Seven, Foxtel extend AFL broadcast rights in record $4.5bn deal

The AFL has agreed on a multibillion-dollar broadcast deal in what is the richest TV rights contract in Australian sporting history.

The AFL has signed a groundbreaking seven-year $4.5bn broadcast deal with streaming-led platform Foxtel and free-to-air network Seven, in what is the richest TV rights contract in Australian sporting history.

Foxtel and Seven have shared the rights to the nation’s most popular football code since 2012 and the seven-year deal, which will take effect from 2025, will extend the broadcasters’ incumbency out to the end of the 2031 season.

The rights deal was signed in the early hours of Tuesday after several months of negotiations between the AFL’s governing body and several interested parties including commercial free-to-air networks Seven, Nine and Ten, their respective streaming platforms, and Foxtel and Amazon.

The contract is worth $643m a year to the AFL – a 35 per cent jump on the $473m the league will secure for each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Of the $4.5bn over seven years, the cash component is understood to be just over $4bn, with the balance comprising contra (free advertising) from Foxtel and Seven.

AFL chief executive Gillon ­McLachlan, who is stepping down from his role later this year after eight years at the helm, heralded the deal with Foxtel and Seven as an “investment that will go back into the best game in the world”.

“This partnership is about providing a legacy that not only ­aggregates viewership and reach but helps footy bring people and communities together,” Mr ­McLachlan said.

“We are very excited by what this universal partnership can deliver and the outcomes that it will produce for our fans.

“There’s not a better broadcast deal than this in the world.”

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan will announce details of the seven-year broadcast deal on Tuesday afternoon. Picture: Getty Images

Under the terms of the new deal, Foxtel (65 per cent-owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian) will have exclusive rights to all games played on Saturdays for the first eight home-and-away rounds of every season.

Every single AFL and AFLW home-and-away match, final (excluding the grand finals) and pre-season game will be aired on Foxtel’s Fox Footy channel and its streaming platform Kayo, as under the previous deal.

From 2025, Fox Footy will also be able to feature its own commentators in every match.

Seven will have the rights to broadcast games on Thursday nights, Friday nights, selected Saturday night fixtures after round eight, and Sunday matches.

There will be no fewer free-to-air games than under the current agreement.

Seven will continue to host all finals and the grand final and has been handed streaming rights to all of its games, via its 7Plus platform, in a key feature of the new deal.

The AFL has signed a $4.5 billion broadcast deal with Foxtel and Seven. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Nine Entertainment failed in its 11th-hour attempt to win the rights, while a strong bid from Ten and its streaming platform Paramount+ was seriously considered by the AFL.

It is understood that while Nine tabled a bid of about $520m a year over seven years (including contra), Paramount+ was seen by the AFL as the more serious ­underbidder after it matched the total cash offer put forward by Foxtel and Seven over seven years.

There were reports on ­Tuesday that the Ten/Paramount bid, backed by US media giant CBS, nudged $6bn over 10 years.

But The Australian has been told that the AFL was “nervous” about the prospect of entering a long-term partnership with a streaming platform that is an ­unproven entity in the world of top-tier sports broadcasts.

Foxtel and Seven had previously clinched a record $2.508bn deal with the AFL for six years from 2017, though the terms for Covid-affected years were later reduced when the pandemic hit.

The revised terms resulted in the broadcasters agreeing to pay the AFL a total of $946m for the television rights to the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany said the company’s digital growth was critical in its negotiations with the AFL.

 

“All around the world, cable networks – even with fewer subscribers – are finding bigger ­ratings because you’re left with the ‘best’ sports fans in the country,” Mr Delany said.

“But you add that to the growth engine that is Kayo, where you’re bringing in a ­younger audience, that is a real machine which is going to be ­generating lots more subscribers and bigger and bigger audiences.”

Foxtel executive chairman Siobhan McKenna said the ­negotiation process with the AFL was “tough”.

“I don’t think any bidder in any sports rights negotiations can ever be too confident,” Ms ­McKenna said.

“Our focus for the past five or six years at Foxtel has been to build the business to become an indispensable partner to ­sporting bodies through the ­excellence of our products and our reach.

“We approached this negotiation knowing that we were in a strong position to deliver what the AFL wanted but knowing they would be free to choose to partner with others.

“It was a tough competition and we’re pleased to have won against formidable international and domestic competitors.”

The deal will also allow the AFL to increase payments to players, including AFLW players who are pushing for a significant increase in their next collective bargaining agreement.

The deal could also pave the way for a 19th AFL team to be ­established in Tasmania.