Canberra Times on Canberra A-League

Business Editor John Thistleton wrote this article on the Canberra A-League. It appeared in Saturday's Forum pages. Reprinted here in case you missed it:)

A positive yet realistic piece I thought. What say you?

And The stakes are high and potential ad-viewing audiences huge – for businesses backing Canberra's entry into Australia's A-League soccer competition. Armed with market research predicting home crowds of more than 15,000 fans – many more than the well-established Brumbies and Raiders – Canberra's bid team is also confident soccer's ascendancy will give the ACT a higher profile in South East Asia and Europe.


Their challenge is tailor-made for the national capital, which has world-class facilities at the Canberra Stadium – an in-principle agreement to use the venue was signed yesterday – and Australian Institute of Sport. For once the lack of a coastline

and having a town full of politicians – often hurdles when it comes to marketing Canberra – do not count against the city. And while Western Sydney and the South Coast are the favourites to fill the 12th spot in the fast-growing competition – Canberra and Tasmania are rated outsiders – NSW's ailing economy could harm the front-runners' claims.



In the so-called world game, having a national capital without a team in the top domestic competition is not a good look. Britain's

Guardian newspaper, noting which cities hosting a national government had no top-flight team, lumped Canberra with Abuja (Nigeria),

Ottowa and New Dehli. A-League bid team media liaison officer Eamonn Flanagan says the lack of a team could hinder Australia's

bid for the 2018 World Cup.



''Can they afford to put a bid in without the capital of Australia in there? You know, it's just politic. It looks better to have a team playing here, it helps their cause.''



Canberra's A-League bid leader Ivan Slavich says a five-year business case by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows annual operating costs to field a team and cover marketing, administration and travel would be about $6-$9 million.



''We have estimated there's a shortfall in the first three to four years, which will be funded by a $6 million sinking fund. We expect the club to be profitable in year five and there's certain aspects to cover. . . the provisions for a marquee player.''



Flanagan says player payments could amount to $2.5 million a year depending on the salary cap. The A-League's highest-paid marquee

player, Sydney FC's John Aloisi, earns $1.2 million a year. Each club is allowed one such player, whose wages are not counted within the salary cap, for pulling crowds and keeping sponsors happy.



The ACT Government has chipped in $2.5 million, sponsorship totals $2.5 million and, according to Flanagan, 1000 foundation members have contributed $200 each, an astonishing response considering there is no team as yet.

Slavich says five investors have each contributed $500,000, and backers are among the most prominent business people inCanberra who don't want their names splashed across newspapers just yet.



Owning a national sporting team sounds glamorous, but don't do it for the money warns developer Col Alexander, who tried for 25 years to establish the Canberra Cannons in the National Basketball League.



The managing director of Canberra Investment Corporation and onetime NSW basketballer says the Cannons took the league by surprise, winning three of the five grand finals they contested, only to be trounced off the court by a lack of money.



''To be brutally frank, the problem with the NBL was they did not have a strong hold over the players andsalary caps, and really, the players and salaries drove the owners to such an extent, the cost to make both ends meet was just not achievable.



''The Cannons could raise $1.5 million each year, but it cost $1.8 million to run it. All the big boys around the country thought they

would raise basketball to a level that was going to compete with football. It was just never going to be the case.

To be blunt, they believed their own bullshit.''



The Cannons paid through the nose to use AIS facilities and could not accommodate more than 5000 fans at home. Alexander says that

Canberra Stadium's 20,000-plus capacity will help soccer's cause.



At their peak, the Cannons gave all of their rivals a touch-up – and Alexander as well, financially, physically and mentally.



''When the Cannons were finally buried, people came up to me six months, nine months later, saying, gee you look well'. I didn't realize what it was sucking out of me.''



His best wishes for the soccer bid are tempered by this observation:



''Canberra likes winners. The moment you start to lose, they desert you in droves. The loyalty in this city doesn't exist. You can see that in the Brumbies and Raiders over the

years.''

Raiders chief executive Don Furner says it is hard to get people to games in snow and driving rain, and even harder since the introduction of pay television, which ended the Green Machine's golden era of the 1980s, when crowds averaged between

15,000 to 22,000.

In the 2008 season, the Raiders'biggest home game – against the eventual grand finalist, Melbourne Storm – drew 15,550 fans. Canberra

Stadium group general manager Neale Guthrie says the A-League's summer season will appeal to people, and in revenue terms, having

a Canberra team would be like having another Raiders club using the stadium.



Furner has no doubt an A-League club would compete in a limited pool for business sponsors.



Canberra Business Council and ACT Tourism Advisory Council spokesman David Marshall says when they are on a roll, the Brumbies

and Raiders generate excellent publicity for the national capital. He says the ACT Government has cleverly marketed its Live In Canberra campaign on the back of the Brumbies playing in South Africa and New Zealand.



He says Slavich has done a fantastic job generating community support, which is essential. ''Now if we could secure some national sponsors, not necessarily locally based, who could see potential, that would be something organizers are looking at. There are companies

around who are very keen to infiltrate this market because they deal with the Commonwealth Government and so there is a certain attraction in sponsoring something on a national basis, but Canberra-focussed.''



On the question of consistently drawing 15,000 crowds in the quietest summer months of the year,



Marshall says many Canberrans are still around over December and January. ''There used to be an exodus [but] if you go to Boxing Day sales, the place is packed, so that doesn't necessarily need to be an issue. If you've got the product people will come.''



Slavich says Canberra has 18,000 active junior players and with their parents, add up to 50,000 people with a direct interest in soccer.

''It's the world game. Football is going to get bigger and bigger in this country. Have a look at Adelaide (United, beaten finalist in this season



Asian Champions League). They have this Asian exposure, and if we get this for Canberra, there are many Canberra-based companies looking to go into Asia. If we have an A-League team, as an icebreaker, they will have a corporate box for clients from Asia. There's also the opportunity for demonstration matches.''



The Canberra bid team will meet Football Federation Australia on Tuesday to press its case and expects a decision early next year. Flanagan says it is a mistake to compare any future A-League side with the Canberra Cosmos national league venture,which ended after the 2000-01 season, because of soccer's revolution in Australia since then. ''A 20-year-old today doesn't know what you're talking about when you talk about the Cosmos. ''We now qualify (for the World Cup) through Asia, which is one of the reasons, even if you are not a soccer fan, that you've heard more about the



Socceroos in the last few years than you did in the previous 30 years.''

Joining the Asia Football Confederation gave the Socceroos and the women's national team, the Matildas, a higher profile in a fiercely

contested competition.

''Next week we're playing Bahrain, we're playing Japan in February in Tokyo – it is a completely different time for football.''

■ John Thistleton is

Business Editor.