What’s left for Network Ten if the horses bolt?

Ten remained the bridesmaid in what transpired, with its sporting prospects lying with the A-Leagues. Its continued attempts to resuscitate the domestic league have largely fallen flat, two years into its $200 million, five-year deal.

Paramount local bosses Jarrod Villani and Beverley McGarvey insisted at the beginning of 2023 the network could compete without a top-tier sport.

After just one season, the network pulled its weekly Saturday night fixture off its main channel, now showing two games a week on 10 Bold, with the rest behind a paywall on its streaming service, Paramount+, or on 10 Play.

Last weekend, the Central Coast Mariners were crowned A-League champions in the men’s league, airing to an audience of 267,000 nationally, according to VOZ figures, a significant rise on often scrutinised regular season viewing figures.

While it isn’t AFL viewing numbers, it’s not all bad news for Ten. The season’s culmination bucked a sports trend, up on last year’s 174,000 audience, with AFL and NRL grand final ratings numbers in 2022 the lowest in decades.

According to Paramount, men’s matches in 2022-23 grew 48 per cent in viewing minutes compared with the 2021-22 season, though the network does not release in-depth streaming figures.

With Ten’s sporting stable otherwise including the Australian Grand Prix, Moto GP, and the National Basketball League (which broadcasts two games weekly on 10 Play), it places further focus on the A-League as the only extended sporting season on its broadcast channels, with three years left on the deal.

Having to wait until 2027 (NRL) for another crack at a top-tier sport, Ten will be hoping the Socceroos’ recent success at the FIFA Men’s World Cup, and a looming local FIFA Women’s World Cup can help propel the game back into focus.

Though with that competition airing on rival broadcaster Seven and Optus Sport, it won’t be wishing too much success.