Why is the A-League season so short?

**Elias** · 09-08-2004, 12:38 PM

It's basically a 3-month season (end-of-May to end-of-August). I could understand it if it was like the W-League with most players being from the NCAA, but NCAA players aren't allowed to play in the A-League if I'm not mistaken.

I'm guessing it must be about money. Their costs are probably half the way it's set-up now.

Would it not be better to play from early May (at the latest) until even October so players get at least 6 months and then they could still play indoors for like 3-4 months.

They play baseball in April and October, why not soccer?

**Cooks** · 09-08-2004, 12:56 PM

Actually, depending where you are, the season begins in late April to early May. (The first match of the season was April 17th - the first home match for a Canadian team was April 30th)

The A-League big wigs have stated that they don't want to compete with NFL and college football, so they wrap things up by the end of September. You can kinda see their point.

If you are a lucky fan (like those in Vancouver and Montreal), with preseason and playoff matches, you get 6 months of soccer. I'd like to see more, but I'm just glad I'm seeing any.

Cheers.

**massimo** · 09-08-2004, 01:15 PM

I'd say it could be from April - November. That gives the league 8 months of playing time.

Sure the months of april and november are not ideal, but playing in the month of january in england can't be so easy either.

Check out these sources;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/c...ml?tt=TT000900

Temperature: Average (°C) Toronto

Average
Min Max
Jan -9 -1
Feb -9 -1
March -5 3
April 1 10
May 7 17
June 12 23
July 15 26
Aug 14 25
Sept 11 21
Oct 4 13
Nov -1 6
Dec -6 1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/c...ml?tt=TT003790

Temperature: Average (°C) London

Average
Min Max
Jan 2 6
Feb 2 7
March 3 10
April 6 13
May 8 17
June 12 20
July 14 22
Aug 13 21
Sept 11 19
Oct 8 14
Nov 5 10
Dec 4 7

**Daniel** · 09-08-2004, 03:08 PM

April is brutal weather about half the time (who'll watch soccer in a snowstorm in Canada?) and is best kept for pre-season (in March, lots of players play indoors). I think the season couldn't really start earlier than it does. HOWEVER, university soccer is played until Halloween with the national championships in early November. I could see soccer until the end of October. The 1994 final was played on October 15th in Montreal, a beautiful fall afternoon.

On top of competing with college sports and the NFL/NBA, etc. (which is a huge acumulation in the States, at least), the end of the season usually means back to school, which means most kids (and let us remember that families are the bread and butter of most A-League teams) won't go out to a midweek schoolnight game, etc. Attendance will suffer and a lot of teams will lose much more money in that one extra month. This is the same reason that the playoffs are played Friday-Sunday and not a more reasonable Wednesday-Saturday/Sunday. Because most teams can't attract a decent crowd on a wednesday during the summer, let alone during the school year!

**Elias** · 09-08-2004, 08:32 PM

quote:Originally posted by Cooks

The A-League big wigs have stated that they don't want to compete with NFL and college football, so they wrap things up by the end of September. You can kinda see their point.

I was going to add that, plus baseball playoffs and finals, plus like Daniel said the NBA and school, etc.

But, about 50 million (or whatever) Americans watch college/NFL football on a weekly basis. About 50 000 Americans watch soccer on a weekly basis. I don't think there's too much cross over.

Soccer needs to take itself seriously (no more dumb gimmicks like points if a team scores more than 3 goals, etc.) before the public will.

I think in NFL towns they could play on Saturdays, and in college towns, they could play on Sundays. The whole league doesn't have to play on the same day.

Oh well...30 minutes to go...GO CANADA GO....to Germany pleeeeease!

**DJT** · 09-09-2004, 02:47 AM

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

Attendance will suffer and a lot of teams will lose much more money in that one extra month.

See this thread.

**Elias** · 09-09-2004, 12:00 PM

I looked at all the numbers and they seem interesting, diasppointing actually. There has to be some sort of reason like inflated regular season numbers, or free tickets, or something. Honestly, who goes to a meaningless regular season game and doesn't go to the playoffs?

But on the other hand, the CFL attendance always goes up after Labour Day. Especially in previous times when things weren't as positive as they are now for most franchises.

**Daniel** · 09-09-2004, 01:59 PM

Group sales are done for the regular season, but not the playoffs because you can't market in advance. Most people who go to A-League games don't care about the team except for the game at hand. It could be a 1-0 win against PR or a 1-0 regular season win against the Rhinos and they wouldn't realise the difference.

As for the "play on Saturday/Sunday", it's not so simple. On top of having colleges in pretty much EVERY city, everyone wathes on TV and everyone watches NFL on TV on Sunday.

An example of the "adversity" A-League teams face: RDS is sending a camera to Syracuse for highlights and interviews, but they need a sattelite hook-up (ie TV truck) to relay the signal back here. When they contacted the local TV stations, they were told that no station will be covering the game and that the sattelite trucks are doing High School football! And this is in a city that has an alleged (trust me) average of 6,000+ or so.