Play Nice 2022 Non AFL Crowds/Ratings/Finance/Development thread

[Bjo187]

The Sleeping Giant FINALLY awakes!

You know what was funny, I follow both NFL and soccer a bit internationally and so on my Facebook it posts suggestions on pages I may like.

Two soccer USA pages appeared post superbowl on my newsfeed, basically making fun of American football. Saying it should be called hand egg not football, etc. Plus all the comments were from soccer fans saying NFL isn't international and all the same crap you see here with soccer fans sooking that the AFL is the biggest sport in the country . It was actually quite funny to see the saltiness isn't exclusive to Australia.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

You know what was funny, I follow both NFL and soccer a bit internationally and so on my Facebook it posts suggestions on pages I may like.

Two soccer USA pages appeared post superbowl on my newsfeed, basically making fun of American football. Saying it should be called hand egg not football, etc. Plus all the comments were from soccer fans saying NFL isn't international and all the same crap you see here with soccer fans sooking that the AFL is the biggest sport in the country . It was actually quite funny to see the saltiness isn't exclusive to Australia.

Wow, that is interesting. Biggest sport in the world. But not in Oz, not in the US, and that does seem to bring out the over-compensation.

I wonder if it's a similar insecurity in other countries where it's not the biggest football code? (NZ, SA, Ireland off the top of my head.)

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Wow, that is interesting. Biggest sport in the world. But not in Oz, not in the US, and that does seem to bring out the over-compensation.

I wonder if it's a similar insecurity in other countries where it's not the biggest football code? (NZ, SA, Ireland off the top of my head.)

I suspect that it’s more profound here and the US rather than countries like Ireland because we are immigration nations. I think a lot of the saltiness here is driven by Poms, other Europeans etc who resent that after moving here they realised that most locals don’t give a rats about their precious football, and in fact, we call it soccer because we have our own codes that are far more popular here. A similar phenomenon would likely occur in the US with all their immigrants who arrive from Latin America, Europe, Middle East etc.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

I suspect that it’s more profound here and the US rather than countries like Ireland because we are immigration nations. I think a lot of the saltiness here is driven by Poms, other Europeans etc who resent that after moving here they realised that most locals don’t give a rats about their precious football, and in fact, we call it soccer because we have our own codes that are far more popular here. A similar phenomenon would likely occur in the US with all their immigrants who arrive from Latin America, Europe, Middle East etc.

Ireland I found interesting where people seem much more accepting of multiple football codes. I did find though that if they don’t follow Gaelic they get referred to as Poms which they obviously hate.

When I lived in England I did love to wind-up my mates by telling them that it’s hard to take the World Cup too seriously when Americans don’t like the sport because if they did they would dominate so badly that it would make it irrelevant.

Genuinely I’ve found the majority of people don’t really give a shot about sports they don’t follow though

 

[Bjo187]

NRL made revenue of 593 million last year. Not sure on profits yet.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

NRL made revenue of 593 million last year. Not sure on profits yet.

Apologies if it has already been listed, but has a figure been released by the AFL yet?

 

[The_Wookie]

NRL made revenue of 593 million last year. Not sure on profits yet.

The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has advised its members that the game will report a record operating surplus of $62.9 million for the 2022 season.

This compares to a $43 million surplus in 2021, an increase of $19.9 million. Further, the net asset position now exceeds $200 million, up by 45% compared to 2021.


Total revenue increased by $18.7 million to a rugby league record revenue of $593.8 million. Operating expenditure dropped $17.1 million which is nine per cent lower than in 2021.

This includes running two NRLW competitions during the 2022 calendar year along with an expanded international calendar.

The reduction in operating expenses has put the game in a strong position which will allow distributions as a percentage of revenue to be increased further in the next five-year cycle.

Distributions to players, Clubs, States and game development were also up by $17.3 million which is a 4.9 per cent increase on the prior year.

The acquisition of Gambaro Hotel represented the first step in the plan to strengthen the ARLC balance sheet by acquiring income-producing assets. The asset is performing well and ahead of expectations. The net asset position now exceeds $200 million, up by 45% compared to 2021.

NRL players also received approximately $40 million in outperformance payments enabling players to receive almost all of the salary related reductions during COVID-19.

ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys AM said the Commission had responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by developing and implementing a plan to secure the financial viability of the game.

“The Commission has been focused on navigating the challenges of COVID-19 to ensure we are able to maximise funds available for distribution to members, invest in grassroots participation and invest in income producing assets.

“We’ve emerged in a strong financial position, NRL Clubs are well-funded and profitable, fans are supporting the NRL and NRLW competitions in record numbers and there is a plan in place to further invest in grassroots football including schools and Club participation.


“Furthermore, the game now has acquired an asset, the Gambaro Hotel, that will diversify revenues and create innovative experiences for fans. This is the first of many assets that will produce revenues for the game.

“The plan has included strategies to grow revenues and restructure operations to ensure the game was fit and ready to emerge from the pandemic with the financial strength to seize expected growth opportunities.

“It is imperative that the game has at least $300 million invested in revenue producing assets so as to future proof the game,” he said.

“It should be remembered that at the start of the financial year, the NRL was still implementing COVID-19 protocols, including compulsory RAT testing. There has been a great deal of uncertainty over the last few years, and we are pleased to have come through that challenge in a strong position to invest in participation and growth.”

The financial performance was a result of a strong season of football:

• Cumulative Telstra Premiership TV, streaming and linear audiences of 132.5 million (up 5%);
• 17% growth in digital audience, including 6.6 million social media followers;
• 3.5 million fans attending games which is the highest in a decade;
• A record crowd of 42,921 at the NRLW Grand Final.
  

At the end of 2022, NRL and NRLW naming rights partner Telstra extended its long association with Rugby League to 2027. The new five-year partnership is the largest in the game’s history and marks a 26-year involvement in the game by Telstra, one of the longest-running partnerships in Australian sport.

NRL announces financial results for 2022 season

The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has advised its members that the game will report a record operating surplus of $62.9 million for the 2022 season.

www.nrl.com

 

[The_Wookie]

Apologies if it has already been listed, but has a figure been released by the AFL yet?

The league didnt give a total revenue but an increase of 131.8m would give the league revenue of 869.9m in total revenue for 2022.

Key AFL financial summary:

The AFL’s operating revenue increased by $131.8 million due to a combination of improved commercial returns from Marvel Stadium, sponsorship and broadcasting. This revenue was used to fund the following investments:

• $337.5 million to AFL clubs;
• $60.8 million to Game Development;
• $45.3 million in running the AFLW competition, including Season 6 which ran from January 2022 to April 2022 and part of Season 7, which ran from August 2022 to November 2022;
• $27.1 million to the AFLPA;
• $17.4 million to infrastructure comprising of elite and community facilities and contributions for stadia redevelopments; and
• $0.7 million to corporate and social responsibility initiatives.

Operating expenditure increased by $63.0 million due to a combination of revenue-related increases and the expansion of the AFLW competition, including the introduction of four new teams and completion of two AFLW Home & Away seasons in the 2022 financial year.

Distributions to Clubs increased by $36.5 million.

The AFL’s cash balance at the end of the financial year was $178.2 million; the balance included $60.2 million payable to the AFL Players Association for a share of revenues captured over the 2017 to 2021 season which was paid in November 2022.

The total payments to AFL Executives equated to $11.8 million, compared to $10.4 million in 2019 pre-Covid.

After all revenue, operating expenditure and distributions, the AFL recorded an underlying operating profit of $20.7 million, compared with an underlying operating loss of $46.1 million in 2021.

 

[Gigantor]

I sort of had to laugh when they said that they had acquired an asset (a pub).

 

[Bjo187]

I've gotta say the nrl are really making some big profits recently on nearly 300 mill less in revenue. The gap in financial strength closes more every year. Hopefully a new CEO coming into the AFL cuts a lot of unnecessary fat.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

I've gotta say the nrl are really making some big profits recently on nearly 300 mill less in revenue. The gap in financial strength closes more every year. Hopefully a new CEO coming into the AFL cuts a lot of unnecessary fat.

I’m sure the AFL could and should cut plenty of fat but a couple of major costs in GWS, GC and AFLW are all probably seen as long term investments. I mean what else are they going to do with the money? They are punting on the game growing as a long term investment.
NRL player pay dispute could also easily erode away the NRL’s profits which will be an interesting watch.

 

[The_Wookie]

I've gotta say the nrl are really making some big profits recently on nearly 300 mill less in revenue. The gap in financial strength closes more every year. Hopefully a new CEO coming into the AFL cuts a lot of unnecessary fat.

It doesnt close every year. The gap is the highest its been since 2017, and the second highest since the ARLC was formed in 2012.

And worth noting the AFL gets a rights increase in 2023 - as do the NRL

Year	AFL Revenue	NRL Revenue	Gap
2012	$471,493,000	$185,668,000	$285,825,000
2013	$502,699,000	$320,375,000	$182,324,000
2014	$524,431,000	$350,902,000	$173,529,000
2015	$558,674,000	$374,142,000	$184,532,000
2016	$569,856,000	$391,368,000	$178,488,000
2017	$752,622,000	$400,091,000	$352,531,000
2018	$778,596,000	$523,562,000	$255,034,000
2019	$793,939,000	$555,915,000	$238,024,000
2020	$674,816,000	$419,673,000	$255,143,000
2021	$738,137,000	$575,080,000	$163,057,000
2022	$869,937,000	$593,000,000	$276,937,000

The AFL would have a lot more expenses too. Number of teams, number of umpires, the state comps in QLD/Tas/Vic/NSW/ACT/NT that it operates are all larger than anything in WA/SA/Vic/NT/Tas for the NRL. The AFL spends more on facilities and development. Club funding is higher. AFLPA funding is much higher.

 

[jatz14]

I’m sure the AFL could and should cut plenty of fat but a couple of major costs in GWS, GC and AFLW are all probably seen as long term investments. I mean what else are they going to do with the money? They are punting on the game growing as a long term investment.
NRL player pay dispute could also easily erode away the NRL’s profits which will be an interesting watch.

An argument that the AFL has put to the AFLPA, which I believe the AFLPA sort of accepts, is that the AFL has a lot of mouths to feed, to keep the sport healthy, outside the players, hence the relatively low proportion of total revenue going in player payments in footy compared to other pro sports leagues.

I suspect a downside of a large profit for the NRL will be players going, if you dont need that money to fund the sport, then pay it to the players. After all, it isn't a for profit league, and money surplus to funding and growing the base SHOULD go to the players.

 

[Bjo187]

It doesnt close every year. The gap is the highest its been since 2017, and the second highest since the ARLC was formed in 2012.

And worth noting the AFL gets a rights increase in 2023 and the NRL dont.

Year	AFL Revenue	NRL Revenue	Gap
2012	$471,493,000	$185,668,000	$285,825,000
2013	$502,699,000	$320,375,000	$182,324,000
2014	$524,431,000	$350,902,000	$173,529,000
2015	$558,674,000	$374,142,000	$184,532,000
2016	$569,856,000	$391,368,000	$178,488,000
2017	$752,622,000	$400,091,000	$352,531,000
2018	$778,596,000	$523,562,000	$255,034,000
2019	$793,939,000	$555,915,000	$238,024,000
2020	$674,816,000	$419,673,000	$255,143,000
2021	$738,137,000	$575,080,000	$163,057,000
2022	$869,937,000	$593,000,000	$276,937,000

The AFL would have a lot more expenses too. Number of teams, number of umpires, the state comps in QLD/Tas/Vic/NSW/ACT/NT that it operates are all larger than anything in WA/SA/Vic/NT/Tas for the NRL. The AFL spends more on facilities and development. Club funding is higher. AFLPA funding is much higher.

I was referring to profits and money in the bank not revenue.

I do agree they have more expenses, but over 300 mill annually seems excessive, especially when the NRL appears to get more promotion than the AFL in the media, I'd hope it's being spent wisely.

 

[The_Wookie]

I was referring to profits and money in the bank not revenue.

I do agree they have more expenses, but over 300 mill annually seems excessive, especially when the NRL appears to get more promotion than the AFL in the media, I'd hope it's being spent wisely.

There is virtually no one In NRL land who will agree that the NRL gets more promotion than the AFL

 

[RedV3x]

I wonder if it's a similar insecurity in other countries where it's not the biggest football code? (NZ, SA, Ireland off the top of my head.)

There is a map somewhere that shows the alternative to soccer - North America, Asia, S.E. and the Pacific.
The historic anti-British sports feeling in Ireland has faded with rugby being quite popular.
South Africa is a soccer country except maybe at professional level and rugby.

Wow, that is interesting. Biggest sport in the world. But not in Oz, not in the US, and that does seem to bring out the over-compensation.

This sensitivity to "soccer" is purely English as they believe they invented football and own the exclusive title.
Thus any other sport is an interloper and deserves derision.
Soccer fanatics don't want to give way to arguments like.
There are many forms of football and soccer is formally known as Association Football.
The English themselves invented the contracted word "soccer" and used it extensively.
Probably the oldest form of football is Marngrook but there were other forms of football around the world.
In modern times the Irish were well organised before the English with their Gaelic games which continue to this day.
Australian Football was the first football to be codified.
We live in a global world so "football" needs an adjective outside of the domestic scene.

People who use terms like "handegg" are just fuelling the fire of aggravation.

 

[Bjo187]

There is virtually no one In NRL land who will agree that the NRL gets more promotion than the AFL

I encourage you to watch national media, visit sites like news.com.au, listen to sen in Melbourne compared to sen Sydney, where any mention of the AFL seems banned.

Plus in Melbourne NRL has constant advertising on ch9 during prime time, in Sydney barely anything these days on 7 and telecasts are shoved off to secondary channels, where as NRL in Melbourne gets on the main channel quite often.

I think it's a big difference, particularly in the last 2 or 3 years, I assume since Vlandy's came along.

 

[The_Wookie]

I encourage you to watch national media, visit sites like news.com.au, listen to sen in Melbourne compared to sen Sydney, where any mention of the AFL seems banned.

Plus in Melbourne NRL has constant advertising on ch9 during prime time, in Sydney barely anything these days on 7 and telecasts are shoved off to secondary channels, where as NRL in Melbourne gets on the main channel quite often.

I think it's a big difference, particularly in the last 2 or 3 years, I assume since Vlandy's came along.

I visit 20 odd news sites a day include all news ones. Theres differences depending on masthead but overall coverage isnt that much different nationally. And SEN in Sydney is always going to be heavily NRL focussed.

AFL in Sydney and NRL in Melbourne both generally get shoved off to Secondary channels.

 

[Bjo187]

I visit 20 odd news sites a day include all news ones. Theres differences depending on masthead but overall coverage isnt that much different nationally. And SEN in Sydney is always going to be heavily NRL focussed.

AFL in Sydney and NRL in Melbourne both generally get shoved off to Secondary channels.

To give you an example, sen Sydney has not had one AFL related interview since the end of last season, sen Melbourne had 3 Melbourne storm interviews yesterday. I've been taking an interest in it because my best mate lives there and reckons it's intentional. So i have been doing my own monitoring of the media landscape.

On sen, it's bewildering considering hutchie owns the radio station and made his career through the AFL media, that there appears to be a clear directive to not mention the AFL, swans or particularly the giants (despite new coach, captain, pick 1). Even nothing 5th rate sports get content and the occasional interview up there.

National media, news.com.au is a top 5 biggest site in Australia, so is the most important for national reach. It's very pro nrl, anti afl and runs I reckon 2 nrl articles to every AFL 1.

I just find it amazing coverage the NRL seems to get considering the sport has next to no presence in half the capital cities of the country. On pretty much every metric the AFL is biggest sport nationally, yet gets less media exposure in the national media.

 

[The_Wookie]

To give you an example, sen Sydney has not had one AFL related interview since the end of last season, sen Melbourne had 3 Melbourne storm interviews yesterday. I've been taking an interest in it because my best mate lives there and reckons it's intentional. So i have been doing my own monitoring of the media landscape.

On sen, it's bewildering considering hutchie owns the radio station and made his career through the AFL media, that there appears to be a clear directive to not mention the AFL, swans or particularly the giants (despite new coach, captain, pick 1). Even nothing 5th rate sports get content and the occasional interview up there.

National media, news.com.au is a top 5 biggest site in Australia, so is the most important for national reach. It's very pro nrl, anti afl and runs I reckon 2 nrl articles to every AFL 1.

I just find it amazing coverage the NRL seems to get considering the sport has next to no presence in half the capital cities of the country. On pretty much every metric the AFL is biggest sport nationally, yet gets less media exposure in the national media.

I would consume as much if not more footy media than most, and frankly, I just dont see that online at all.

 

[Bjo187]

I would consume as much if not more footy media than most, and frankly, I just dont see that online at all.

What sites are you using? I'm keen to check these out.

Just to clarify I'm talking about content on the main page, what 90 percent of visitors to the site see, not clicking on an AFL specific section and sifting through those pages, that stuff is useless when talking about 'exposure'.

 

[The_Wookie]

What sites are you using? I'm keen to check these out.

Just to clarify I'm talking about content on the main page, what 90 percent of visitors to the site see, not clicking on an AFL specific section and sifting through those pages, that stuff is useless when talking about 'exposure'.

On any given day, I visit/search the main sites for all newspapers in each city for industry related material not just the main news.com.au site.

• heraldsun.com.au, theage.com.au,
• dailytelegraph.com.au. smh.com.au
• couriermail.com.au, brisbanetimes.com.au
• adelaidenow.com.au
• thewest.com.au, perthnow.com.au
• themercury.com.au, theadvocate.com.au, theexaminer.com.au
• goldcoastbulletin.com.au, townsvillebullletin.com.au, geelongadvertiser.com.au
• theaustralian.com.au
• abc.net.au
• au.theguardian.com
• sen.com.au
• wwos.com.au
• foxsports.com.au
• espn.com.au
• stuff.co.nz
• mediaweek.com.au
• tvblackbox.com.au
• bandt.com.au
• adnews.com.au
• mumbrella.com.au

 

[The Educator]

It doesnt close every year. The gap is the highest its been since 2017, and the second highest since the ARLC was formed in 2012.

And worth noting the AFL gets a rights increase in 2023 - as do the NRL

Year	AFL Revenue	NRL Revenue	Gap
2012	$471,493,000	$185,668,000	$285,825,000
2013	$502,699,000	$320,375,000	$182,324,000
2014	$524,431,000	$350,902,000	$173,529,000
2015	$558,674,000	$374,142,000	$184,532,000
2016	$569,856,000	$391,368,000	$178,488,000
2017	$752,622,000	$400,091,000	$352,531,000
2018	$778,596,000	$523,562,000	$255,034,000
2019	$793,939,000	$555,915,000	$238,024,000
2020	$674,816,000	$419,673,000	$255,143,000
2021	$738,137,000	$575,080,000	$163,057,000
2022	$869,937,000	$593,000,000	$276,937,000

The AFL would have a lot more expenses too. Number of teams, number of umpires, the state comps in QLD/Tas/Vic/NSW/ACT/NT that it operates are all larger than anything in WA/SA/Vic/NT/Tas for the NRL. The AFL spends more on facilities and development. Club funding is higher. AFLPA funding is much higher.

So the AFL has increased its revenues by 76 million since 2019 compared to 37 million for the NRL. And the AFL gets a far higher rights increase next year and then an even greater jump in 2025.

This gap isn't closing.

 

[Aucklander]

No NRL stories as of right now on the HS website. No AFL stories on the DT also. Lots of articles based on what I like though on both sites.

I have a mate who works at SEN Sydney and he claims they do have AFL content and maybe people aren't listening at the right time. I don't bother with SEN in Melbourne because I don't want to hear just about the Storm. Looking at the ratings for the Sydney version at 0.5 and the Melbourne version at 2.3 I would think most people go elsewhere for sports coverage.

News sources will promote what sells and that's fair enough. Plenty of other options.

 

[Bjo187]

On any given day, I visit/search the main sites for all newspapers in each city for industry related material not just the main news.com.au site.

• heraldsun.com.au, theage.com.au,
• dailytelegraph.com.au. smh.com.au
• couriermail.com.au, brisbanetimes.com.au
• adelaidenow.com.au
• thewest.com.au, perthnow.com.au
• themercury.com.au, theadvocate.com.au, theexaminer.com.au
• goldcoastbulletin.com.au, townsvillebullletin.com.au, geelongadvertiser.com.au
• theaustralian.com.au
• abc.net.au
• au.theguardian.com
• sen.com.au
• wwos.com.au
• foxsports.com.au
• espn.com.au
• stuff.co.nz
• mediaweek.com.au
• tvblackbox.com.au
• bandt.com.au
• adnews.com.au
• mumbrella.com.au

I would say the ones of significance nationally, website based by traffic volume would be:

• news.com.au (very NRL favourable, 3 NRL articles to 1 AFL on average)
• ABC (not sure about this one, but other bigfooty members have mentioned it's Sydney/NRL centric)

• 9 News (Very NRL centric)
• The Australian (unsure)
• the guardian (unsure)
• fox sports (unsure about the site but their facebook page is very NRL centric, news.ltd always are)
• wwos sports (just had a look, lol, nrl central, but understanding 9 has the rights)
• 7 sport website (seems AFL has more news here which is a relief)
• sen (more AFL news on the website as it's out of Melbourne, but what's the point if their radio station gives literally no AFL coverage into Sydney)

The papers of S.A and W.A would only run AFL content because there are no NRL teams there, Herald Sun often runs storm articles, unsure about telegraph and courier mail but i'd imagine they run next to zero AFL? SMH gives a touch of AFL content i have seen on their fb page.

Then we have to look at tv. Our interstaters would be able to tell us this, but that would depend on if any any swans and giants stories are run during the nightly news sports sections in NSW and QLD too? I have heard complaints about this previously, but hard to say if you aren't living there. I do know 9 run NRL commericials during every mafs episode, which is the biggest show in Australia. 30 second commericals, first add in the break, which is ultimate prime time, national, in your face. My mate told me 7 ran the occasional 15 second AFL commercial during Australian Idol up in Sydney, but it rates less than half what MAFS does.

Overall, i think it's weighted 60/40 in favour of the NRL nationally, which is amazing considering it's basically a 2 state sport and the AFL has 4 teams in those northern markets compared to the NRL 1 team in the southern markets. It should be 60/40 the other way at least, Unfortunately, most of the national media comes out of Sydney/newscorp and there is a general anti AFL sentiment in the media north of the border.