The rugby league deal has accelerated negotiations for the AFL rights. But McLachlan's most divisive looming dispute with the clubs lies in his plans for the restructured annual distributions. McLachlan rubber stamped his code’s revised deal on Thursday night, which included a two-year extension with the Seven Network, before rushing to the MCG to watch the Richmond-Collingwood draw.Seven reported an average audience of 1.275 million for Thursday night’s match, the biggest prime-time audience for a regular-season game in 10 years and biggest ever for a Thursday-night game.It came after the broadcaster committed to show the AFL and AFLW in 2023 and 2024, having also joined Foxtel in signing off on a new arrangement for the 2020-22 seasons.Seven has told shareholders its rejigged deal will save $87m across the current contract period, while McLachlan suggested the AFL’s free-to-air rights deal with Seven will be worth an average of $146m per year across 2020-2024.McLachlan told 3AW that clubs would be “absolutely” happy with the “fair” deal, which shores up the AFL’s main source of revenue.However, McLachlan admitted in a statement that “we still have a long way to go before we are out of the woods financially as a football community”.“While the agreement today provides some long-term certainty, we know COVID-19 has also impacted other revenue for the AFL and for clubs,” he said.“We will need to be disciplined and focused as a football community on how we continue to live within our means over the coming years. The 2020 season has kicked off tonight with a “blockbuster” matchup at the MCG in front of empty stands and a big TV audience at home. Our football community still faces significant financial challenges over the coming years.”“We must remain vigilant on balancing investment in the next generation of participants and players while maintaining discipline on costs.”The AFL and clubs were forced to make drastic cuts after the 2020 season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, with players and staff both feeling the pinch.The league’s mobile-rights deal with Telstra remains unchanged.McLachlan and Seven, which introduced canned crowd noise and other changes in an effort to make its broadcast more appealing compared to round one, both trumpeted Thursday night’s numbers.Seven’s metro audience was up 70% compared to the average for Thursday night football in 2019.“I”m trying to rub the signatures off [the TV deal],” McLachlan laughed on Friday morning. The AFL has secured a revised broadcast rights deal with its television partners and sealed a two-year extension with Seven West Media just moments ahead of … The AFL plans to significantly reduce its funding to the wealthier clubs, pointing not only to the smaller economy but also the reality of smaller football department budgets to be demanded of every club.When he raised the prospect - essentially a new form of a "Robin Hood tax" on the richer clubs - Collingwood president Eddie McGuire made it clear that the AFL would have a significant fight on its hands if it attempted any such thing.Dealing with 18 different businesses, equal in the eyes of the premiership competition but diametrically diverse in so many ways, has always been a challenge but never more so as the AFL embarks on the most daunting and obstacle-laden rebuild of its rich history.Caroline Wilson is a Walkley award-winning columnist and former chief football writer for The Age.With TV deals done, the AFL has fresh battle on its handsInterstate clubs are unhappy they do not have the same funding over their stadiums, such as the Adelaide Oval, that MCG and Marvel Stadium clubs are receiving.
Gale also said before the first bounce on Thursday night that never in his life had he known less about the outcomes he faced.The AFL's lack of transparency deepened symbolically when commission chairman Richard Goyder strangely moved to conceal McLachlan's salary.With the fully rewritten broadcast deal signed off, once a new financial structure is laid down the wealthier clubs will demand not only greater clarity but consistency from the competition's governing body. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size. June 12, 2020 — 11.47am. Peter V’landys’ bold plan to relaunch the NRL season with a brand new TV rights deal has left its once all-conquering rival the AFL for dead. AFL misses the board as NRL wins TV rights reboot for 2020. “It was massive ... a lot of people watching, which is great.”It doesn't matter the AFL's return was a stinker; it's good just to have the footy back | Jonathan HornThe AFL season resumed on Thursday night behind closed doors at a socially-distanced MCG.The AFL season resumed on Thursday night behind closed doors at a socially-distanced MCG.
The South Australian clubs - whose return date to the Adelaide Oval after this weekend remains unclear - have been encouraged to negotiate with that stadium themselves.But the prevailing view from head office, which had no clear answer for the clubs on Thursday when they pushed AFL CFO Ray Gunston, is that clubs outside Victoria are compensated in other ways.Compounding their disappointment was the news from Gunston that both the Giants and the Swans, along with Port Adelaide - and the Lions and Gold Coast from next week - The players are not the only stakeholders wanting full details of the AFL's finances. 1960 – the VFL rejects an offer of 14,000 pounds to broadcast the last quarter and replays; 1971 – Ch2 and Ch7 pay $200,000 a year for 5 years ($1 million) to 1975 (replays) Perth Glory owner says don’t finish A-League season if no TV coverage Nine’s deal with the NRL will involve four free-to-air games per week.
The NRL hopes its total broadcast rights deal will be worth around $1.7 billion once a pay TV deal is reached. The AFL has become embroiled in a dispute with the sport’s key broadcasters, who are jockeying for a cut to the costs of the existing television deal due to the fewer number of matches to be played this season, report The Australian’s John Stensholt and Courtney Walsh. Previously unreported was the fact that Marvel Stadium tenants St Kilda, North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs - along with the Bombers and the Blues, who have two-stadium agreements - will reap even more.Those clubs will receive match returns worth about $210,000 for every home game.