FFA CEO David Gallop says new A-League TV deal won’t dictate where new clubs will be started

FFA CEO David Gallop says TV networks will not dictate where the next two A-League clubs come from as the expansion debate gathers pace.

SOCCER chiefs say television networks will not dictate where the next two A-League clubs come from.

But Football Federation Australia chief David Gallop says expansion sides do need to “add value” to a competition for which Fox Sports announced it was paying $346 million over the next six years to broadcast.

Expansion is the hottest topic in soccer right now.

Expressions of interest from across the country have come thick and fast since Gallop said in October that the competition would expand in the near future.

TV DEAL TO FUND MARQUEE MARKET

The men behind Australian football’s biggest TV deal. (Photo by Don Arnold/Getty Images)

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke told the Herald Sun this month that two new clubs would be in place for the start of the 2018-19 season — the second year of the new TV deal.

And while Gallop said Fox Sports and a yet-to-be-determined free to air partner would be consulted, they would not be the sole arbiters on where the next clubs come from.

“The decisions around expansion will be ours and we can take those decisions to be anywhere,” Gallop said.

“But we certainly have had conversations with the gentlemen at the table about where they think expansion might be a better chance of success.

“We have to factor that in, it won’t be the only factor that we look at, but we’ve said from Day 1 on the question of expansion of course we will take in to account the preference of our broadcasters.

“Importantly decisions around expansion have to be the game’s and the game has to identify a location which can be successful but also a location that can add value to the A-League and to the game generally.”

With big markets looked upon favourably, a Victorian bid — from South Melbourne, Geelong or the Casey-Dandenong region — is every chance to be accepted in either the first or second round of expansion.

Lowy said work is already going on behind the scenes.

“It is a strategic issue for us and is clearly contemplated to occur through this (TV) deal,” Lowy said.

“How and when that occurs is a matter for the board to consider ... but it’s really critical (to say) that expansion for expansion’s sake is not what we’re about.

“But expansion that adds to the overall game, that creates more value and more growth is really what we’re about and we particularly want to do that in a sustainable way.”