Reorganising the A-League and ASB Prem: Clausura/Apertura

Both of these leagues suffer from 3 issues in my mind: 

1, finals are a crappy way to decide a league and reward mediocrity

2, no promotion relegation to spice things up at the bottom of the table

3, not enough matches leads to very long off season (and 2 probably means that a longer season is an issue)

So - how about we consider adopting the Argentinian model of 2 leagues campaigns a year? (For those not familiar their season runs most of the year but has 2 distinct league programmes).  

Ditch finals, play each team home and away per league (2x18 matches = 36 matches per year), have an off season that matches the European off season, and a break in January - 2 windows to sign players.

So one league is 1 Feb to end May (18 matches over about 16 or 17 weeks).  Break June, July and half of August for the main off season.  Then 15 August to Mid December.  Schedule would obviously need to move for ASB prem.

I genuinely can see this working but feel free to pick this apart.

Thinking about this some more:

- we already have 2 champions a year so this changes very little

- you can't have a 36 game season that doesn't decide a winner so the playoffs are going to have to go at some stage

- keeps football on the box and on the back pages all year round

- no dead wood, players can be moved on after half a season, key when you have a salary cap and limited squad sizes.

They are run by 2 different national organisations, in 2 different confederations. Best you could hope for, would be for NZ Football to align ASB Premiership with the changes that the FFA are making to their state leagues.

FFA are re-organising their season, with one of the aims to have the NYL teams playing year round. Playing against each other during the A-League season, and in the state leagues during the off season.

Finals get the publicity at the end of the season though*, and keeps teams interested all season. Ditching finals is not a way to get more publicity for the league. 

* theoretically anyway, NZF dont really take advantage of it. But maybe once this OFCTV thing is up and running, that could change. 

My initial thoughts on challenges (ASB Premiership) would be:

1. Cost.  NZF do as little as they can to fund the current league, I don't see them finding money to double the scope.  It is a crying shame there isn't a media organisation with the vision to fund it.  I suspect OFCTV would show it but wouldn't have the money to fund it.

2. The winter clubs would have a challenge as well as they would see their best players leave and not be available for them.  For the good of the game they should just suck that up but I doubt they would.

3. Where would it leave the Chatham Cup?

A-League I don't see any chance they dump the finals.  It's a cash cow and identified by Bruce lunchpail as they way things are done in Strayan sport.

Personally i don't dislike the idea, I just don't see the FFA or NZ Football loving it.

Cost in the ASB Premiership  would simply be too high with the current state of the game here, and no way the FFA drop the Finals series any time soon.

And in general I find the Apertura/Clausura system even more ridiculous than a Finals system.

From a non-fanatic perspective:

1. Is there any difference between the two leagues?  If not the concept of having two leagues in a 12 month period seems strange and also excessive.
2. Eggball has probably reached saturation point in terms of length of season (and there are three different competions: Tri-series, Super Duper and NPC or whatever its called) - so how will the two league format pull in more followers?

That said anything that moves us away from a 6 month off-season is worth looking at.

ASB Prem is really a red herring - focus on the A-League for now

I like the idea of two campaigns per year (for the A-League anyway) - more footy for more of the year.

Would it work as one long campaign with a short break in the middle?

Or would a season lasting that long be too drawn out?

The logic (at least in my mind) of this proposal is you get away from the issue that an expanded 36 match season is a long slog without relegation to provide some interest at the bottom of the table.  Qualification for the playoffs provides some interest but a 36 match season and then playoffs seems a bit strange.

I personally don't think the Premiers/Champions distinction works - I can't remember which way around it goes?

HN - I agree that playoffs increases exposure, but crowds for non-GF matches were poor last year and the format has actually been lessened, which indicates something.

The FFA clearly want more matches - the FFA cup is one route to that.  But it has no history or tradition, plus in an even league like the A-League you don't get true upsets which is what cups are built on.  Adding state league teams is a must.

I realise none of this is going to happen - but I do think there needs to be a bit of thinking about how to retain interest when it's going to be the same 10 teams knocking around until 2015

Mandatory mascots for all teams should do it. 

You're right.

An 18 game season would be nice and quick and would probably have interest in it until the end.

And then you have a short break and do it again!

No need to get sucked into a 36 game slog just because it's more "traditional".

Plus, the Nix' chances of maybe one-day winning the league just doubled!

Pre season is FAR too long I agree.

I would not ditch finals at this stage. In a league like the A-League, I think the finals are a must, for now, and until there is the possibility of promotion/relegation etc, as well as a cup.

36 games wouldn't be too bad IMO, only 9 more games, especially with no cups clogging up the fixture list. Finals should possibly just be top 4 though.

A 20/20 football version?

How would the ACL spots be decided with two leagues in a year?

Would we have to renew season tickets twice a year (bonus = two lanyards)?

When will I have time to mow the lawns?

What about a 27 game season? Start there and if successful build on that.

Edit: Sorry this was in reference to ASBP.

The point is that in a small league without relegation, lessening the number of teams that make the play-offs will make the second half of the season much less interesting, with more teams with nothing to play for. 

I don't think that the number of games is a huge issue at the moment - 27 games plus playoffs isn't that bad, and isn't that far off from smaller leagues in Europe for example. I think the bigger issue is the length of the off-season, which is just ridiculous. But that can be fixed with some minor adjustments - for example, just adhering to FIFA international windows like all the other leagues around the world would cut off a month of the off-season length, and have a mid-season break (maybe around the post Xmas/New Year period, when temperatures in Australia are really hot and people are going on holidays) and you can reduce the off-season to a more usual and managable 3 1/2 months.

Completely agree with that. 

Less midweek fixtures as well.

I guess the issue is that the January time when kids arent at school is probably a good time to have games. Plus a longer season means longer amount of time for FFA to keep marketing the League and keep the hype up

The FIFA windows at least should be recognised. It's silly that they aren't. Why is that anyway?

Part of the long offseason is that the FFA don't want the season to clash too much with other codes in Australia. 

But in the case of Super Duper - does it really matter if the A-League finishes later, while the egg ball gets started?

I can understand that the tail end of NRL might impact on the start of the A-League (in terms of crowds) - could football have the same expected impact?

(welcome back Tegal, missed you!)

Personally I think the finals series is becoming increasingly artificial - only the final itself has any real drama.  

Doesn't help that the top 2 after the regular season have contested the final almost every year, makes the other matches feel pretty pointless

Part of the reason for that is that the previous system heavily favoured the top 2 to make the Grand Final.

Nonsense. Each of the games in the finals series was dramatic. It has been great having our team involved in the final series the last few years. Where have you been ??

I have really enjoyed the  format they have. It works well to keep the final games of the regular season alive since there is no relegation / promotion. It isnt that different to the UK as teams try to make the top 4 or 5 so thy get into the European champions football. 

A xmas break and Fifa window would be the only changes I would make to it, much the same as th post above.

In my opinion the best way of extending the season is to expand the size of the league. Obviously it takes time and is easier said than done. But look how quickly the Wanderers have taken shape.

"Before the introduction of the A-League, FFA chairman Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into other cities, mentioning Canberra, Hobart, Wollongong, Geelong, Bendigo, Cairns, Ballarat, Albury, Wodonga, Launceston, Christchurch, Auckland, Sunshine Coast and possibly Darwin."

My thoughts:

Christchurch - Not quite yet, but in a few years it will be perfect. New CBD, new stadium, new team. I've already met people who are amped to make this happen.

North Queensland - These guys were robbed in an FFA conspiracy, they had some of the most loyal supporters in the league who would drive 4 hours to get to the game. Just need to sort out their finances and/or find a sugar daddy.

Geelong - Satellite city to Melbourne, big football culture there already.

Canberra - They have the population for it, give them a shot if they're up for it.

Auckland - Maybe they've finally learnt their lesson and would start showing up to games if they get another chance.

You're talking about moving from 27 games to 36. To do that you need 3 new teams under the current system.