A-Leagues' financial woes: How solvent is Australia's top tier?

But six years on from the "unbundling," the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) -- the body set up to run the A-Leagues -- is teetering on the edge of collapse.

It is no secret that the APL has struggled financially for years, with reports around cuts to club distributions, mass staff layoffs, and the shut-down of key strategic projects indicating not all was well behind the scenes.

Recently, the breakdown of negotiations with the players' union Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), in addition to strike action from the competition's referees and the writing down of millions of dollars of debt by Football Australia, are the latest and loudest alarm bells that signal a far bigger crisis facing the A-Leagues.

While under no obligation to do so, the APL has never publicly released their own financial accounts. This sets them apart from Australia's other major sporting leagues and subsequently obscures exactly how precarious the organisation's future has become.

Over the past six months, ESPN has been speaking to dozens of sources across multiple organisations and collating publicly available reporting to put together an analysis of the APL's financial situation, including how they got there, and how -- if at all -- they plan to turn things around.

All figures listed in this article are in Australian dollars.

A chaotic unbundling

In 2019, when Football Australia and A-Leagues clubs were reaching the end of their unbundling negotiations, the original plan was for a slow separation of the two organisations.

A three-year runway was proposed and agreed upon by all parties, allowing the APL to gently untangle themselves from the national body with whom they still shared a major broadcast deal with Fox Sports.

That TV deal, totalling around $57 million per year, was meant to run until the end of 2023, deliberately coinciding with the end of the unbundling runway. But after the COVID-19 pandemic all but shut down the A-Leagues in the middle of the 2019-20 season, Fox Sports terminated their contract early through a force majeure clause, reportedly arguing that they'd overpaid for the A-Leagues rights and were unsatisfied with declining viewership numbers.

Following a brief stand-off that saw Fox remove all football content from its platforms, Football Australia negotiated a stop-gap deal for a reduced fee of roughly $32 million over 12 months to see them through to the following season.

According to sources, this early exit by Fox Sports prompted A-Leagues clubs to accelerate their separation from Football Australia so they could go to market sooner as an independent entity.

Believing that the majority of the old broadcast value was attributable to their own competitions, the APL pushed through the rest of the negotiations and ended up agreeing to a deal with Football Australia that, as this report will show, ultimately came back to bite them.

With the clock ticking on their stop-gap broadcast deal, the first priority of the APL following their hurried unbundling was to secure a major injection of cash up front, similar to seed funding for a start-up company.

A year later, in December 2021, they secured $140 million from U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, whose investment bought them a 33.3% stake in the APL, as well as certain voting rights and a board seat.

This was not the first time Silver Lake had invested in football, or even in sport: they own a 17% share of the City Football Group (CFG), which owns Manchester City in England and Melbourne City, in addition to holding stakes in New Zealand rugby, UFC, WWE, and over 40 Minor League Baseball teams, among others.

Originally, Silver Lake's $140 million was intended to transform the A-Leagues' digital presence. In an experimental strategy, Silver Lake wanted to fund a new digital platform that acted as a one-stop subscription shop for content, marketing, data, ticketing, and even, over time, direct-to-consumer broadcasting; connecting football's large domestic participation base directly to the men's and women's competitions.

The A-Leagues were chosen as the testing-ground for this new venture. If successful, it could have completely reshaped the relationship between a sports league and its fans, bypassing broadcasters altogether to centralise commercial revenues and "own" the audience. Had it worked, this strategy was to be introduced to bigger competitions overseas.

But building such a platform would take years, and the A-Leagues needed secure income to support them in the meantime. And so, like sports leagues everywhere, they turned back to broadcasting.

Which is why in late 2021, around the same time as the Silver Lake deal was announced, the APL signed a new deal with Network 10 and its streaming partner, Paramount, reportedly worth around $200 million in cash and contra (or non-cash value, such as advertising) over five years.

However, the devil was always in the details.

Not only was this deal worth at least $15 million less per season than their old agreement with Fox Sports, it also contained requirements to hit certain viewership and subscriber benchmarks within certain timeframes or risk having those per-season amounts reduced.

These were the shaky foundations on which the APL began to rebuild the A-Leagues.

The costs of doing business

Almost as soon as these two major deals were announced, the costs of the new era began piling up, and the agreements the APL had reached with Football Australia and Network 10 began to bite.

As part of the unbundling agreement that the APL had reached with Football Australia, the national body received 5% of the Silver Lake deal, or roughly $6.7 million. Another $7 million reportedly went to an American investment bank that had helped negotiate the terms.

Additionally, to signal the start of a new era, the APL spent about $5 million on a total competitions rebrand -- including a reported $750,000 on a new song -- bringing the A-League and W-League together under the one "A-Leagues" umbrella.

But the biggest expense of these early years was in what former CEO Danny Townsend said was "the biggest investment the game has ever made in itself": KeepUp.

KeepUp was intended to be the digital platform that collated all Australian football content in one place, with an entire suite of websites, apps, and other products developed in the first years of the Silver Lake deal.

$20 million was spent on building this digital infrastructure, while another $15-20 million went to creating a huge content and editorial team including writers, video editors, social media producers, and podcasters to develop and pump out content not just about the A-Leagues, but also the national teams, state competitions, and grassroots football.

And yet, barely three years after KeepUp's launch, the entire project was shut down. It never achieved its goals of connecting the broader community, in part because the APL overestimated the local audience's appetite for the A-Leagues versus national teams, grassroots, and overseas competitions.

When it felt like things couldn't get worse, there was COVID.

The pandemic was a body-blow to the A-Leagues. Not only did it give Fox Sports an excuse to exit from their generous broadcast contract early, but it was also a major hit to clubs in terms of fan attendance and corporate activations at games and all the related revenues that come from it, which one source estimated to be anywhere between $3-6 million per season.

As part of their new deal with Network 10 and Paramount, the games had to be played in order for the APL to receive the maximum annual revenue. But having signed a deal worth millions less per season than their previous arrangement, and with unexpected COVID costs piling up, multiple sources confirmed the APL ultimately had to dig into their Silver Lake money to help pay for things outside its intended purpose.

Roughly $20 million was spent on housing Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory in NSW, as well as funding localised broadcast production costs, as a result of various state border closures and restrictions.

Another $20 million was reportedly distributed to clubs to help keep them afloat in the absence of more regular matchday revenue, while an additional $15 million in loans were made to owners to help cover wage bills and other operational costs.

The longer-term ramifications of this period saw some clubs take hits from which they couldn't recover. Perth Glory went into receivership in July 2023, with the APL stepping in and spending around $11 million to prop up the club until a new owner was found the following year.

Similarly, multiple club owners banded together to financially support the Newcastle Jets until the club was bought in June 2024, while the APL also spent millions supporting the Central Coast Mariners for six months after former owner Mike Charlesworth handed his license back in 2025. In this chaotic period, Western United also collapsed.

By this point, according to current APL chairman Stephen Conroy, almost the entire $140 million Silver Lake investment was gone by the end of 2023, with reports and sources confirming it was spent mostly on things it wasn't intended for.

But the financial pain didn't stop there.

Because the A-Leagues did not hit the agreed-upon broadcast metrics in the first three seasons of the TV deal, the amount they received from Network 10 and Paramount was reduced by millions per season, with some sources suggesting anywhere between one-third to one-half of the sum slashed for each year of the contract.

This forced the A-Leagues to move more games behind Paramount's paywall to try and recoup some of the money that had been lost. The ripple effect of this move meant their free-to-air visibility shrank, which impacted the value they could offer to other major sponsors.

Further, because the broadcast deal didn't include production costs, the APL had to continue forking out anywhere between $12 million and $17 million per season for an external company to shoot and produce the matches themselves, meaning they only made a few million dollars in TV revenue every year.

The company they partnered with, Global Advance, then went into administration in March 2024, forcing the APL to rapidly move to broadcast company NEP to see out the season; another unexpected cost sunk by the business.

Finally, there were layers of debt built into the APL's separation agreement with Football Australia that continued to pile up.

According to multiple high-level sources familiar with both organisations, these debts included referees fees (roughly $5 million per season), 10% of international transfer fees (between $1-2 million per season), 10% of club expansion fees (between $1-2 million per season), and solidarity payments equivalent to club distributions (around $2 million per season until 2024). These sources claimed that the APL had not paid the majority of these debts between 2023 and 2025.

In total, then, the APL made eight-figure losses almost every year since their separation from Football Australia. While their 2022 financial year figures are unclear, ESPN understands they recorded a $64 million loss in 2023 and a $44 million loss in 2024.

By the end of the 2024 financial year, the APL recorded just over $5 million of total cash remaining. Combined with over $20 million in debts still owing to Football Australia, there were genuine concerns that the A-Leagues could become insolvent.

The panic button

This existential threat forced the APL to cut or recoup costs in any way they could.

The first round of mass redundancies occurred in January 2024, with the APL losing almost half their workforce. The vast majority of them worked in the editorial and media teams of KeepUp, which closed down in the same month.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, then-APL commissioner Nick Garcia, who took over from Townsend, suggested the project was almost doomed from the beginning. "The overarching point here is we're a football business, not a media business," he said in early February. "We exist to create a great competition that our clubs thrive in and fans love to watch. The first thing about the A-Leagues strategy is it leads with a football strategy, and that is about being really clear about the sort of league you are.

"In the men's we're a development league, first and foremost. In the women's league we are potentially a destination league in Asia, but much more focused on retaining the great national team players rather than attracting international players. But over everything, we're about developing stars of the future."

Elsewhere, the APL made massive cuts to the amount of money they distributed annually to clubs, reducing the fee from roughly $2.3 million in 2024 to just over $500,000 in 2025.

"The league made difficult cost-cutting decisions in 2024 and 2025 to right-size the business," APL CEO Steve Rosich told ESPN in a statement. "This has materially improved our financial performance and position -- moving from an operating loss in prior years, to an operating profit in FY25. This also coincides with a new broadcast agreement -- starting this year through to 2029 -- which provides stability and a platform for growth.

"Last season we also saw growth in attendance, free-to-air viewership and had our biggest ever streaming audience on Paramount+. We have also recently secured new owners for Canberra United and the Central Coast Mariners, and commenced our 2026-27 season with the largest average crowds since 2019-20."

In order to continue operating as a solvent company, the APL needed to prove to their auditor they were able to pay their debts as well as cover their operating costs. And so, in 2024, multiple sources confirmed the APL began challenging Football Australia on some of the debts it claimed the APL had owed since the unbundling.

Football Australia received multiple pieces of legal advice confirming they were owed certain payments from the APL under the terms of the original separation agreement, and yet Football Australia's board ultimately decided to write down $4 million in APL debts in 2024 and another $6 million in 2025.

But that may not be all.

According to Football Australia's own 2025 financial accounts, there was an additional $16.7 million figure listed as a receivable "greater than 121 days overdue," which multiple high-level sources confirmed to ESPN was almost entirely APL debt.

However, "both parties have reached an agreement on the financial matters" as part of a confidential settlement that the APL and Football Australia reached in May. Sources suggest some terms of the original separation agreement have also been changed to ensure the APL no longer has to pay some of the fees that they had owed Football Australia since the unbundling.

Multiple sources confirmed these write-downs and renegotiated terms were required to keep the APL solvent. Under Australia's Corporations Act of 2001, company directors have a duty to prevent their business from trading while insolvent as failure to meet this obligation can result in personal liability.

"The agreement reached in May with Football Australia on historical matters, was an important milestone for the growth of our game, and in the interest of the A-Leagues and our clubs," Rosich's statement to ESPN said.

"For the avoidance of doubt, the APL does not have any outstanding debts with Football Australia."

Exactly what Football Australia received in exchange for this settlement has never been shared, nor have any of the key contracts or agreements that lie at the heart of these multi-million-dollar deals been made public.

Further, it is unclear how Football Australia's board may have managed any potential conflicts in the writing-down of these debts given A-Leagues clubs collectively hold just over 77.4% shares in the APL, as well as 28% of the total votes within Football Australia's own Congress, the body responsible for electing Football Australia's board members.

When queried about the historic debts and the May 2026 settlement, a federation spokesperson told ESPN last Wednesday: "Football Australia's financial position is set out in our audited accounts and annual reports.

"Any financial matters between Football Australia and the APL have been resolved to the satisfaction of both organisations. Football Australia has not written off any amounts due from the APL, and the APL has honoured the agreed terms.

"Both organisations continue to work constructively together on matters important to the future of the professional game, including integrity, refereeing and youth development pathways. And we will continue to work together with the APL to grow the game."

The Silver Lake clause

There is one final major sum still hanging over the APL's heads which could fundamentally affect the future of the A-Leagues.

Silver Lake's agreement with the APL has been a closely guarded secret since its announcement in late 2021, but documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) -- specifically an independent report by financial consultants RSM Australia filed as part of Melbourne Victory's unsuccessful sale to 777 Partners -- have unearthed some crucial details.

While the terms of Silver Lake's investment agreement aren't public, various sources, documents, and industry experts have confirmed some important aspects.

The terms of Silver Lake's investment were described by a report as generous, granting them an entirely new type of share -- titled "Investor S Units" -- that gave them special rights above and before any other shareholder.

The biggest of these are their "redemption rights," or the right to force the A-Leagues to buy out Silver Lake's 33.3% stake at market value when their deal runs out in June 2029.

If the overall value of the leagues has decreased since their original $140 million investment, meaning they could lose money on any sale of their stake, Silver Lake could instead convert their units to equity, diluting the shares owned by A-Leagues clubs and giving the U.S. firm a greater percentage of ownership of the APL.

The generous terms of Silver Lake's deal also gives them preferential rights over all other shareholders if the leagues were to go into liquidation -- if, for example, the APL were unable to pay their debts.

In that case, Silver Lake are entitled to be paid back not only their original $140 million investment, but also any accrued dividends, of which they are entitled to 3% every season since the start of the deal, totalling over $30 million by 2029. Any remaining cash -- if there's any left at all -- would then be distributed to all other shareholders.

This structure explains why the APL's total net equity currently sits at negative $170 million, a figure that multiple sources confirmed is made up almost entirely of Silver Lake's stake plus accrued dividends since the deal began in 2021.

In other words, the nature of Silver Lake's agreement with the APL gives the foreign private equity firm, whose investment in Australian football is managed via a series of secret offshore tax havens, resulting in zero or low rates of taxation and limited financial transparency, enormous power over the future of the A-Leagues.

While the original unbundling agreement limits foreign ownership of the APL to 49% without board approval from Football Australia, Silver Lake's conversion of their investment into equity could still give them substantial control of major corporate actions such as capital raises and expenditures, board appointments, governance reforms, the purchase of clubs, and potentially a total restructure, sale, or liquidation of the APL from June 2029.

"We meet regularly with Silver Lake, who have been a very strong supporter of our leagues, and continue to proactively contribute to our strategy for growth," Rosich's statement to ESPN said. "They are a great partner for the A-Leagues."

What next?

So what now? How exactly does the APL and Football Australia plan to address these issues?

Football Australia said it would not comment on hypothetical scenarios about the APL's future, and would continue to report to its Members through the appropriate channels.

But the fact that the APL has not filed for bankruptcy yet suggests they have at least enough money to pay their operating costs and any immediate debts owing -- especially now that their biggest creditor, Football Australia, has allegedly both written down and changed the terms of what was historically owed to them.

The three-year extension of their deal with Network 10 and Paramount for a self-reported increased annual rights fee, the sale of the Central Coast Mariners and Canberra United (the latter of which reportedly sold in the low eight figures), and a growing number of international player sales, provide a glimmer of hope that the A-Leagues can turn things around, such that they even managed a small preliminary operating profit of $1.7 million at the end of 2025.

However, these positive signs have been counterbalanced by the APL's failure to secure a new naming rights sponsor for the men's competition for the current season, alongside recent reports of late payments to players at Perth Glory, and accusations of unpaid bills to contractors and suppliers of the Newcastle Jets.

Ultimately, the going could be painfully slow -- if not impossible -- in the absence of a long-term growth strategy from the APL. Indeed, the issues affecting the A-Leagues are far bigger and more nebulous than financials alone.

The recent collapse of negotiations with the players' union, which sources have told ESPN was partly due to the APL's reluctance to engage in sufficient governance and strategic reform, casts doubt over whether they will make the kinds of structural changes required to achieve the vision they sold to the sport six years ago.

Because at the end of the day, money is an outcome of strategy, expertise, collaboration, and belief in the potential of something.

The A-Leagues' stagnating fanbase, the flat-lining of the women's competition, the lack of cut-through to the grassroots game, and the farming out of its most talented young players instead of investing and making them local drawcards, all flow downstream from a lack of these fundamentals, which could take far longer than the three-year runway afforded by the Silver Lake deal to fix.

But if this investigation has revealed anything, it's that trust and transparency are glaringly absent in Australian football.

And if those in charge of it have any genuine hope of turning things around, they need to start by being honest with the footballing public about where they are now, recognising and making space for the support and expertise they need, and bringing the community on the journey with them.

Perhaps only then will their vision of a sustainable and prosperous A-Leagues finally be brought to life.