TOPIC:

Did anyone else catch lastnight on Fox Footy that the AFL are heavily propping up Brisbane Lions finacially?

Leaves one wondering how many clubs are actually making the money to keep other clubs afloat.

One of the reasons for the Extended VFL introduction was that the Melbourne clubs were financially struggling. Talks of mergers, Footrscray to join the WAFL and other talk at the same time back in the 1980s.

Since then the West Coast Eagles have been bankrupt, and more recently Port Adelaide Powers woes after being successful initially.

We now hear Brisbane is a basket case financially. Put them with the Victorian sides who are heavily in debt, When is the AFL's money going to dry up?

In addition the money being poured into two expansion teams in fringe areas. Surley if teams such as the Lions are struggling, then where are Gold Coast and GWS going to be successful?

All this must be a heavy drain on the league.

MikeXU1 wrote: Did anyone else catch lastnight on Fox Footy that the AFL are heavily propping up Brisbane Lions finacially?

Leaves one wondering how many clubs are actually making the money to keep other clubs afloat.

One of the reasons for the Extended VFL introduction was that the Melbourne clubs were financially struggling. Talks of mergers, Footrscray to join the WAFL and other talk at the same time back in the 1980s.

Since then the West Coast Eagles have been bankrupt, and more recently Port Adelaide Powers woes after being successful initially.

We now hear Brisbane is a basket case financially. Put them with the Victorian sides who are heavily in debt, When is the AFL's money going to dry up?

In addition the money being poured into two expansion teams in fringe areas. Surley if teams such as the Lions are struggling, then where are Gold Coast and GWS going to be successful?

All this must be a heavy drain on the league.

I read somewhere just last week that only 8 of the AFL clubs would return a profit.

No doubt about it there are only a handfull of viable AFL clubs...

They bank on the media deal to underwrite the entire comp and subsidise the majority of clubs.

Ratings are up 13% this year so its working, but going forward GWS and GC are going to be very very expensive for many many years..they will need some big media deals in the future..

Btw attendances are dropping, but the AFL do not care, seat sales are chicken feed compared to media deals.

Long term I can't see it working...what I can see is the top 8 - 10 financial teams breaking away and doing their own thing with the media, then the AFL will be stuffed.

And dont forget the WAFL is soley reliant on AFL revenues to survive financially, if the AFL falls the WAFL will vapourise as will the SANFL and VFL,,at least other states have Pokie Revenue coming in our clubs have Zippo.

One doesn't need to be a Rhodes Scholar to identify the two types of AFL footy clubs - the rich (getting richer) and the poor (getting poorer). Hence the trip over to the US to work out how the NFL props up the weaker clubs. Of course, this is all predicated on the principle that competitions like the WAFL and SANFL will not receive any of that money to ensure that they remain viable competitions.

With respect to Brisbane it shows how tenuous the support is for that club when it does not have continuing success. GWS will always remain a basket case no matter what happens. There will be a number of poorer Melbourne clubs that will also need to be propped up on an ongoing basis. The AFL needs 18 teams to ensure that they get the most from the media deals.

swan42 wrote: One doesn't need to be a Rhodes Scholar to identify the two types of AFL footy clubs - the rich (getting richer) and the poor (getting poorer). Hence the trip over to the US to work out how the NFL props up the weaker clubs. Of course, this is all predicated on the principle that competitions like the WAFL and SANFL will not receive any of that money to ensure that they remain viable competitions.

With respect to Brisbane it shows how tenuous the support is for that club when it does not have continuing success. GWS will always remain a basket case no matter what happens. There will be a number of poorer Melbourne clubs that will also need to be propped up on an ongoing basis. The AFL needs 18 teams to ensure that they get the most from the media deals.

No doubt about it GWS will be a festering financial sore on the AFL for decades,,,it just will never work...Brisbane and GC are also very tenuous as are Sydney ..North Melbourne will never be viable and should of been forced to more to GC, W Bulldogs will always struggle, Melbourne are a basket case, The move to Adelaide oval may help Port, but they will never be rich,

As you say Swan its all about the media deal, will it be sustainable when internet TV cuts into the market going forward???