Ten’s $500m AFL rights bid falls flat

The AFL had hoped a $3bn bid from Ten and its streaming service would spark a bidding war for Australia’s most valuable sporting rights property. But it’s not looking good.

Justin McInerney of the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne’s Tom Powell in action at the weekend. Picture: Michael Willson/Getty Images

Network Ten has lobbed a bid of less than $500m a year for the AFL broadcast rights, a figure seen by the governing body as underwhelming – putting Foxtel and Seven West Media in the box seat to clinch an extension to their existing contract.

The AFL had expected a knockout $3bn bid for a five-year deal from Ten and its Paramount+ streaming service, hoping this would spark a bidding war for the most valuable sporting rights property in Australia.

But sources indicated that Ten’s initial offer was in line or even below the $473m annual figure Foxtel and Seven are each paying for the rights for both the 2023 and 2024 seasons under their current contract.

The AFL needs Ten to bid at a higher financial level in order to convince Seven and Foxtel (65 per cent owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian) to pay as close as $600m per year as possible – a figure targeted by AFL management.

A Ten spokeswoman declined to comment.

Jack Crisp of the Magpies in action. Picture: Mark Stewart

Outgoing AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, who will leave the job at the end of the year after an eight-season tenure, is keen to negotiate one last rights deal — that could last until 2029 — before he hands over the reins.

The league is hopeful of clinching the new deal by the end of August, as talks with the networks heated up last week.

While Foxtel and Seven are keen to continue sharing the rights, Ten would want all the rights (split between its free-to-air channel and its streaming platform), while Nine Entertainment has discussed a deal to show Thursday night games.

The AFL will now try to convince Ten to up its financial offer, but if the network’s bid fails to push beyond the value of the current rights deal, sources say it is almost certain that it won’t be seriously considered.

Seven and Foxtel have discussed potential tweaks to their existing AFL contract involving live matches in AFL-mad markets like Adelaide and Perth, and the possibility that Seven might snare more streaming rights.

Both factors are seen as crucial changes that would need to take place in order for Foxtel or Seven to increase the amount they pay for the rights.

One option would be Foxtel gaining rights to show more live matches of the local teams in passionate AFL cities including Adelaide, where the Crows and Port are both popular, and Perth, the home of the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers.

Currently, Seven can show matches for those clubs in their home markets, even if they are earmarked for Foxtel and its streaming service Kayo in other parts of the country.

Foxtel would like exclusive rights to those games, though they are protected for now by the federal government’s anti-siphoning legislation, which has a list of sports that have to be offered via free-to-air means.

Jack Ginnivan of the Magpies in action. Picture: Mark Stewart

The federal government in planning to enter the first stages of its promised review into Australia’s ­anti-siphoning laws before the October budget.

Seven is also keen to gain more streaming rights for the AFL matches it broadcasts, generally Friday nights and Sunday afternoons across the country, as well as finals.

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 and caused matches to be postponed and later played behind closed doors.

ViacomCBS, which owns Network Ten and Paramount+, hosted AFL executives including Mr McLachlan on a visit to the US earlier this year.

The AFL group visited television executives in New York in an attempt to drum up interest in the league’s broadcast rights, as well as trying to persuade streaming giants such as Amazon to join in the bidding process.

Mr McLachlan is also hoping to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the AFL’s players before he steps down, likely just after the AFL grand final in late September.

Candidates to replace Mr McLachlan have been interviewed by the AFL’s headhunter Spencer Stuart, ahead of a shortlist being presented to chairman Richard Goyder and the AFL commission within weeks.