Looking Up Down Under

Filed in archive General on January 5, 2006

Source: Hyundai

A recent "state-of-the-game" summary delivered by Frank Lowy and John O'Neill of Football federation Australia shed some light on what looks like positive numbers for Oz's Hyundai A-League.

Geoff at Asian Football Business Review, a favorite of mine, posted the following summary highlights from the league's first season:

• Total crowd attendance for the first season of the league is on track to top one million with average attendances likely to be in the order of 11,000-12,000;
  


• FoxSports reports that A-League average broadcast audiences are comparable with Rugby Super 12, despite the Rugby competition's relatively long history;
  


• The A-League's family of websites in October 2005 received more than 850,000 unique visits. This compares with AFL number which were 961,000 in September - the peak month of the AFL season.

Not bad. And now that Australia has muscled itself into the Asian Football Confederation, it is now eligible to play in the Asian Champions League, surely a much better revenue generator than, oh, there is no Oceania Champions League.

Maybe the bright minds at MLS could learn a thing or two.