AFL basks in huge TV audience

THE AFL season resumption delivered a record-breaking reminder of the value of its freshly-inked TV broadcast rights, but chief executive Gillon McLachlan has warned there will still be “significant financial challenges” in coming years.

McLachlan rubber-stamped his code’s revised deal on Thursday night, which included a two-year extension with the Seven Network, before rushing to the MCG to watch the game between Richmond and Collingwood.

Seven reported an average audience of 1.275 million for Thursday night’s drawn match, the biggest prime-time audience for a regular-season game in 10 years and biggest for a Thursday night game.

It came after the broadcaster committed to show the AFL and AFLW in 2023 and 2024, having also joined Foxtel in signing off on a new deal for the 2020-22 seasons.

Seven has told shareholders its rejigged deal will save $87 million across the current contract period, while McLachlan suggested the AFL’s free-to-air rights deal with Seven will be worth an average of $146 million a year across 2020-2024.

McLachlan told 3AW that clubs would be “absolutely” happy with the “fair” deal, which shores up the AFL’s main source of revenue.

However, McLachlan admitted that “we still have a long way to go before we are out of the woods financially as a football community”.

“While the agreement today provides some longterm certainty, we know COVID-19 has also impacted other revenue for the AFL and for clubs,” he said.

“We will need to be disciplined and focused as a football community on how we continue to live within our means.”