A-League draw delayed amid more complications

The draw for the upcoming A-League season is still yet to be completed with less the three months before the competition kicks off.

Head of the A-League Greg O'Rourke Source: AAP

Ongoing negotiations over the broadcast deal and issues over ground availability are slowing down what is already the most complicated draw in the A-League's history with the addition of new team Western United.

The clubs have been told the draw is still at least a week away from being finalised, with A-League chiefs to hold another round of talks with them this week, News Corp reports.

Channel 10 has been the free-to-air (FTA) broadcaster for the previous two seasons, as part of a deal with Fox Sports, but having posted terrible ratings they are still to agree to stay on board this season. 

Competition bosses are still hopeful of attracting a new FTA broadcaster by attempting to spread the marquee fixtures between them and Fox and with the dawn of the new independent A-League run by the clubs, due to take effect August 1.

Meanwhile, clashes with other codes are causing issues venues like the Sydney Cricket  Ground (SCG) and Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. 

Western United's addition to the competition this season has created several headaches for those putting the draw together with the league to have an uneven number of teams until fellow expansion club Macarthur United join in the 2020/21 campaign.

This will mean each club plays a reduced 26 home and away games across 29 rounds, resulting in three byes for each side across the season, with the aim to give those clubs playing in the Asian Champions League byes in the weeks they play ACL.

Also, instead of every team playing each other three times as they currently do, each side will face off at least twice with the third opponent match-ups determined according to a weighting system that will likely mean popular derbies or marquee match-ups will be on the cards.

Key Points for the A-League 2019/20 Season

• 11 Clubs
• 29 Rounds (13 Home/Away matches per club - 3 Byes per club)
• Round One 11-13 October 2019
• Round 29: 24-26 April 2020
• No break for FIFA International dates
• No Split Rounds (Bye preference for 3 clubs participating in the AFC Champions League 2020)
• A-League 2020 Finals Series structure remains the same (Elimination Finals (3v6 & 4v5), Semi Finals (1 v lowest ranked winner from Elimination Finals, 2 v highest ranked winner from Elimination Finals,) and the Grand Final)
• A-League 2020 Grand Final – weekend of 16/17 May 2020

Opponent Match-up Weightings – Methodology

• Due to the uneven number of Rounds for Season 2019/20 (e.g. 29 Rounds / 26 matches per Club), each Club will play a minimum of two matches against each other Club.
• Select “third” opponent match-ups will be determined according to agreed methodology.

Key Principles

-    Priority 1: Maximise A-League broadcast metrics

-    Priority 2: Fairness and competition integrity for all clubs

-    Priority 3: Maximise A-League attendance metrics and other commercial priorities