Wellington Phoenix have welcomed amendments to their Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season draw announced today.
It was announced this morning that due to a new Free-To-Air deal for the Hyundai A-League on ABC in Australia, two Saturday Wellington Phoenix games have been brought forward to 4.45pm kick offs.
It was also announced that all Saturday twilight kick offs will be at 7pm, updated from 7.15pm.
Under the new FTA deal, ABC will broadcast one Saturday night Hyundai A-League match each round. Due to the over-representation of Wellington Phoenix on Saturday night fixtures, the decision was made to bring forward two Phoenix matches in order to ensure a more equitable FTA distribution around the clubs.
Rather than move games to different days or later time slots, the joint approach between the League, broadcasters and clubs was to remain on the same day but amend kick off times.
Wellington Phoenix General Manager David Dome said the club was really pleased with the outcomes.
‘’The time shifts to more fan-friendly times is indicative of a more collaborative approach between the League and broadcasters.
‘’Both Fox in Australia and Sky in New Zealand should be congratulated for having the best interests of football fans in Australia and New Zealand at heart when evaluating what was best for the fans in making these time adjustments.
“I think New Zealand fans will be thrilled with the earlier kick-off times.’’
Dome also said that as the long pre-season was coming to an end, it was obvious that this season was most of the most highly anticipated in the club’s history.
‘’There is exceptional interest around Wellington’s season to date: season ticket sales are up 10% on the same time last year and game day ticket sales are extremely strong especially around our first game and the Eden Park match on December 7.
‘’In fact, pre-sales for our opening game are the strongest we have ever had for an opening game in 10 years.
‘’For some reason, there seems to be a lot of interest in the return of Mark Rudan.’’
At A Glance
- Round 11 – fixture moves from Sat 21 Dec 7.15pm kick off to 4.45pm kick off
- Round 14 – fixture moves from Sat 11 Jan 7.15pm kick off o 4.45pm kick off
- All Sat Twilight (FTA) fixtures will move forward by 15 mins from 7.15 pm to 7.00pm
