organisation has made great strides as it focuses on leveraging technology to strengthen Australian football and enrich the fan experience,” Evans said.

“We are excited to partner with the board, (APL managing director) Danny Townsend, and the entire executive team to help further accelerate APL’s digital transformation and support its continued momentum and ambitious vision for long-term sustainable and inclusive growth.”

However, for the A-League men’s competition to be sustainable in the long-term, the quality of football must improve and crowd numbers must lift.

Townsend acknowledged there were problems with both.

The crowd figures don’t lie. Across the six matches played in round four, just 36,350 fans attended matches.

The 6058 average was significantly boosted by crowds of more than 8000 at the Western Sydney-Macarthur FC derby, and the Adelaide United-Melbourne Victory “Original Rivalry” clash.

Low attendances at A-League matches are proving to be concern. Picture: Ashley Feder/Getty Images

However, that only 8910 fans were at CommBank Stadium to watch the “Battle of the West” between the Wanderers and Macarthur is a huge concern.

When asked he if was worried about the attendances, Townsend replied: “Yes I am, to be honest.”

However, Townsend said “Covid consequences” had contributed to the low crowds

“All sports at the moment are struggling to drag people to games,” he said.

“When you’ve been suppressed for so long through lockdown, people change behaviour. Our job now is to get them back to supporting their clubs and back into enjoying live sports again.

“It’s Australia – we love live sports and we’re confident that over the course of the season, as the weather improves and we get into genuine summer, you’ll see full terraces again across the league.”

Townsend said the lack of a genuine pre-season preparation because of Covid-19-caused travel restrictions and lockdown requirements had been a factor into perceived lack of quality matches in the opening four rounds of the men’s A-League season.

“And we’ve also seen a lot of injuries, and that’s a result of the fact that there was no proper pre-season this year,” he said.

“We’ve learnt with Covid that you’ve just got to be flexible. You can’t make excuses, you just have to get on with it.”

Originally published as ‘Fan experience’ set to improve after American company invests in Australian football