AFL is REA Group’s new hot property

REA Group has struck a key partnership with the Australian Football League to boost its profile among footy fans.

REA Group, the company behind realestate.com.au, has struck a key partnership with the Australian Football League to boost its profile among footy fans.

Australia’s biggest online property listing firm has signed on as the online property partner for the 2019 AFL Premiership season and the naming rights partner for AFLX 2019, a one-night-only tournament held at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on February 22.

REA’s new chief executive, Owen Wilson, said he was pleased to partner with the AFL, which is hugely popular during winter, to bring together two of Australia’s great obsessions — sport and property.

“For many Australians, property really has become the other Saturday game,” Mr Wilson said.

“They are either bidding at auctions or searching for property with realestate.com.au in the morning and enjoying the AFL in the afternoon.

“People are increasingly interacting with sport and property through digital platforms.”

The partnership builds on REA’s existing sponsorship with the Sydney Swans since 2016.

Mr Wilson, previously REA’s chief financial officer, took the reins on January 7 from Tracey Fellows, who has moved to New York to run News Corp’s international digital real estate operations. REA counts News Corp as its biggest shareholder with a 61.6 per cent stake. News Corp is also publisher of The Australian.

The AFLX tournament is a shortened version of an AFL game that is played on a rectangular field. It will be made up of four teams: the Bolts, the Deadly, the Flyers and the Rampage, led by captains Patrick Dangerfield, Eddie Betts, Nat Fyfe and Jack Riewoldt.

The captains will reveal their teams in a draft, which will be broadcast nationally on Wednesday night on 7mate and Fox Footy and streamed on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live App. It will also be aired on Facebook and YouTube.