Christian Petracca’s desire for greater brand exposure at bigger club could have lasting consequences on the AFL industry

Christian Petracca has a greater social media reach than his Melbourne Football Club, but in his desire for greater exposure for ‘Brand Petracca’ could he actually be harming his football legacy?

Christian Petracca with some nonnas (L-R) Connie Campori, Margeret Oldham and Vigda Bernau Picture: AFL/Anthony Licuria

It was the phrase ‘Brand Petracca’.

Amid all the understandable reported reasons for the potential Christian Petracca move, this was the most jarring. And not just for those who support the red and the blue.

That a bigger supporter base to enhance a player’s off-field commercial value could be a reason for a player to move is anathema for the team-first ethic of Australian sport.

Kane Cornes called it “selfish” on SEN Radio. “It’s not about your brand, you play a team game,” he said.

However it may be something we have to get used to, says Hunter Fujak, senior lecturer in Sports Management at Deakin University.

Christian Petracca has a growing social media influencer career outside of his footy. Picture: David Crosling

“It’s only really jarring for AFL fans, because it’s only the AFL that operates in this trade constriction athlete movement framework,” he tells CODE Sports

In the NBA (of which Petracca is an avowed fan of) the notion of players moving to a ‘bigger market team’ is a fact of life.

And while the AFL context is different (one of those ‘bigger market’ teams is all of 200 metres down Olympic Boulevard), the numbers don’t lie.

Melbourne has around 64,000 members, while Collingwood and Carlton both have in excess of 100,000. Collingwood has averaged 73,899 and Carlton 69,295 for MCG games this year, while Melbourne has averaged 45,574 at their home.

Yet it’s social media where Petracca’s true commercial worth can be found. Across his ‘On Trac’ cooking Instagram page, his personal Instagram page and his Tik-Tok account that combines both, he is about to hit 1 million followers.

Sure, a lot of those followers would double or triple up, but Melbourne FC’s total Instagram and Tik Tok following is around 250,000. In a purely social media sense – Petracca is bigger than the club.

“There has been a broader development over the last ten years because of social media that athletes have equity in their personal brands that they can leverage and commoditise,” Fujak says.

Petracca suffered traumatic internal injuries in a clash with Collingwood in June. Picture: Michael Klein

“Christian is along that path, but it is rare in Australia because we have a more collectivist culture like Germany or Japan than an individualist culture like the USA.”

Collingwood roughly doubles Melbourne’s social media following, so a ‘bigger’ club would give Petracca scope to grow his commercial worth in the latter phase of his on-field career.

Roll that into the social media brand and it is intoxicating.

“On a global basis, academically we know that individual athletes and team brand support is bi-directional,” Fujak says.

“When you play for a club you develop brand equity from the support of that team, and at the same time a team gets brand equity from having superstar athletes join you.”

“Logically, if you’re Christian Petracca it does make sense.”

Yet there’s another reality that ‘Brand Petracca’ needs to consider.

The 470,000 people that follow Petracca’s cooking page are not all Melbourne fans.

Thus far Petracca has garnered a following beyond his own club because he has been a star player with an attractive playing style, has had success on the biggest stage and is publicly engaging. He’s wholesome off the field and he also happens to play for a ‘smaller’ club that he’s ridden from the bottom to the top with.

It’s all very admirable, across club colours lines there’s never been hate for Petracca. That’s perfect for commercial partners who want the gold dust of an AFL player without dividing the public.

To arrive at Collingwood or Carlton, two big clubs that polarise footy fans, with the weight of forcing a trade might take some sheen off that commercial halo.

To do so with commercial gain as an explicit factor might irrevocably change the neural footy fans’ view of Petracca, and therefore harm that broad commercial potential.

Fujak believes mitigation of this then becomes important.

“AFL fans are acclimated to a certain relationship between players and clubs, so the way you manage the communications around the move is crucial.

“He’s never going to overtly say that he’s doing this to maximise his personal brand.

“There’s a whole list of jargon to use to frame the move and make it more palatable to the neutral fanbases.”

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The damage done on either side of the Melbourne relationship appears to be undisputedly irrevocable though.

While it might not be front of mind now, it’s a tricky legacy question for Petracca.

No matter what he achieves at another club it is highly unlikely it will define his career like playing the game from heaven in the 57-year drought-breaking 2021 Grand Final win.

To fully maximise that achievement post-career, some kind of peace will need to be made with Melbourne some day.

That feels impossible right now.

Then again, this week after 15 years of insults Oasis’s Gallagher brothers have resolved their differences for a reunion tour.

‘Brand Petracca’ isn’t known for its patience, but it may have to reckon with time being the best healer down the ‘Trac.

Originally published as Christian Petracca’s desire for greater brand exposure at bigger club could have lasting consequences on the AFL industry