AFL signs $4.5bn broadcast rights deal to keep Seven and Fox Sports the home of footy
The final tick of approval for the AFL’s new monster TV rights deal came in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and Gillon McLachlan wanted to celebrate in style.
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It was a marathon negotiation effort from Gil McLachlan and the team at AFL house to get the $4.5bn TV rights deal across the line, but there wasn’t the typical fanfare after it was finally signed, sealed and delivered.
The final tick of approval came in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the sun yet to rise, and McLachlan was eager to celebrate in style.
But the league’s head honcho came up short in his search for a triumphant 5am souvlaki with no stores open.
“That (a souvlaki) was unsuccessful, so we wandered home and we had a couple of drinks in the boardroom late in the day,” McLachlan said.
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McLachlan, however, finally got his wish by the end of the day, telling SEN he ordered a takeaway souvlaki at local Richmond establishment The London Tavern around 8pm after a chaotic day of brokering the richest sports deal in Australian history.
The celebrations are set to continue on Wednesday with McLachlan set to take his close-knit team out for lunch, but we suspect kebabs won’t be on the menu.
“The celebrating will be today, we’re going to take the team out who were unbelievable – the five or six people who worked incredibly hard.”
What AFL will do with $4.5bn TV rights cash
The richest broadcast deal in football history will involve the AFL scheduling at least 15 Thursday night games a year, should pave the way for a 19th AFL team in Tasmania and will boost the women’s game and grassroots competitions.
The league has brokered a mammoth seven-year contract extension with Fox Footy, Seven and Telstra worth a total of $4.5bn from 2025 to 2031.
The deal, worth $643m a year, is up from the $473m the league will secure for each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons, a rise of just over 35 per cent per season.
The AFL had spent months wooing rival bidders, with the Channel 10 bid finishing ahead of Nine-Stan Sport, as the league stayed with its legacy partners.
Under the deal from 2025 the AFL has kept the right to schedule a day grand final but Seven CEO James Warburton made clear the network would continue to lobby hard for a permanent night season decider.
Under the terms of the deal there will be no fewer free-to-air games than under the current agreement.
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Fox Footy and Seven will broadcast Thursday night games across at least the first 15 rounds of the AFL season.
Seven will continue to host all finals and the grand final and has been handed streaming rights to its games in a key feature of the new deal.
The deal means Tasmania is now in the box seat to secure a new 19th licence as the AFL attempts to lock in financial guarantees from the state government in coming days ahead of a potential vote of AFL presidents as early as Brownlow Medal day.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan boasted that “there’s not a better broadcast deal than this in the world” given the manner in which the deal services free-to-air, Fox Footy and streaming customers across the nation.
McLachlan said the league would annually review the grand final start time given the changing nature of broadcasting with Warburton saying of Seven’s preference: “We would love a night grand final. It’s about reach and it’s about the people at home and it’s about some of the casual fans but it’s a decision for the AFL”.
The start time will remain at 7.50pm for Friday night games but McLachlan said there was “provision” for the AFL to move that time forward to 7.20pm as early as next year.
He remains steadfast that the league needs a deal to stack up for Tasmania, with premier Jeremy Rockliff prepared to fund up to $375m of a proposed $750m, 23,000-seat stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart.
“On Tasmania we are optimistic of reaching some agreement with the Tasmanian government and we would then go to our presidents and boards and clubs in the coming weeks,” McLachlan said.
“Tasmanians should have faith in their government that they are prosecuting their interests. I don’t think today changes anything. If it’s the right deal for football, which includes Tasmanians but everyone across the country, we will push ahead. But if it’s not, it won’t go ahead.”
Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany told the Herald Sun with massive recent ratings including a combined Fox Footy-Kayo 670,000 viewers for the Geelong-Collingwood final he was thrilled to lock away the deal until 2031.
“With another nine years we can invest heavily and continue to bring the AFL to Foxtel subscribers in 4K but continue to invest with innovation on Kayo,” Delany said.
“It’s fabulous to have a runway for nine years, to be able to have that line of sight so we can invest on the journey we are on. It’s not just about the technology of Kayo or Fox Sports, it’s about really amping up and creating a really fabulous innovative experience for fans.
“Also commercially for the Foxtel Group it’s great to have a balance sheet that puts us in place to be able to defend our rights and invest in them.”
He said Fox Footy was looking forward to helping discover some young commentators in coming years with the requirement to call all nine games independent of Channel 7.
The combined pitch by Seven West Media and Foxtel is understood to be worth $550m a year – cash and contra totalling $3.85bn over seven years – with additional revenue from Telstra for their AFL Live app taking the deal past $4bn in cash.
The $4.5bn deal is the richest in Australian sports history and ensures continuity in the partnership between the AFL, Seven and Fox Sports, which have jointly broadcast games since 2011 and through four extensions or renegotiated deals.
Foxtel is 65 per cent owned by News Corp Australia, publishers of this publication.
Surprisingly, Network Ten and their streaming service Paramount, backed by US media giants CBS, nearly matched the offer but were overlooked for the existing partnership.
A last-minute offer by Nine and their subscription streaming service Stan Sport, north of $2.5bn – more than $500m a year over five years – was the third highest bid.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the deal was “cash north of 4 (billion) and the rest contra” at a press conference on Tuesday confirming the deal.
The new deal runs from 2025-31 after the renewed set of rights from 2022-24, which yields a total $946m for the AFL in cash and advertising, expires.
Seven confirmed they would also pay a 14 per cent increase of the 2024 rights in 2025
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