At one point the A-League seemed poised to dethrone the AFL as Australia’s top sport. A sleeping giant had stirred, seemingly on course to dominate the sporting landscape. Fuelled by the passion of second-generation European Australians, the league surged in popularity under near-perfect conditions. Now, the league has slipped into irrelevance for the average Aussie sports fan, rarely discussed and even less often watched.
Originating in 2005 with eight founding clubs, the A-League quickly grew in popularity. This surge was at least partly due to Australia’s incredible 2006 World Cup run, led by a now iconic lineup featuring players like Tim Cahill and Mark Viduka. That success carried over to the A-League, which recorded its highest-ever average season attendance of thirty one thousand people per game in 2007. That was 18 years ago, and attendance has steadily declined ever since.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the league, though. There have been some small shines of hope. Their record attendance, more than 61,000 people came in 2016. Unfortunately for the league, this figure was an outlier compared to the rest of the league’s games that year. Despite this glimmer of hope, the A-League failed to build on the momentum. Since then, attendance has steadily declined, hitting a shocking low of just 38 spectators at a game in 2022.
Currently, eight of the league’s 13 teams average fewer than ten thousand fans per game. To put that into perspective, no AFL club averaged fewer than ten thousand attendees per game last season. Auckland FC, the A-League’s best-attended club last season, had a total season attendance that still fell short of the AFL’s most attended game. The Essendon vs. Collingwood match drew more fans in a single game than Auckland FC did over the entire season.
Despite being the third most-played sport among Aussie kids, A-League broadcast numbers resemble daytime TV ratings more than those of a professional sports league. Comparing A-League ratings to the AFL or NRL feels almost cruel. So, why has it failed? The A-League was supposed to challenge the AFL, but after 20 years, it has fallen flat.
When the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 World Cup, soccer fever in Australia was at an all-time high. Two decades later, our domestic league is almost entirely forgotten. This is partly due to the league’s culture.
The AFL excels at turning kids who play footy for fun into lifelong fans, creating a steady revenue stream for the league. It starts by getting families to game. Offering free passes, promotions, and a welcoming environment for parents and children. Most importantly, their games are family-friendly, making it easy for parents to bring their kids.
As they grow, these kids become devoted supporters, spending millions on their favourite clubs, filling massive stadiums, and tuning in weekly. Young fans are the foundation of any successful sports business model.
One thing the A-League struggles with? Attracting families to games. Thousands of children across Australia play soccer, yet instead of filling stadiums with families, the league has failed to convert these young players into lifelong supporters. The A-League had a chance to replicate the AFL’s success with Auskick by engaging young fans early. Instead, it fostered a rowdy ‘hooligan’ culture that alienated families.
For families to attend, they need to feel safe. The A-League has been marred by fan arrests and violent incidents. What parent would take their seven-year-old to a game where flares are hurled and violence is common? Rather than tapping into the lucrative family market, the A-League built its fan base around 18- to 22-year-old males. An approach that has backfired commercially.
Another major misstep was placing their TV product behind a paywall too early. Pay TV brings in big money, funding player salaries and filling executive pockets but it doesn’t drive long-term growth. Locking the A-League behind a paywall was a short-sighted decision. Securing broadcast rights on commercial free-to-air TV would have introduced the A-League to families who had never watched the sport before. Getting future fans to casually tune in on a Saturday or Sunday night is key to building long-term financial success.
Soccer is already the third most-played sport in Australia. Kids clearly love playing it. watching it? That’s another story. Many would likely become fans if given the chance, yet they can’t unless their parents pay for it. If a family doesn’t already follow soccer, they’re unlikely to pay for it. As a result, kids who play soccer at school or on weekends come home and end up watching AFL or rugby instead. this is even more true for families where neither parent grew up playing soccer. Statistically, the majority of Australian households.
It’s not just the A-League’s own missteps that brought them here. The truth of the matter is they may or may not have been able to compete with the likes of the AFL and rugby league. They were in a strong position to give it a try. Whilst they made quite honestly every wrong step they possibly could have, they aren’t just competing with Australia’s two largest sports. Soccer is a global sport with massive leagues across the globe. With so many high-quality leagues to choose from, soccer fans have endless options. Soccer fans are spoilt for choice and the A-league has fallen short. The standard of play in top international leagues is significantly higher. A league is in trouble when its own fans can easily find a superior product elsewhere.
The A-League, once a sleeping giant poised to challenge the AFL, has drifted back into hibernation. Over the past decade, expansion efforts have largely failed to gain traction. Without a major shift in its internal culture, the league is unlikely to reawaken anytime soon.
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