Coronavirus: Cut price AFL as TV chiefs muscle up

The AFL has become embroiled in a dispute with the sport’s key broadcasters, who are jockeying for a cut to the costs of the existing TV deal.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan. Picture: AAP

The AFL has become embroiled in a dispute with the sport’s key broadcasters, who are jockeying for a cut to the costs of the existing television deal due to the fewer number of matches to be played this season.

Broadcasters Seven West Media and Foxtel will lobby for a reduction of at least $125m from the AFL’s television deal, as the fight over control of the first block of games for the return of the 2020 season also intensifies.

The AFL is days away from releasing the playing schedule for the restart, but the impasse with broadcasters could disrupt negotiations regarding the structure of the season and the finals series.

About the only thing the AFL industry can agree on for 2020 at the moment is the unique levelling of the playing field for the season. “With 17 rounds and us all playing each other only once, it will be the fairest season on record,” one club executive told The Australian.

But minds are increasingly turning to the AFL’s fixture list and broadcast rights, with Seven and Foxtel, along with Telstra, ­expecting a reduction of at least 30 per cent to the $400m rights the trio usually pays annually.

Seven and Foxtel want different things from the fixtures. Seven, which makes its money from advertising during matches, wants a big line-up of blockbuster games early in the piece to boost ratings and regain the confidence of advertisers. That could also include local derbies between teams outside Victoria, although there is a reluctance at some levels to restart the season with derbies such as GWS and the Sydney Swans.

Seven also wants a two-year extension to the current deal to take its agreement to show an average of 3½ games a round (it shows three games some rounds and four in others) through to 2024.

Foxtel, which receives the bulk of its revenue from subscribers and season-long sponsors of its sporting programs, is pushing for the familiarity of a 17-game season with high-quality matches dotted throughout the fixture list and games taking place on a regular Thursday-to-Sunday basis.

“These are two very different contracts and they have always contained very different things,” one source said. “It is things like who gets the top Melbourne teams, who gets special games and so on. A totally different deal needs to be done.”

With that in mind, AFL officials have been investigating ways to make 2020 as attractive as possible to the broadcasters, particularly given that it is also bracing for at least a 30 per cent slump in commercial revenue which, along with a reduction of income from the league-owned Marvel Stadium, could put a $250m hole in its revenue for the year.

That scenario makes any money it can claw back from broadcasters vital to help it stave off borrowing down most of the $600m line of credit the league has negotiated with its banks.

A floating fixture list, however, would allow the AFL to schedule matches in roughly month-long blocks at a time, giving it the ability to shift games such as top-of-the-table clashes or those between bitter rivals with big fan bases into the higher-rating Friday night slot.

A wildcard round involving several clubs to decide the last slots of finals participants could replace the traditional bye weekend before the usual finals series in September to make the fixtures more attractive to broadcasters.

Despite the challenges, players will be back at their clubs training as early as Monday, as the AFL prepares for a mid-June relaunch.

An announcement confirming a return to training is expected on Friday as the league outlines the road map back to live matches, with June 11 still said to be an optimistic ­target. The common belief is that clubs will need at least three weeks of full-contact training before playing matches, which opens the prospect of a mid-June start.

In the interim, it seems players will be able to begin training next Monday in groups of up to 10 in order to ensure clubs are as evenly prepared for the restart as possible.

The AFL will likely announce the first four weeks — or rounds two to five — of fixtures next week, but there is still conjecture about a start date for the competition. One club president said he was “hopeful but not confident” about the first match, likely between defending premiers Richmond and Collingwood, taking place on June 11.

Other sources say June 18 is more likely, which would be about three weeks after the NRL’s restart set for May 28.

The grand final will be held as late as October 31 in Melbourne at the MCG, potentially pitting the showcase event against racing’s prestigious Victoria Derby Day at Flemington.

Racing authorities have been awaiting the AFL fixture list to see if any race meets have to shift days.