How the FA boss helped shape the strongest sports brand in the country

The Matildas are Australian sport’s most lucrative brand right now and on the eve of the Olympics, Football Australia boss James Johnson has revealed his plans to keep growing the booming team.

The Matildas are Australian sport’s most lucrative brand right now and Football Australia boss James Johnson has revealed his plans to keep growing the booming team on and off the field.

Johnson confirmed to News Corp that the code is on the cusp of signing what is expected to be a $200 million TV deal – a “one-stop-shop package” that is expected to be with Network 10 – and could provide a record-breaking cash injection into the sport.

“We’re at the 89th minute,” Johnson said. “So we’re right at the back end of our broadcast deal. It’s not signed yet.”

With this imminent record TV deal driven by the Matildas’ success, it is just another extraordinary statistic for Australia’s most-loved national sporting team.

The new TV deal will include rights to the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil and the 2026 Asian Cup women’s tournament that Australia will host, as well as most Socceroos and ­Matildas matches.

The Matildas have attracted huge numbers to their games. Picture: Jason Edwards

The Matildas have sold out their past 14 home matches, attracted a history-making TV audience that peaked at 11.15 million viewers for their World Cup semi-final and sold 19 times more Matildas jerseys than they did for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

They are about to begin their Olympic campaign in France next week in a tough group, where they face two historical powerhouses of women’s football, the No.4-ranked Germany and the No.5-ranked United States.

Johnson, who will be in Marseille for the team’s first group match against Germany next Friday (3am AEST), believes the team is set for a challenging a time in their group

“This team won’t be defined, in my view, by their performance at the Paris Olympics,” Johnson said. “I think they’re defined by the legacy that they’ve already created.

“I think they’re in a very difficult group.”

While the Matildas players have publicly stated their hope to finally medal at an Olympics, having finished fourth at Tokyo, it’s beyond these Games – and off the field – that could really elevate the Matildas brand all over again.

Beyond the Olympics, Johnson says the 18-month run up to the Asian Cup in 2026, which will be held in Australia, will present many valuable opportunities for the Matildas.

“The way I’m thinking about it is the day we finish the Olympics, until the Women’s Asian Cup in 2026 … we’ve got just over 18 months of windows that we own, so we need to make as much and create as much value in that period as we can,” Johnson said.

“And some of the strategies within a strategy that we’re talking about are bringing the Matildas back as much as we can [to Australia] in the lead-up to the Women’s Asian Cup.

Football Australia are set on creating a legacy brand. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“There’s six windows in that period. It doesn’t mean we can bring the Matildas back six times. But bringing them back, possibly four out of six times, would be something we’d be looking at.”

Off the field, FA will look at engaging in “non-football, creative” content such as a docu-series, similar to Disney’s ‘Matildas; The World At Our Feet’, which helped introduce this team to new audiences.

Keeping public connection to this team is crucial, Johnson says. “To make sure that the community now following the Matildas can engage with the team as much as possible within those two bookends [Olympics to Asian Cup].”

While some may have been surprised by the Matildas mania that gripped the country, Johnson had the belief when he took FA’s top job in 2020.

From the get-go, his intention was to establish “two strong national team brands”. While the Socceroos were far more established, it was the Matildas that required heavy investment to “elevate” them.

“I actually believed in 2020, that we could make the Matildas the strongest national team sporting brand in the country,” Johnson said. “When you’re building a sporting brand, you’ve got to be really clear on what the brand is and have a backbone.”

The Matildas want to continue bringing international matches to Australia. Picture: Andy Cheung/Getty Images

Four years ago they started mapping out what the brand would stand for today – and creating a “legacy” was at the forefront of those plans.

“This team is about legacy, I think that is something the players believe in but the organisation does as well,” he said. “If you think about anytime we’ve talked about the Women’s World Cup and the Matildas in the World Cup, we’re always talking about it in terms of legacy.”

“I think the other point is you’ve got a team that brings Australia to the rest of the world. And it’s a team that brings diverse communities around Australia together. I think it’s about female empowerment as well...these points are the backbone of the brand strategy.”

And that brand ethos has translated to a financial boom for FA.

Managing director of Brand Finance Australia Mark Crowe, said based on their “high-level analysis”, the Matildas’ brand’s value was continuing to grow. Before the World Cup, they had valued it at around $40 million.

“The Matildas’ brand continues to grow in value and is likely to be worth more than $225m at the conclusion of the next cycle of media and other commercial rights negotiations,” Crowe said.

This moment 💚💛

Thank you @lydsaussie 👑

🎥 @10footballau#AUSvCHN#TilItsDone#Matildaspic.twitter.com/11lMKi7m1H

— Matildas (@TheMatildas) June 3, 2024

“The Matildas have built a very strong store of brand equity and goodwill following on from last year’s World Cup. This momentum not only positions the Matildas as our most popular national team, but one that is now an iconic and inclusive Australian brand embraced by all demographics.”

For Johnson it’s the broadcast numbers, the attendance and the brands who are partnering with them that measure the success of this team. It’s not just the nearly 12 million people who tuned in to watch the Matildas play a semi-final last year, it’s the one million turning on the TV to witness the team play a friendly against China on a Monday night.

“The broadcast numbers are outstanding for this team,” he said. “There’s over a million people on a Monday night that tune in to watch the team play. So those numbers are becoming somewhat normal for the Matildas …this is a friendly match against China on a Monday night.

“Yeah, it’s not a, you know, World Cup semi-final on a Saturday afternoon. So I think the broadcast numbers certainly indicates the strength of the brand.

All up, 19,674 attended four home matches in the COVID-plagued 2020 – while across 14 Matildas matches in Australia in 2023, 580,930 fans attended.

14 consecutive sell-outs on home soil 🏡 734,632 fans 🙌 7 stadiums 🏟️ 5 cities 🏙️ #AUSvCHN - Accor Stadium: 76,798#AUSvCHN - Adelaide Oval: 52,912#AUSvUZB - Marvel Stadium: 54,120#AUSvTPE - HBF Park: 19,084

🧵 A Thread pic.twitter.com/mOvSkQMMw3

— Matildas (@TheMatildas) June 14, 2024

“We’ve had 14 sellouts home matches in a row, which we’re very, very proud of. And these sellouts aren’t just at small stadiums,” he said. “They’re in big stadiums, so he had a two-match window against China PR recently, at the Adelaide Oval and at Sydney Olympic Park … and the tickets sold out in a matter of hours for both.”

And then the Matildas have proven to be a sponsor’s dream.

“If you look at who those sponsors are, they’re all blue-chip companies: Commonwealth Bank, Nike, Qantas, Subway, Coles, CUPRA, Cadbury, LEGO, Beare Park, LCI Melbourne with another to revealed next week; it’s such a great suite of brands that are all supporting this team … and I think that says something about the team,” Johnson said.

“But it also means that when you’ve got a CommBank behind you, it’s good for our brand, because a) it’s a great brand to associate with, but it’s also the marketing investment that’s put into the team by these brands. And that really helps elevate them.”

When Cadbury came on board in 2020, as part of their Women In Sport initiative to empower young female athletes, but they didn’t imagine the stratospheric heights the Matildas would reach.

Darren O’Brien, boss of Mondelez International Australia, which oversees the Cadbury brand, said there has been nearly a 200 per cent return on their investment over the Matildas’ World Cup.

Here’s to four more years of Cadbury moments! 🍫

Thank you for your support and for staying in the game with us @CadburyAU 💚💛#CadburyDairyMilk#GetInTheGame

— Matildas (@TheMatildas) September 5, 2022

O’Brien said fans went as far to generate over 10,000 athlete posters via Cadbury’s website.

“But it was not in our wildest dreams that they could be so successful so quickly,” O’Brien said. “To have record numbers watching on TV. To see those stadiums sold out during the World Cup. To see the Matildas rise to the occasion was so inspiring.”

“To hear people talking about Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler, like they’d been in our vernacular forever, was great.”

O’Brien says they hope their partnership with the Matildas “never ends” and what he likes about backing in this team is their approach.

“I love their attitude, their body language says we can do this … it’s very clear the amount of work and dedication they have to put in to be at the level of skill and the level of fitness that they’re at,” he said.

“But also when you see them interviewed, or as a team, you can see the camaraderie that’s there, you can’t help but see that sort of that Australian attitude coming through of wanting to win but so proud to represent their country.”

Originally published as How the FA boss helped shape the strongest sports brand in the country