EXCLUSIVE | A former boss of football in Australia has called on Steven Lowy and David Gallop to get the A-League on one of Australia's commercial free-to-air channels

Former Soccer Australia chairman Remo Nogarotto has warned the A-League must target a broadcast deal with one of Australia's leading free-to-air channels.

The A-League's current broadcast deal with Fox Sports and SBS expires at the end of the 2016-17 season and Nogarotto believes Football Federation Australia (FFA) must prioritise getting the competition on one of Channels 7, 9 or 10 as they negotiate a new contract.

With Optus and SBS having announced a new partnership last week for the Premier League from next season, FFA may have a new potential buyer as they aim for $80million per year for their next broadcast agreement.

Article Overview:

- Money makes the world go round

- Doubts remain about FFA's marquee strategy

- Socceroos critical to marquee plan

Fox Sports will undoubtedly be keen to maintain their involvement after losing the Premier League rights, while it is understood Qatar-based beIN Sports will submit a competitive bid too.

But Nogarotto wants FFA to remain focused on securing a substantial free-to-air agreement.

"The next broadcast deal will define our games future over the next five to ten years," he told Goal Australia.

"It has the potential to completely recalibrate the economics for clubs by ensuring that there is sufficient revenue coming into the game to invest in its future growth.

Read more: 'How to fix the A-League' Part 1 - Fan ownership would spark crowds, revenue

"At a programming level we need to ensure that we have free-to-air distribution with one of the major commercial networks and in acceptable viewing time slots.

"We cannot rely on Fox or SBS as our only channels to market. They simply do not have the market penetration that we need, or indeed commercial partners demand, to take the game to the next level."

The release of FFA's new strategic plan for 2016-19 earlier this month underlined the importance of the A-League's rights negotiations, while Optus' shock move to secure the Premier League for the next three seasons indicates football remains a popular target for broadcasters.

Read more: 'How to fix the A-League Part 2 - FFA Cup could force promotion-relegation

In the final piece of Goal Australia's 'How to fix the A-League' series, Nogarotto, Professional Footballers Australia's Player Relations Manager Simon Colosimo, United States-based football administrator Peter Wilt and football agent David Clarkson all discuss the importance of television coverage for football's future in Australia and whether FFA is right to prioritise marquee players.

Money makes the world go round

When FFA released their strategic plan for the next four years in early March, there were plenty of critics frustrated by its relatively one-dimensional focus.

But chairman Steven Lowy refused to apologise for strengthening Australian football's "economic foundation" by maximising the next A-League broadcast deal.

Nogarotto believes that FFA is right to focus on improving the A-League's bottom line.

"Economic security is overwhelmingly the biggest issue confronting the A-League moving forward both at a league and club level," he said.

"We need a financially strong league with financially strong clubs, and by financially strong clubs I do not mean simply with owners who have the personal financial capacity to cover large losses but more an economic model that is self-funding and sustainable over the longer term regardless of periodic changes in ownership structure."

FFA is looking to double its A-League broadcast deal from 2017-18 onwards, with plenty of speculation the extra cash could lead to the competition expanding to 12 clubs as well as being used to improve football at various other levels.

It is a strategy that is also supported by Wilt - a former president of both Chicago Fire and Indy Eleven in the USA.

"Broadcast, whether free-to-air, digital or cable/satellite, will always be the main driver for the A-League's future growth," he told Goal Australia.

Doubts remain about FFA's marquee strategy

Next season, FFA will have a central pool of money available to A-League clubs to help attract marquee players to the competition.

The impact David Beckham had on Major League Soccer (MLS) when he joined LA Galaxy in 2007 is seemingly what FFA are hoping to replicate.

When Beckham made his MLS debut, the competition had 13 teams.

By the time he departed at the end of 2012, six more sides had joined MLS.

But it remains to be seen whether FFA's marquee fund, which will involve a "seven-figure sum", can attract the calibre of players to produce a similar impact in the A-League, especially with the type of money being thrown around by the Chinese Super League and MLS in recent years.

"If you look over the course of the A-League, there have been some pretty ordinary marquees," Clarkson told Goal Australia.

But according to Nogarotto, the A-League needs some "star quality".

"Marquees, the right ones at least, are important for two reasons," he said.

"They give the competition some star quality, which is critical from a marketing perspective and they improve the overall standard of the competition.

"No one could possibly argue that Alessandro Del Piero, Dwight Yorke, Shinji Ono - or Thomas Broich for that matter - haven't done precisely that for the A-League and their respective clubs.

"Too many A-League games are of variable quality. Fiercely competitive certainly but with far too occasional flashes of sublime skill, which is what fans want to see and where quality marquees can make the difference."

Colosimo, a former A-League player with Perth Glory, Sydney FC and Melbourne Heart, wants A-League clubs to target younger marquee players that they can build a club around.

"When there's a longer-term [focus] and you can build around [the player] for a period of time then I'm all for it," he told Goal Australia.

"But if it's for the sake of a 10-game stint to get a little spike in revenues, how does it cascade it beyond that?"

Socceroos critical to marquee plan

Colosimo would like to see A-League clubs and FFA utilise the marquee fund to attract Socceroos back to Australia.

Since Ange Postecoglou took over as Socceroos coach, many A-League-based players have enjoyed success with Australia's national team.

Melbourne City playmaker Aaron Mooy is the current A-League poster-boy for the Socceroos, with the 25-year-old having scored 11 goals and notched 18 assists this season.

While many Australian football fans hope to see Mooy progress and play at a higher level in Europe, Colosimo reckons the A-League would benefit greatly from keeping him and other Socceroos in the domestic competition.

"When a young fan sees an Aussie player and gets to see him through his career and follows that club for that player for a long period is vital [to the A-League's future]," Colosimo said.