The latest entry from my old blog with updates in color:
October 12, 2003Pay or Free
Two issues that are at the heart of the future of footy in North America. One is the future of AFANA and the other the future of TV coverage.
As we plan the upgrade of the AFANA web site (the upgrade finally took place this past June in 2006!) and look toward 2004, one issue that keeps coming back is how long we can continue to make our web site available for free to all visitors. It's been a point of pride with us that we have been able to develop this web site and provide the information we do for fans and do it without restricting the site only to members. How much longer we can continue to do that is open to question. (While no change is planned at present, the issue remains on the table. The new web site would make it easy for us to restrict some content just to members, for example, access to back issues of the TV newsletter.)
If our voluntary membership levels were higher, then there would be no question to be answered. However, such a small percentage of our visitors ever join and even fewer join at the $30 level ($40 as of 2004) and up we are able to pay the bills and not much more. Most visitors probably don't realize that we don't pay our writers and web staff anything beyond a few expenses here and there. We are able to compete with the big footy sites (all of them based in Australia with paid staff and / or links to major media) only due to the dedication of our staff. (We have expanded our staff considerably since 2003, it is now twice the size and we continue to grow. Our budget still doesn't keep up.)
Costs continue to rise and advertising really doesn't get us there. So, like most other web sites including almost all of our competition, we may soon be forced to restrict some of our content to members (see above). At the very least we are going to raise membership rates in 2004 for the first time in many years. So when we ask you to support us, we are asking for survival money not cash for a Carribean vacation. The next time you read an article here or check the TV schedules think about it... are you supporting us or getting a free ride?
Our recent survey reaffirmed the desire of fans for live coverage and their apparently increasing willingness to pay for it. If that's correct, then it is only a matter of time before live pay per view Aussie rules coverage comes to US televisions. Most other sports, even minor ones, already are there including soccer, rugby, cricket, etc. (As most readers know, 2006 brought subscription coverage from Setanta Sports.)
AFANA and some other promoters tried to sell pay per view coverage several times a few seasons ago. All of those efforts failed due to the unwillingness of fans to pay for it. Not one of the efforts ever had more than 100 homes and businesses signup for the coverage. Having mentioned our difficulties in raising funds to operate AFANA and it's web site, what confidence is there that fans in North America would step to the plate and buy live coverage?
I think prospects are better today but it would still be high risk. A season of one live match per week would likely be priced at $199 or more per subscriber. (Readers should note how much lower the Setanta charge of $15 a month is compared to that 2003 estimate.) Even at that rate, the equivalent of at least 500 homes and businesses would have to sign up to make it work (one business equals about 10 homes and the rate is per home not per fan). The costs of the coverage include rights fees, satellite time and production costs, distribution costs which include fees to whichever company administers the pay per view (e.g. inDemand, DirecTV, etc.), plus some profit for the promoters. (At Setanta's rates, at least 1,000 new fans must sign up. If they don't have that by the end of this, the 2006 season, there is considerable doubt that live coverage will continue in 2007. This is why we have pushed fans so hard to sign up.)
So, US and Canadian fans tell us how you feel. Would you pay $199 for 25 (s/b 27!) live matches per year?
-Rob (contemplating where it's all going)
