As has been well documented in the media in the past one to two months, the A-League is really starting to kick on, and is gaining more media reputation every day. The papers are leading with football stories, instead of cricket, NRL and AFL stories. The crowd averages are well up year on year, which will be expanded on further into the blog. The TV revenue will be over double what was negotiated in 2006, with over $40 million expected per annum. Everything is looking rosy.

The marquee players, Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono, signings have been able to gain international exposure for the league, and their respective teams, which is a massive positive. Their signings made newspapers in their home countries, and in Del Piero’s case, made newspapers all around the world, due to his international exposure and presence in the footballing world. Also, as has been written in the media, the Sydney FC home matches are now all shown on Italian TV, an audience which many in Australian football never thought possible.

Alessandro Del Piero’s arrival to Australia has highlighted the possibilities that football can experience in this country. With over 1,000 people turning up to welcome him to the country, and over 35,000 attending his first home match at Allianz Stadium, Del Piero is the perfect marquee man to be playing in the A-League. The matches being played on Italian TV suggest this, along with everything else that has been on display. Massive congratulations must go to Tony Pignata, Lou Sticca and all involved at Sydney FC for the signing of Alessandro Del Piero, and to all others involved in bringing Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono to Australia.

The crowds have also skyrocketed due to the arrival of the marquee men, and some well selected match up’s in the first few rounds of the competition. Average crowds for the A-League, after 3 rounds, stand at 16,377, which is 5,890 more than the a crowd average of last season. Even Phil Rothfield, a journalist at The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, in his daily column today (22/10/12) has suggested that the more experienced NRL management should try to learn off the A-League management by selecting good rivalries at the correct time in the season. This is a stark difference from the scathing criticism that Rothfield previously levelled at the football management, and A-League competition in general, and shows how far the whole sport has come in Australia.

The Newcastle Jets investment in bringing Emile Heskey to Australia is already being viewed as a success. After two Newcastle Jets home matches, the crowd average is up almost 3,000 people per match on last season’s averages (15,079 in 2012/13 to 12,117 in 2011/12). As for Sydney FC, their first home match vs. Newcastle was the equivalent of 3 home matches last season, in terms of crowd numbers, and signifies how much Del Piero pull has on the footballing and general public. As for the Western Sydney Wanderers’ home crowds, there are positive signs to be seen with a crowd average of 14,792 so far. This figure was greatly assisted by the first Sydney derby held at Parramatta Stadium, but signs are positive that the home crowd average will be over 12,000 at the end of this season.

Membership numbers are also well up on every other season of the A-League’s history. The marquee players have increased membership numbers by around 15% for their clubs, except Ono, where his club are in their first year of existence. With good results, and more media presence being placed on the league, the membership numbers will continue to improve significantly throughout the year, and in the coming seasons.

As all of the above suggests, the management of the A-League clubs must continue to try and recruit high level marquee players to help continue the growth of the A-League. With continued growth, comes increased attendances, increased TV revenue, increased sponsorship and therefore, increased money to spend on players as the salary cap is raised also. Therefore, the majority of the footballing community will be happy.

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Crowd averages found at www.ultimatealeague.com

Phil Rothfield’s column- http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/a-league-shows-up-nrl/story-fn7r8vs2-1226500298237

Photo of Tony Pignata with Alessandro Del Piero- http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/a-league/he-may-not-be-the-messiah-but-del-piero-be-praised-20120906-25hdg.html