AFL kicks ahead with $50m profit

The AFL is heading for a season profit of $50m after a strategic change in its funding model.

Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann with midfielder Jarrod Berry. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The AFL is heading for a profit of up to $50m this season and its 18 clubs will have a combined profit of about $40m, as the competition reaps the financial rewards of a strategic change in its funding model.

At least 16 clubs will make cash profits, with a spending cap on football ­departments combined with bigger central grants to smaller or struggling teams leading to closer matches and therefore bigger crowds and television ratings. The result is a league in rude ­financial health, with club surpluses rising each year from the $15m recorded in 2015. The AFL’s result, which depends on income received during the four-week ­finals series, will mean the league has made at least $150m in combined profits over three years — compared with $20m in profits in the previous five.

Defending premiers West Coast are set for a profit of up to $7.5m and Richmond, which has more than 100,000 members, will likely top $4m. Even the Brisbane Lions, which have struggled on and off the field for more than a decade, have turned things around financially as they surged up the ladder to finish second to host a qualifying final against Richmond on Saturday.

The Lions will make a profit of at least $500,000, a result boosted by gate takings of more than $300,000 above budget when its round 22 game against minor ­premiers Geelong unexpectedly sold out. Brisbane chief executive Greg Swann said the club’s gate revenue was up 60 per cent from last year and membership revenue had increased 20 per cent.

The Geelong game saw sales of Lions merchandise spike, including more than 300 wool scarfs snapped up by parochial fans on a warm Brisbane winter afternoon.

“We’ve made sure to replenish our merchandise stocks given (with the double chance from finishing in the top four) we’ve got two home finals,” Mr Swann said. “At that Geelong game, just about everything went, even the thickest scarfs. But they just wanted something to wave around.”

That match was also a prime example of the close-fought ­nature of the AFL season, during which crowds totalled 6.95 million and free-to-air ratings on the Seven Network rose 10 per cent.

AFL chief financial officer Travis Auld told The Australian the league identified five years ago that richer clubs were spending more on coaches and facilities, which directly led to wins.

“Our data was pointing to a growing correlation between a club’s investment in their football program and on-field results,” he said. “So therefore if you close the gap between the top four spending clubs and the bottom four spending clubs, you get a much more even competition.

“As a result, there are more ­upsets and closer matches like we are experiencing this season. That in turn leads to an increase in attendances at matches and bigger TV audiences.”

One in three AFL games in 2019 were upsets, with underdogs winning based on betting odds, while one in five matches had a winning margin of 10 points or less. Half the games were decided by four goals or less.

St Kilda is likely one club to ­potentially post a cash loss, though it made a healthy profit of more than $500,000 from playing Port Adelaide in Shanghai in June, with other contenders being GWS Giants, Port or the Gold Coast Suns.

Brisbane will not keep the gate taking from its upcoming finals, which go to the AFL, but Mr Swann said on-field form would help it attract a new co-major sponsor next year to replace Oaks Hotels, which will move its logo to the match ball. “We’ve got a few irons in the fire, and we’ve had some discussions with a number of parties ­already but if there’s anyone out there who might be interested, please call me. It certainly is a good time to be going to market on this.”