The APL is keen for a deal that offers significant audience reach to help arrest a worrying decline in ratings,crowds and general interest in the A-League,but needs to balance that with the clubs’ financial requirements - although a lower broadcast deal could be offset to some degree by private equity investment,which the APL is seeking concurrently.
It is one of four active tenders for football rights,with the UEFA Champions League,Socceroos and Matildas matches,and the 2023 Women’s World Cup also on the market in separate processes. This is a challenge for all potential bidders because they may want to buy up certain rights before others to ensure they have an offering that will be interesting for viewers and advertisers. The differing stages of all tender processes has made the ability to secure multiple deals at once more challenging.
The sources said Ten has tabled the highest bid thus far for the A-League and W-League - more than $20 million. If successful,it would become the first local rights deal to be struck by Ten for Paramount+,which has made football a cornerstone of its offering in the United States. Paramount+ is expected to launch locally on August 11 for $8.99 per month. It will provide about 20,000 episodes and movies currently run on CBS,Nick Junior,MTV and Showtime.
Ten has previously shown interest in the A-League,having launched a bid in 2019 for the competition’s free-to-air rights that would have seen two matches per week shown on the network’s primary channel. A final agreement was not reached.
Meanwhile,the industry sources said Seven has shown interest in the Socceroos and Matildas rights,which are held by Football Australia,and the 2023 Women’s World Cup rights,which are being sold by world governing body FIFA.
But complicating the discussion around the Socceroos and Matildas content - which includes future World Cup qualifiers and tournaments in the Asian confederation - is the uncertainty around international travel due to the pandemic. As it stands,the Socceroos cannot play matches in Australia unless the government grants visiting players and teams an exemption to train,play and leave the country inside the 14-day quarantine window.
As such,there is a chance that the team’s home matches later may be played in a neutral country and thus in a potentially difficult time zone for broadcasters.
UEFA’s deal with Optus Sport to show the Champions League and Europa League,meanwhile,expires at the end of this season.
Stan Sport is currently in talks with UEFA as they were the highest bidder for the rights behind Sports Flick,the mysterious Sydney-based start-up whichfailed to follow through on its $60 million bid last month due to financial issues. The company said at the time the European Super League controversy was its reason for doing so.
Optus has not shown any interest in the A-League or W-League,according to sources. Ten,Seven and Nine all declined to comment.