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The Australian Championship 🇦🇺🏆

theFOOTBALLlover said:
View attachment 5010

Average crowd numbers and percentage of stadium filled in Portugal’s top flight in the first half of the season. We are too worried about crowds in Australia.
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Not really, as Australia is a hotly contested market for the sponsorship dollar. If you can't tell them that you are averaging 10-15,000 per match, then you end up with crumbs, compared to say, the Bronco's, who are pulling in 46,000 per game. Sponsors want their brand seen by as many as possible. The more money, then the better the product on the pitch.
 
I think the championship has a lot going for it purely because the scheduling was never designed for big crowds. Lets be honest 12pm and 1pm games are not ideal. By contrast look at the attendances of some of the night games South v Olympic, Apia v Syd cro and Preston v Avondale for eg.

Sure sbs blah blah but the fact is we didnt really scratch the surface of what could be achieved. We even had to tuck the grand final away at 3pm on a Saturday.

If the 2026 edition has 3-4 night games a week (Friday through Sunday) and the knockout games are all in prime time that alone will eclipse last editions attendances.
 
southmelb said:
I think the championship has a lot going for it purely because the scheduling was never designed for big crowds. Lets be honest 12pm and 1pm games are not ideal. By contrast look at the attendances of some of the night games South v Olympic, Apia v Syd cro and Preston v Avondale for eg.

Sure sbs blah blah but the fact is we didnt really scratch the surface of what could be achieved. We even had to tuck the grand final away at 3pm on a Saturday.

If the 2026 edition has 3-4 night games a week (Friday through Sunday) and the knockout games are all in prime time that alone will eclipse last editions attendances.
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The Championship was experimental in its first year, the fact that FA have committed to continue it for a further five years shows that it achieved what it set out to do.
Obviously attendance figures were not a big factor.
 
libelous said:
The Championship was experimental in its first year, the fact that FA have committed to continue it for a further five years shows that it achieved what it set out to do.
Obviously attendance figures were not a big factor.
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There were ONE of teh factors though, at least according to the pundits at the time... Its been nearly 2 months now, we should be hearing from FA about a "report card" on the Championship soon.
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
There were ONE of teh factors though, at least according to the pundits at the time... Its been nearly 2 months now, we should be hearing from FA about a "report card" on the Championship soon.
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Pundits? pfft.
As for a report card, we may get one but the mere fact that they have endorsed it for a further five years tells me all I need to know.
 
libelous said:
Pundits? pfft.
As for a report card, we may get one but the mere fact that they have endorsed it for a further five years tells me all I need to know.
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I surely hope so but until I hear more or a further update from the new FA I’d feel bit more comfortable.
 
libelous said:
The Championship was experimental in its first year, the fact that FA have committed to continue it for a further five years shows that it achieved what it set out to do.
Obviously attendance figures were not a big factor.
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only 2 years guaranteed with this format, no-one knows what the plan is for the '5 years'.
 
Beretta said:
only 2 years guaranteed with this format, no-one knows what the plan is for the '5 years'.
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Where did you read that it’s ‘ guaranteed for 2 years’? According to Joey Lynch in his report of the announcement of the new CEO for FA they have committed to continue with it for 5 years.
At this point in time the format is something that will, no doubt, be worked out in due course.
 
libelous said:
Where did you read that it’s ‘ guaranteed for 2 years’? According to Joey Lynch in his report of the announcement of the new CEO for FA they have committed to continue with it for 5 years.
At this point in time the format is something that will, no doubt, be worked out in due course.
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it was announced before the tournament kicked off, (mid last year). The clubs were notified the only thing guaranteed for two years was this format.

No doubt the FA have committed to a 5 year plan, but no one knows if it will stay like this or revert to foundation clubs, stand alone league season etc
 
Beretta said:
it was announced before the tournament kicked off, (mid last year). The clubs were notified the only thing guaranteed for two years was this format.

No doubt the FA have committed to a 5 year plan, but no one knows if it will stay like this or revert to foundation clubs, stand alone league season etc
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I thought the only thing guaranteed was the 8 foundation clubs for 2 x years but that the format would change if/when further licences clubs could be added?
 
I think we all agree that the Australian Championship had a good start, and that there would be tweaks and small changes required to further refine and improve the competition.

southmelb said:
If the 2026 edition has 3-4 night games a week (Friday through Sunday) and the knockout games are all in prime time that alone will eclipse last editions attendances.
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This is an easy low hanging fruit solution to boost crowd attendance figures. You would have one Friday night and one twilight Saturday afternoon kick off (around 5.00-5.30 pm), and another Saturday evening (around 7.00-7.30 pm) kick off. You'd still retain some some fixtures at Saturday and Sunday 3pm kick off times to spread out matches.

I think SBS would boost TV viewership by flipping from a Saturday 1.00 pm and 3.15 pm kick offs to 5.00 pm and 7.15 pm live coverage. At the very least they could have Saturday 3.15 pm and 5.30 pm kick offs if compromise was needed.

Social media engagement and promotion was great and hit the mark.

Many clubs would have seen the positivity generated by the Australian Championship, so their recruitment and efforts will be much more focused on being more successful in the 2026 edition.
 
SMFC1959 said:
I think we all agree that the Australian Championship had a good start, and that there would be tweaks and small changes required to further refine and improve the competition.


This is an easy low hanging fruit solution to boost crowd attendance figures. You would have one Friday night and one twilight Saturday afternoon kick off (around 5.00-5.30 pm), and another Saturday evening (around 7.00-7.30 pm) kick off. You'd still retain some some fixtures at Saturday and Sunday 3pm kick off times to spread out matches.

I think SBS would boost TV viewership by flipping from a Saturday 1.00 pm and 3.15 pm kick offs to 5.00 pm and 7.15 pm live coverage. At the very least they could have Saturday 3.15 pm and 5.30 pm kick offs if compromise was needed.

Social media engagement and promotion was great and hit the mark.

Many clubs would have seen the positivity generated by the Australian Championship, so their recruitment and efforts will be much more focused on being more successful in the 2026 edition.
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It really is and I think Football Australia has used some past experience in their approach to the championship.

I remember when the A-League kicked off, the FFA had a very meagre 1-year deal with Fox to broadcast some games. They knew they could get more once they had a years worth of ratings to work with, so resisted the temptation to take a little bit more money in that first year but be locked in for five at unders. It seems as though they have taken a similar approach with the first year of the Championship.

It was low risk for SBS (minimal cost) and with positive ratings (especially on SBS On Demand), they can take more risk and use prime-time slots like Friday and Saturday nights, which will improve crowds like you mentioned.

I'm of the belief that the format was chosen to give other teams a taste of what the competition is like, particularly for those outside Vic and NSW, to drive interest and motivation.

It has a two-fold benefit. First, it drives teams that qualified to want to qualify again and creates envy in those that missed out, thus raising standards in their home state. Secondly, it encourages teams to explore how they can become foundation clubs to guarantee their participation.

I can see a team like South Hobart being driven to really dominate their league to guarantee qualification AND improve their performance in next years comp. Seeing their small ground packed out at their home games, I'd love to see them become a foundation club.

That's what this competition will do - drive clubs improve by lobbying local and state government for support and funding, and seek out commercial partners to raise revenue. They see the improvements needed in their infrastructure, governance, and commercial performance to make it in an NST as something within reach (unlike the A-League with its huge costs).

With regular games in a national competition, that are broadcast of FTA TV, local and state governments can more easily be swayed to upgrade existing infrastructure. Slow and steady increases to seat capacity, facilities, and pitch quality, will do wonders for the game here.

I have no insider knowledge, but I imagine that the success of this years competition already has clubs making moves to become part of it. My guess is we get the same format this year, but from 2027 onwards there will be changes. It may not be to a proper H&A format, but I can see changes to increase the number of games played to stress test the financial capabilities of the clubs and league, before moving to a true league format.

Does anyone know if the clubs or the league covered travel for away matches?

My back of the envelope calculations says that the total cost to cover travel (incl. accommodation and meals) for 10 teams, with 2 non-Vic/NSW, across 18 rounds and finals is around $700-800k (assuming no WA or North Qld teams). If it's on clubs to cover, I can see why we only have NSW and Vic teams as foundation clubs (a lot more local games reducing costs).

Hopefully, as the competition evolves and matures, FA can generate enough money from TV rights and sponsorship that covers travel and running costs of the league. If we can get to a point where a dividend from TV rights can be paid to the clubs, even something like $50-100k, then I'd say we're off to the races and it can only go from strength to strength.

Sorry for the long post. I've been lurking here since the beginning the Championship and have a lot of thoughts to share. I fondly remember going to Morwell Falcons games when I was a kid, so this competition really captured my imagination.

Thanks for indulging me!
 
HappyGuus said:
I had to look up where I got the 4,611 figure from back then. Looks like the club was publishing that figure:



I don't know what to believe now haha
Quite a big difference between 4,611 and 682!
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For that game, I believe the commentators mentioning the crowd figure (or you could hear the ground announcer over the broadcast). It was definitely in the 4,000's. During replays showing the main grandstand, it was reasonably full and with the smattering of people visible on the far side, it was definitely in the 4000 range.
 
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