Football Federation Australia's departing chief executive Ben Buckley will be hoping record A-League attendance and broadcast figures translate into big bucks at the television rights negotiation table.
Buckley, who will be replaced next month by the former NRL boss David Gallop, was beaming after announcing yesterday that the TV audience for round one was 53 percent up on last season's average.
And the total attendance figures at five stadiums easily beat last season's single-round record. There were 42-thousand alone for the Melborne Derby in Etihad stadium.
A-league games have been broadcast to Italy, and throughout Asia, and the league is negotiating a new multi-year broadcast contract right now.
