Five things the AFL has wasted money on as the TSL gets just $1 million a year
The AFL earned $2.5 billion from the last TV rights deal. In 2016 the league had an operating surplus of $330 million before distribution. And the TSL gets a lousy $1 million out of that.
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The AFL earned $2.5 billion from the last TV rights deal. In 2016 (the AFL yet to disclose its 2017 financial report), the league had an operating surplus of $330 million before distribution. And the TSL gets a lousy $1 million out of that.
So instead of spending the money on ensuring football heartlands remain the soul of the sport, what are some of the AFL’s luxuries it has dined out on at Tasmania’s expense?
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1 THE GOLD COAST SUNS
Last year, the AFL sunk $25 million into this one club. For one year. Tasmania’s AFL dream has been repeatedly denied because, according to AFL House, it would not be financially viable. Yet the Gold Coast Suns soak up money faster than free beer at a Buck’s party. That’s $25 million for a club with no members, no culture, no success and for the first half of the season, no home. Just up the road, the AFL also dished another $21 million into the Brisbane Lions for 2017. That’s $46 million in 12 months in one state just for two clubs. And it has never been revealed how much the AFL has siphoned into Greater Western Sydney.
2 CHINA MATCH
Has there been a greater extravagance than the AFL taking a game to China? Port Adelaide had a $4 million budget for this first game that included rebuilding a stadium in Shanghai to AFL dimensions. The Power only broke even on the venture. AFL CEO Gill McLachlan spruiked the game as a sellout of over 10,000 fans in attendance. But the vision showed sparsely filled grandstands throughout the game. However, Gill had an explanation, he said they were all out the back getting food. If you can look at the plight of Tasmanian football and say everything is going to plan, you can look at a half empty AFL ground in China and say it’s a sellout.
3 AFLX
The dust has just settled on the AFLX’s first season, and already it is another gimmick in the AFL’s playbook. A telecast version of bruise free circle work has taken everything out of the game that has made it special — high marking, contested possessions and tackling. Gill made the launch at Etihad Stadium surrounded by acrobats, but perhaps clowns would have been more appropriate. Brisbane’s Tasmanian coach Chris Fagan has already potted the concept for not engaging with fans. Oh, and the silver balls lasted one night before being replaced.
4 INTERNATIONAL RULES
The AFL’s quest to be an international sport has seen a mishmash of rules, equipment and fields. The AFL and Ireland’s Gaelic Athletic Association has had more affairs than Barnaby Joyce over the years, but like a lot of bad relationships keep puckering up for more in a concept that has still failed to capture the public’s imagination. It is best remembered for the biffo as the AFL’s full time professional players beat up on a collection of Irish amateurs who spend most of their time working to make a living. Brendan Fevola also brought notoriety to the series by getting an Irish barman in a headlock while on a boozy night out in Galway. But hey, what’s another few million when you can represent your country in a non-existent sport?
5 MEAT LOAF
One of the world’s biggest acts (in the 1970s and 80s) headlined the AFL’s 2011 grand final entertainment. The ensuring 12-minute performance was considered the biggest flop in Australian sports entertainment history. The cost — $500,000. That’s almost $42,000 a minute for an act so far past its use by date it smelt worse than the container in the back of the work fridge that the owner is too embarrassed to claim.
And just for the record, Gill’s salary is $1.74 million a year — $740,000 more than is given to the TSL each year.
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