Play Nice AFL Womens - General Discussion

[Tandy]

So seeing as it loses so much money how can they turn it around? Paying the players won’t work. But if they are increasing the length of the season they’ll probably have to. Is there any women’s sport thats profitable? Apart from maybe international soccer every four years

 

[Teen Wolf]

So seeing as it loses so much money how can they turn it around? Paying the players won’t work. But if they are increasing the length of the season they’ll probably have to. Is there any women’s sport thats profitable? Apart from maybe international soccer every four years

It's been extremely profitable for the 18 clubs collectively. The three ships (viewer-, member-, sponsor-) are stable and continue to grow. And the footprint is enormous, not just focused on 1 or 2 markets, hence record participation numbers.

So the notion that anything needs to be turned around is detached from reality. A few things already done well here and there simply need to be widely replicated to ensure the crowds pulled by Sydney and the quality of football played by North Melbourne become the new standard.

 

[MYOB]

It's been extremely profitable for the 18 clubs collectively. The three ships (viewer-, member-, sponsor-) are stable and continue to grow. And the footprint is enormous, not just focused on 1 or 2 markets, hence record participation numbers.

So the notion that anything needs to be turned around is detached from reality. A few things already done well here and there simply need to be widely replicated to ensure the crowds pulled by Sydney and the quality of football played by North Melbourne become the new standard.

Please show us the reports that indicate that it has been extremely profitable for the 18 clubs

 

[jatz14]

So seeing as it loses so much money how can they turn it around? Paying the players won’t work. But if they are increasing the length of the season they’ll probably have to. Is there any women’s sport thats profitable? Apart from maybe international soccer every four years

The not for profit AFL is making profits, even with the AFLW. The AFL will always be keen to reduce costs. But have you ever seen anything indicating profitability for the AFLW is the short or medium term goal?

I hate to harp on this, but the AFL have always been pretty clear about what metrics they are looking at for the AFLW, and EBITDA has never been one of them.

So, to turn it around, they will chase the metrics they are interested in. This will not result in a profit, and that's OK, because that wasn't the point.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Please show us the reports that indicate that it has been extremely profitable for the 18 clubs

I've already done it several times, including in this thread. Reports by AFL and club officials, at that. Not easily disproven reports by lazy journalists.

I've cited club financial reports telling us what women's football programs cost to run. I've cited AFL financial reports telling us how much money the league gives to clubs to run their programs. I've also cited presidents and board members from various clubs who have spoken about the profitability of AFLW sponsorship. I've also cited the hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding for clubs attracted by AFLW.

If it wasn't extremely profitable for the 18 clubs collectively, why do you think known wokester Jeff Kennett squealed like a stuck pig for 5 years for his club to get an AFLW licence.

 

[weevil]

So seeing as it loses so much money how can they turn it around? Paying the players won’t work. But if they are increasing the length of the season they’ll probably have to. Is there any women’s sport thats profitable? Apart from maybe international soccer every four years

Women’s tennis is very profitable; it’s also had a (spoiler alert) 50-year head start over most other women’s professional leagues.

The WNBA did an 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal, so they are kinda profitable.

A number of European women’s soccer teams are doing over $100 million in revenue. There may be others; those are just the headlines.

On the numbers right now, the AFLW doesn’t make any sense. But it’s not about right now.

How much profit did the AFLM make at first? Should they have just shut it down straight away? Women's is an opportunity for growth in a market that is otherwise completely saturated, and women's grassroots participation numbers are going bananas.

The AFL has a ****ton of money, and they are a non-profit organisation; they are legally obligated to invest the money they make back into the game. But even if they weren't, on a purely financial basis, it makes sense for the AFL to invest heavily in the AFLW.

They have made some mistakes, but all they can do is work away season by season and build the comp.

 

[mpal6]

So seeing as it loses so much money how can they turn it around? Paying the players won’t work. But if they are increasing the length of the season they’ll probably have to. Is there any women’s sport thats profitable? Apart from maybe international soccer every four years

Make it competitive for starters. AFLW had the right idea preventing Bulldogs and some other clubs stockpiling talent as well as spreading more talent out of Lions and Adelaide for example. AFL admin have lost their way recently leaving North Melbourne up as a lonely monster out there and not doing anything about it.

If next season replicates last, then interest in AFLW will not ramp up anytime soon and will continue to dilute going forward.

 

[Teen Wolf]

andy pwease help us, we can't beat da mean kangas

 

[mpal6]

andy pwease help us, we can't beat da mean kangas

Not about andy mate, you have another undefeated season and watch sponsorships dry up for other teams. Then come crying "oh the whole world hates kanga domination, wa wa wa".

No one's going to watch a season of everyone getting beaten up by one team in big margins except you kanga fans. People walk.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Two consecutive years of record scoring, record attendance and record membership for the league. That's what has happened during North Melbourne's undefeated streak. Suggests people just want to see good teams play footy.

I suspect the biggest reason for the 2025 grand final being the most watched game since the first season was the word of mouth about the prelim between NM and Melb.

An increase in the number of good teams will depend on continued improvements to talent id/development (this includes recruiting from Ireland--some clubs still haven't got the memo) and more clubs running serious AFLW programs (as opposed to putting incompetent people in charge because of their surname).

 

[mpal6]

Two consecutive years of record scoring, record attendance and record membership for the league. That's what has happened during North Melbourne's undefeated streak. Suggests people just want to see good teams play footy.

I suspect the biggest reason for the 2025 grand final being the most watched game since the first season was the word of mouth about the prelim between NM and Melb.

An increase in the number of good teams will depend on continued improvements to talent id/development (this includes recruiting from Ireland--some clubs still haven't got the memo) and more clubs running serious AFLW programs (as opposed to putting incompetent people in charge because of their surname).

I have spent time reviewing "record attendance" claim alone and it looks BS based on the trends seen so far. 2019 seems to the peak of AFLW trend in terms of crowds and attendance. It's been trending down ever since and if it's as popular as you are claiming it to be, trends should look far different in terms of attendance.

AFLW Crowds | Austadiums

List of AFLW crowd attendance figures, including stadium crowds, highest and lowest attendances accross current and previous AFLW seasons.

www.austadiums.com

If I use Ikon park as my reference, average attendance has always been trending down compared to years past
2025 - 3694, 2024 - 3102, 2023 -3936, 2022 - 2204, 2021- 3184 and 2020 - 7609.

You dig even further and if you remove the 12k Grand final attendance outlier at Ikon Park for 2025, 2024 and 2023 - the results look even lower.

But sure, continue to say everything is perfect here and try to gloss over it. At some point HQ will come out and state the facts anyway. I am behind the long term of growth of AFLW, it doesn't necessarily mean I have to get behind how poorly it's being managed right now.

Based on the above trend - AFL's goal of 6k average AFLW attendance is a pipe dream at best.

 

[Teen Wolf]

More people spending more money than ever before to attend AFLW games:





Also, the AFL stated before the season that the goal is 10% growth in attendance each year.

Standalone attendance in 2024 was about 285k. In 2025 it was about 318k. That's more than 10% growth. Doesn't suggest interest is dropping away, does it.

 

[mpal6]

More people spending more money than ever before to attend AFLW games:
View attachment 2513600


View attachment 2513601

Also, the AFL stated before the season that the goal is 10% growth in attendance each year.

Standalone attendance in 2024 was about 285k. In 2025 it was about 318k. That's more than 10% growth. Doesn't suggest interest is dropping away, does it.

Share the link mate, I'll check it out for myself . sticking 100% next to every variance of crowd number doesn't create much confidence. Looks like someone in AFL woke up and said why we have to tell them what's the exact %, just say whatever sold is what we intend to sell - clever if you ask me.

 

[weevil]

 

[weevil]

 

[Teen Wolf]

I think I'm seeing a trend here:

 

[weevil]

I think I'm seeing a trend here:

View attachment 2513969

The trend that everyone in the universe can see is that when you increase the number of teams and the number of games they play too quickly, the raw numbers may go up, but that is at the cost of the quality of the games, and the average number of people going to games plummets and stagnates.

 

[Teen Wolf]

BBL, A-League and Super Rugby all added teams and/or games without ever sustaining any significant growth (some of them went backwards). The AFL's men's comp dropped total attendance for five years after GWS was added.

So it's pretty encouraging signs for AFLW to have nearly doubled standalone H&A attendance through all the growing pains.

 

[weevil]

BBL, A-League and Super Rugby all added teams and/or games without ever sustaining any significant growth (some of them went backwards). The AFL's men's comp dropped total attendance for five years after GWS was added.

So it's pretty encouraging signs for AFLW to have nearly doubled standalone H&A attendance through all the growing pains.

Yeah, the W has the advantage of leveraging a huge amount of already engaged and rusted on AFL club supporters. I’d be surprised if anyone here came to AFLW cold; we virtually all came to our AFLW teams because we already followed our men’s teams.

It’s definitely not all doom and gloom. As I’ve said before, I think the AFL are now showing that it understands what the problems are and how to address them. They have stopped rushing around, trying to chop and change things too quickly. They now understand that stability is really important, that even though things right now are not ideal, the league needs time to settle and stabilise.

 

[mpal6]

I think I'm seeing a trend here:

View attachment 2513969

Average attendance is down since 2019, you can keep posting this strange graph of yours without any data points or links - no one's buying it. It's dropped to mid-2k or 3k at best on average but dream on in the mean time.

AFLW Tickets

Tickets are on sale now for the 2025 NAB AFLW Season

www.afl.com.au

Kids under 18 free for 10th straight season. They've charged $5 for grand final while letting the entire season go for free to drum up attendance. You sticking a $15 on the overall attendance figure is misleading and it's pretty desperate .

 

[Teen Wolf]

There were 85,000 members in 2025, paying on average $70.

This equates to far more revenue than the hypothetical scenario where every attendee (be it adult or child) was only paying $15 entry.

 

[mpal6]

There were 85,000 members in 2025, paying on average $70.

This equates to far more revenue than the hypothetical scenario where every attendee (be it adult or child) was only paying $15 entry.

You've carefully stepped away from sharing any links but just harping on about random numbers and 100% attendance screenshots. I want to believe you but nothing you say stacks up so far. Average attendance is down, it's a fact based on stadium numbers published openly. It's low to the point they are allowing U18s with free tickets all season to continue drumming up interest.

If you pitch long term vision, goals, growth of the AFLW game etc - It'll be a fair argument. You're trying to polish a turd here in its current state and it's not measuring up, which is the reality.

 

[Teen Wolf]

When the league began in 2017, the naysayers loudly declared "it won't last 5 years" and "people won't pay for tickets".

Well it turns out every time AFLW accomplishes something on one level, the naysayers come up with something new. Like now it's "average attendance is too low" and "there are too many one-sided matches".

And I used to think this was a bad thing. But actually, now I think it's great! Because it shows how far the league has come, to the point that the naysayers are always forced to find a new grievance with AFLW.

 

[weevil]

When the league began in 2017, the naysayers loudly declared "it won't last 5 years" and "people won't pay for tickets".

Well it turns out every time AFLW accomplishes something on one level, the naysayers come up with something new. Like now it's "average attendance is too low" and "there are too many one-sided matches".

And I used to think this was a bad thing. But actually, now I think it's great! Because it shows how far the league has come, to the point that the naysayers are always forced to find a new grievance with AFLW.

Yeah, dude, the number of people attending a typical game is some “new” way of measuring the health of a competition. And any supporter pointing out any issue with a comp they love is a “naysayer”.

Why Some People Will Never Admit They're Wrong

Some are narcissists; others are struggling with guilt and shame.

www.psychologytoday.com

 

[Teen Wolf]

Another thing I've noticed is most of the negativity towards the league nowadays originates from Brisbane supporters.