Football Australia CEO James Johnson discusses the future of the A-Leagues and national teams

The struggling A-Leagues competition won’t be taken back by Football Australia as CEO James Johnson looks towards hosting more global tournaments on the back of the Matildas’ success.

Football Australia want to continue hosting major events after the success of the Women’s World Cup. Picture: Jason Edwards

Football Australia CEO James Johnson has ruled out taking back control of the struggling A-Leagues competition dubbing that possibility as a step “backwards”.

It comes as speculation grows that Australian Professional Leagues boss Danny Townsend is on the cusp of signing a lucrative new contract in the Middle East.

Johnson, talking to Code Sports, said he believed the A-Leagues was in a better position than it was before Football Australia relinquished ownership to the APL in 2020.

“We can’t go backwards,” Johnson said.

“We’ve always got to go forwards. I think we’ve got to zoom out and look at the whole sport. post unbundling and in broad terms the sport is in a much better position than what it was pre unbundling.

“Our senior national teams, both the Socceroos and the Matildas, are the best they’ve ever been and the league is producing those players.

Football Australia CEO James Johnson. Picture: Richard Walker

“We’ve had $7 million in total transfer revenue this past 12 months and that is compared to an average year to year of about one or two million in the past.

“It’s not just about money, transfers signal that our clubs are developing players … so the league is absolutely producing players and national teams are bringing the country together.

“So I think the broader game is in very good hands.”

While the cash being exchanged might be an improvement fans aren’t relishing the decisions made by the APL.

There was outrage when the move was made to sell the grand final to the highest bidder – instead of the minor premiers being rewarded with hosting rights. APL has reportedly reneged on its contract with the NSW Government and is believed to be swapping the grand final for an NRL inspired “magic round” instead.

APL’s broadcast deal with Ten/Paramount has been a continuous headache for fans, forced to fork out for yet another subscription to watch the matches – with limited men’s games on free to air. Paramount’s app is riddled with user issues and lacks the ability to pause or rewind live games.

Socceroos great Robbie Slate declared, in an exclusive column for Code Sports earlier this week, that the breakaway league was a mistake that needed to be undone.

“At a time when A-Leagues clubs are struggling mightily and the APL is set to lose its CEO, Football Australia is in about the best financial shape in its history. Two successful World Cups, one as co-hosts, has filled the coffers and prompted excited chatter about a grassroots boom,” Slater said.

Sam Kerr and the Matildas drew the attention of the nation during the Women’s World Cup. Picture: Jason Edwards

“But little, to none, of that is making its way to A-Leagues clubs. The revenue from Matildas’ and Socceroos’ success flows to the FA, and grassroots to the states. The FA has prioritised grassroots funding and national youth team preparations, while the clubs don’t see a cent under the current deal, which the clubs themselves were fully aware of when the breakaway occurred at the end of 2020.”

Johnson said the FA wasn’t washing its boots entirely of the A-Leagues and with the national teams in a brilliant position and grassroots participation numbers booming they were in a position to work with the APL to help grow the league.

“We’ve got to really spend more time supporting the league so that the league continues to grow and there’s a lot of opportunities,” he said.

Membership numbers for clubs in the A-Leagues are growing, particularly with the women’s competition with Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar all reporting huge increases.

One of the first steps to growth is investing more into the women’s game, so that it can be a full-time professional job for the athletes.

As it stands the majority of the players have to juggle full time jobs, study and their football career – for which they get paid a minimum of $25,000 a season.

Significantly less than the average $150,000 the men receive.

Johnson said it was a “priority” but stopped short of saying when the vision would become a reality.

Fans have not been happy with the broadcast of the A-Leagues, but the Matildas were a hit. Picture: Jason Edwards

BROADCAST

While the APL’s broadcast deal is three years into its five-year deal, Football Australia’s arrangement with Ten will finish at the end of next year.

Johnson said he wanted a new broadcast partnership deal in place by the end of the year or very early next year – and he expects it to be a big one.

“We want to record broadcast and we believe that it is deserved given the strength of the Matildas and Socceroos brand in the market and also in regard to what’s ahead for the Socceroos and Matildas over the next cycle,” Johnson said.

The Matildas will play at the Olympics in 2024, the 2026 Asian Women’s Cup (at home if the bid is successful) and a Women’s World Cup in 2027.

Obviously the broadcast deal won’t necessarily include access to all these matches with the World Cup rights controlled by FIFA and the Olympics going to Nine.

But the new broadcaster would have the rights to televise all the lead up matches to these competitions.

As it stands fans have to fork out more than $600 a year to watch their Matildas’ play in the domestic league and more than $1000 to watch all the premier men’s football competitions as well.

While Johnson has been happy with the deal with Ten and the reach on the free to air network he didn’t rule out the next deal being struck with a subscription based broadcaster.

“The learning for us over this cycle which has been very successful with network Ten is the importance of reach,” he said.

“We’ve had more reach for both the Socceroos and Matildas than the sports ever had before and that’s because every Socceroos and Matildas match has been free to the fans in Australia.

“That’s important in terms of building the brand and there is certainly in my view a strong connection between the strength of both the Socceroos and Matildas brand that we’ve seen over the past four years and the growth and the fact that we we’ve switched to free to air so there’s certainly a connection there.

“Cash is absolutely important as well.

“So it’s about trying to get the right level of investment through a broadcast deal in sport, and ensuring that we still get the same, if not more reach, so that the brands can continue to grow.”

Could we see a Men’s World Cup on home soil? Picture: Getty Images

WHAT’S NEXT

Big things – that is what James Johnson has planned in the wake of co-hosting the most successful FIFA Women’s World Cup in history.

More than 1.5 million tickets were sold for the tournament – a new record.

Viewership numbers reached new heights not just in Australia but overseas with Johnson saying it proved the Australian time zone was not a hindrance when it came to hosting big sporting events.

“That’s probably to me one of the most pleasing outcomes of the Women’s World Cup. It’s showing the rest of the world it’s a great timezone to host great global competition because it opens up a lot of doors for us as a nation today and going forward,” Johnson said.

Johnson said with both national teams performing well the Matildas and Socceroos were bigger than they had ever been before.

“That’s unique in Australian and world sports, to have a shop window be focused on women and men and I think our focus now needs to be on keeping these brands relevant in the market and growing not plateauing. Growing is very important,” he said.

Keeping the two national teams front of mind though is a challenge will the majority of both teams playing their domestic season overseas in different time zones.

Johnson said that was what would make the next broadcast deal so important – so that maximum reach can be achieved when the Matildas and Socceroos play qualifiers and friendlies.

He said other projects like the Disney docu-series on the Matildas which aired in the lead up to the World Cup were not off the table.

Suggesting that another docu-series could be made or even one about the Socceroos.

“These will be discussions that are tied up in the broadcast process that we’re about to go into market for,” Johnson said.

And off the pitch Football Australia is looking at the possibility of bidding for a future FIFA Men’s World Cup.

Originally published as Football Australia CEO James Johnson discusses the future of the A-Leagues and national teams