This season's A-League fixtures are set to be tweaked if the free to air TV deal with ABC gets over the line, Football Federation Australia has admitted.
TV and football bosses are hoping to finalise a deal which will see every Saturday night's 5.15pm match (Sydney time) shown live on the national broadcaster as well as Fox Sports.
But a quirk of the scheduling already announced by Football Federation Australia means the timeslot is heavily loaded with Wellington Phoenix matches.
In total, a third of the games would feature Phoenix, including six home games for the New Zealand-based side and three more away games.
Eight of those happen on consecutive weekends over December and January.
Now Football Federation Australia has confirmed it will revisit the fixture list to vary things up for the timeslot if the TV deal goes ahead to give Aussie teams a bigger showcase.
A final decision has yet to be made, but it could see 7.30pm games brought forward, while the New Zealand- based Phoenix games may move from 5.15 Sydney-time time to an earlier 3pm Sydney time slot.
The FFA is keen to avoid more drastic changes to the fixture list to avoid causing too much disruption for any fans who have already booked travel arrangements.
"We are more likely to tweak times rather than match fixtures," said a spokesman. "It's too early to say though exactly how that will be finalised."
Talks with the ABC are still said to be underway, but doubts have been raised about the ABC taking Fox Sports content without breaching its charter on commercial advertising, but also lacking the resources to produce its own coverage.
Meanwhile the FFA has told fans to wait and see what it has prepared for its pre-season marketing campaign.
Although radio ads have been booked for upcoming Matildas and Socceroos, it's understood there have been no bookings so far for the A-League season launch.
The governing body says it is keeping its powder dry until the AFL and NRL Grand Finals are over before launching its advertising blitz.
Fox Sports have this month been filming night shoots with each club at their stadiums as part of their promo campaign for the season, and the FFA cited that as an example of the marketing ahead.
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