Garcia emphasises long-term outlook ahead of A-Leagues' first Unite Round
Ahead of the first ever Unite Round, A-League commisioner Nick Garcia is setting tempered goals for the weekend, emphasising the long-term nature of the APL's goals.
A-Leagues commissioner Nick Garcia has preached the need for patience and a long-term outlook as the A-League Men’s and Women’s prepares to stage its first ‘Unite Round’.
Following in the footsteps of the NRL’s Magic Round and the AFL’s Gather Round, every fixture of the A-Leagues’ men’s and women’s competitions will take place across Sydney this weekend — double-headers to be staged across Sydney Football Stadium, Parramatta Stadium, and Leichhardt Oval across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Announced on the eve of the A-League Men’s season, the Unite Round was born after negotiations between league administrators the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and the New South Wales (NSW) state government to find an alternative to the disastrous deal to sell the grand final hosting rights to the state for three seasons.
Leading to widespread protests among fan groups over a decision widely seen as a betrayal of the league’s traditions and its core supporters, that deal saw Melbourne City and Western United lose hosting rights to deciders they would have hosted under the previous system, fixtures they subsequently handily lost to NSW-based sides.
The grand final returned to its traditional hosting format for this season as a result of the talks and the Unite Round came into being, adding an extra round to the men’s season and subsuming the 12th round of the women’s.
To some regard, that it replaced the grand final deal made Unite Round a winner in the eyes of many supporters long before a ball was kicked. But speaking at a Sydney Harbour media event on Thursday, Garcia said that the plan was to make it a standout event on the sporting calendar, even if it started from humble beginnings.
“I think [the first Unite Round is about] more than just attendance,” he said. “In any year one of an event, you've got to make sure it runs really well, it's slick, fans have a good time.
“I think attendance, I'd hope we're gonna get into the early thirty-thousands. I'd be happy with that. But really, it's about the whole picture.”
With 12 games on tap for Unite Round, fixtures would need to average roughly 2750 attendees per game for the league to hit Garcia’s “early thirty-thousands” target.
Also speaking on Thursday, NSW Minister for Tourism and Sport John Graham said that there were projections of 42k people visiting Sydney for the 2024 and 2025 Unite Rounds. He wouldn’t, however, be drawn on if meeting that figure represented a KPI in the agreement with the government and APL to stage the event.
Replacing the second in a three-year grand final deal, neither Garcia nor Graham would speak about locking future Unite Rounds into the Harbour City, with the former saying that while a long-term deal would be great, the league for now was emphasising the importance of those already on tap.
“We're not thinking that far ahead,” said Garcia. “We've got two of these to deliver and we're going to make them excellent.
“We'll have a really good read on that after this weekend, but I think next year will also be a really good indicator, I'd expect some significant growth.
“And then, of course, we want to make our events anchors in the calendar, long-term things that fans look forward to. So longer term would be great.
“We're definitely looking at this over a two-year horizon. There are always things that you want to do in year one but also I think in year one it's about nailing what you do and then you can build on it next year; when you have the kind of confidence and the habitual stuff in there.
“I'm sure there are ways we'll evolve it. I'm sure we'll look at different times in the season, all that kind of stuff is definitely on the table.
“The reality is, when you look at where you put this you've got to think, a massive thing is venue availability. Sydney is really important because you've got a lot of good quality rectangular stadiums, which makes it a great state for it. And this time of year the pitch quality should be very good as well.
“So there's a lot of things driving towards here but we'll look at other things – maybe earlier in the season as well – next year is something we'll look at.”
Joey Lynch has travelled to Sydney for Unite Round as a guest of the Australian Professional Leagues.