AFL hopes fans will Marvel at stadium revamp

Disney’s sponsorship of Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium will be on full display as the AFL kicks off its 2019 season this weekend.

Nitro Circus riders perform on the front steps of Marvel Stadium ahead of their show last month. Picture: David Caird

A 14m-high Spider-Man climbing wall, a 5m Thor hammer at an entrance gate, players dressed in a superhero-themed jumper and a Captain Marvel hub. Even a ­special Chris Hemsworth appearance.

Kylie Rogers calls it the most innovative and creative sports sponsorship deal in Australia, and Marvel Stadium in Melbourne is set for its big debut on Saturday when the Western Bulldogs and Sydney Swans kick off their AFL season.

Marvel’s owner, Disney, is understood to be paying the AFL at least $7 million annually for naming rights to the stadium, which the league took full ownership of in 2017 in a $200m deal, but is obviously getting more for its money than other stadium ­contracts.

“It is not just a case of putting a corporate logo up there anymore,” says Rogers, the AFL’s head of commercial, who joined the league from the Mamamia Digital Network in December 2017 and clinched the deal with The Walt Disney Company, parent of Marvel Entertainment, last May.

Marvel is the creator of well-known superhero comic and movie characters such as Thor, Spider-Man and Iron Man, and represents a change in the sports industry, which usually does naming rights deals with companies in sectors such as telecommunications and banking.

“Part of my job in the past 15 months is being about how do we take risks when it comes to our corporate partners?’ says Rogers.

“How do we try some new initiatives to broaden the engagement we and they have with our fans?”

“What can we do differently while also being mindful of the job that we have at hand in terms of bringing in revenue but also making sure that we make coming to the stadium as affordable as possible for families?

“And then with Marvel Stadium, how do we bring people to the precinct for more time before a game and stay for longer afterwards?”

With that in mind, and armed with $200m of Victorian government support, the AFL is “knee deep” in finalising plans for a dramatic revamp of Marvel Stadium and its surrounds, says Rogers.

Kylie Rogers.

The rebuild, which could include the knocking down of the league’s adjacent headquarters, AFL House, will commence at the end of the 2019 AFL season and, while it will take three years, Rogers says the stadium would continue to be operational and host matches.

“We are looking at the best use of the stadium and how we can make it the most attractive in terms of having the best use of entertainment and technology in the precinct,” she says.

This weekend’s match between the Bulldogs and the Swans has already attracted notoriety, with the home side — which counts Hemsworth as a huge fan — adopting a Thor-style jumper as a one-off special.

Some purists have been up in arms about the temporary change, though the Herald Sun reported last week it was part of a strategy for the Bulldogs to arrest a slide in merchandise sales. The club also has Disney’s Australian managing director, Kylie Watson-Wheeler, on its board.

“We are supportive of our clubs being creative,” says Rogers, who notes the AFL did not have a direct say in the Bulldogs’ decision to change its jumper for the game and refused to confirm Hollywood star Hemsworth’s appearance at the match.

“We also recognise that we are not always going to please everyone, but we do strive to have a balance as much as we can in these things.”

Rogers says the AFL will have a number of other new initiatives, sponsor activities and activations to roll out at Marvel Stadium as the season progresses, and the league has already dropped food and beverage prices there and will open a Marvel superstore.

That move came after the AFL restructured the contracts of those clubs playing home games at the stadium after taking full ownership of the ground, in an effort to give struggling clubs such as St Kilda and the Bulldogs better financial returns.