Can Kewell save the A-League?

The circus that has surrounded the on-again, off-again (and now finally on-again) signing of Socceroos star Harry Kewell to the A-League has raised some interesting questions around the value of one player to a club and an entire league.

After literally months of speculation, the Melbourne Victory have finally confirmed that, yes, they do have Kewell's signature and he will play for them until 2014.

But just how valuable will Kewell in a Victory jersey be?

The Herald Sun's Grantley Bernard clearly believes the deal to be a good one for the Victory and the A-League.

Certainly it seems reasonable to assume that Victory games will attract bigger crowds with Kewell on the pitch - at least at first - assuming of course he overcomes the on-going injury problems that have plagued him in recent years.

Yet the sort of concessions that Kewell was reportedly seeking from Football Federation Australia were far from minor.

The Herald Sun also reported that Kewell was seeking "exemption from the collective bargaining agreement and standard player contract for control of image rights and the freedom to negotiate with rivals to FFA's protected sponsors."


The collective bargaining agreement is the foundation of the business model under which most national leagues operate and to allow exceptions to it is to undermine that model in a major way.

National governing bodies also work incredibly hard to establish exclusive categories in which to sign sponsors.  To allow a player - even a bona fide superstar - to negotiate with a company that is in direct competition to a league sponsor is like inviting ambush marketers to waltz through your door.

If Kewell starts appearing in Toyota or Honda ads in his Victory strip, the chances of the A-League re-signing Hyundai as naming rights partner when that deal is up would likely be slim to none.

It is not yet clear of course whether or not the A-League actually agreed to those exemptions but if they did, regardless of any added attendance or media coverage, FFA is going to have a lot of explaining to do to its corporate partners.

Despite the excitement amongst the media at the prospect of Kewell signing with the A-League, the coverage of the pursuit of Kewell has painted an unflattering picture of the FFA.  Soccer's governing body was cast as being overly obstructive to Kewell's return to Australia.  Kewell's management got into an all too public stoush with FFA's Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications Kyle Patterson with claims and counter-claims flying both ways.

FFA were clearly on a hiding to nothing as even any legitimate effort to protect their few existing commercial rights was portrayed as stinginess which could cost Australia's favourite footballing son the chance to play at home.

The FFA were virtually accused of being unpatriotic by not rolling over and accepting every demand of Kewell's management.  That's despite the FFA reportedly offering Kewell half a million dollars for a promotional contract with the league as a sweetener to attract him back to Australia.

Ultimately, FFA did have to find a way to get the Kewell deal done.  Not just because of the massive potential upside for the sport, but for fear of looking like they put the kibosh on Kewell playing in Australia. 

The case draws an interesting comparison to the on-going negotiations between NBL teams and Boomers and Portland Trail Blazers star Patty Mills.

Mills has been pursued by basically every club in the NBL since it became clear that the NBA lockout would likely see him needing to find a place to play this summer. 

Whilst Basketball Australia has said it wants to clear the way for Mills to play at home, would the NBL exempt a team from the salary cap to sign him?  Unlikely to stay the least. Or would the NBL allow Mills to do an ad for a competitor of naming rights sponsor iiNet in an NBL jersey?  No way.

Yes, Mills would bring extra people through the turnstiles.  Yes, he would sell more NBL merchandise and attract more viewers to watch the NBL on TV.  And yes, we would all really like to see him in an NBL singlet. 

Yet you have to maintain the integrity of the competition and you can't sell the farm for one player.  That is the sort of lesson that too many defunct NBL teams didn't learn. 

And thus they are defunct.

As an Australian sports fan, I am very happy to see Kewell playing at home. The A-League has however had more than its share of financial issues over recent years and one hopes that any concessions they have made to help Kewell play in Australia don't create more long-term problems for the sport than his presence can actually solve.