Resource 2025 Membership - The year of change - 72,656 as of September 10th AFL Audited

[RussellEbertHandball]

Even the AFL know the numbers are full of bullshit free/cheapie memberships and not produced their usual graphic with breakdowns. But 2m club members by 2031 for a big fat cocaine snorting / hooker booking KPI bonus is the target.

All-time club membership record broken again

The AFL has announced an all-time club membership record in 2025

www.afl.com.au

THIS year has been one for the record books with the AFL today announcing an all-time club membership record of 1,363,437 members, with one in 20 Australians a member of an AFL Club.

The all-time record set last year has been surpassed with a 3.26% increase, including over 240,000 new members to clubs.

Fourteen clubs broke their all-time membership record – Adelaide, Brisbane, Collingwood, Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast SUNS, GWS GIANTS, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Sydney, West Coast and Western Bulldogs.

2025 also sees an AFLW membership record, with 79,309 members an increase of 15% year-on-year already with memberships on sale until the end of the 2025 NAB AFLW home and away season.

Reigning Premiers Brisbane Lions recorded a 18.7% increase in membership with Port Adelaide, North Melbourne and Gold Coast SUNS also recording growth of 10% or more in their membership base.

Furthermore, six clubs welcomed over 15,000 new members in 2025 – Brisbane, Adelaide, Geelong, Collingwood, Sydney and Port Adelaide.


So for Port, 72,656 - 15,000 = 57,656 renewals (or less). Last year's audited total was 66,015, so a churn rate of at least 12.7%. It used to be 4% to 5% before the bullshit freebie/cheapie categories were introduced.

1.363m -240k = 1.123m and last years figure was 1.319m so an industry wide churn rate of 14.9%. This churn rate used to be between 8% and 10% when their were less mickey mouse categories.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Isn't the whole membership numbers thing simply used by the AFL to demonstrate their engagement superiority vis-a-vis the NRL?

It's also used by the clubs to woo (hoo) sponsors.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Here is a table comparing memberships to crowds. I have removed the gather round teams' games that get designated home games, including Port and the crows as plenty of neutrals turn up for even those games.

Now the conversion rate is a limited metric as ground capacity at Perth and Geelong and their many non access members skews their conversion percentage, more than the other clubs.

But you can see Freo have done a great job getting their members to go to games and Gold Coast do a shit load better than GWS. GC play 2 home game in Darwin and GWS 3 in Canberra so that factor between the 2 clubs is neutralized.

Collingwood are getting great crowds against non Vic teams at the MCG the last 3 seasons, pulling 60k+ in any time slot and the odd 70k crowd and even 82k against Brisbane in Rd 22

My mates in Sydney who go to the GF each year for last 20 years buy really cheap GWS 3 game access and 5 game family passes and split the cost which ends up being about $25-$30 for 5 games for the 4 and 5 person family memberships that GWS start flogging mid season. I think as part of the marketing BS one mate bought a 5 game-5 people family ticket for $50.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Isn't the whole membership numbers thing simply used by the AFL to demonstrate their engagement superiority vis-a-vis the NRL? It suits their purpose to include everything with a pulse. I get the impression though the NRL doesn't much care, they just flog the bejesus out of the State of Origin to demonstrate their reach.

which is also used by the AFL to get state government funding for infrastructure, both major stadiums and grass roots infrastructure. Occasionally they use it to lobby the feds eg Tassie stadium and grass roots infrastructure.

 

[240volt]

If they are rigged I suppose the will but there are a lot of people holding off until they can see the changes.

The numbers went up this year with everything that could go wrong did.
It’s now basically impossible for the numbers to go down.
They will go up even if the reality is they go down.

 

[shewho]

These are good numbers for Port. We sit pretty much where we should.

My only concern is that we have about 10k less members than the Cows yet our average home crowd is about 10k less than theirs. I don’t understand why our conversion rate is so inferior. Just a bad on field year? In days gone by we had true supporters who would turn out no matter what.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

These are good numbers for Port. We sit pretty much where we should.

My only concern is that we have about 10k less members than the Cows yet our average home crowd is about 10k less than theirs. I don’t understand why our conversion rate is so inferior. Just a bad on field year? In days gone by we had true supporters who would turn out no matter what.

We have less 11 game members

 

[Papa G]

We have less 11 game members

Yeah they have had good year and we have had a poor year.

They also have more fans than us. We've closed the gap, but their real and latent support is higher than ours. It just is. 9 clubs v 1. We could have really closed the gap in the last 7 years with the old SANFL allegiances fading and them being shithouse.... but you know, Hinkley.

 

[Portwrld]

Does anyone know the Digital Kayo membership open up?

 

[The_Wookie]

weirdly, i think Port the only club to be audited down from their club reported figures.

 

[Doctor Feel]

weirdly, i think Port the only club to be audited down from their club reported figures.

Not weird at all lol

 

[malcheski]

weirdly, i think Port the only club to be audited down from their club reported figures.

 

[The Terrible Thinker]

View attachment 2422771

How many years will it take for us to reach 100k members. keeping in mind this is Richos 5 year plan which was 6 years ago now.

 

[Grave Danger]

weirdly, i think Port the only club to be audited down from their club reported figures.

The club obviously believes that the people who bought stadium season tickets should be counted in our numbers, even if they identify as Crows (or other club) supporters. There's probably an argument for that, if non club memberships are going to be counted at all.

 

[jakey]

I bet Richo gets bonuses annually, even though he's missed every KPI he's ever publicly stated by a margin so wide its ****en hilarious.

 

[The Terrible Thinker]

These are good numbers for Port. We sit pretty much where we should.

My only concern is that we have about 10k less members than the Cows yet our average home crowd is about 10k less than theirs. I don’t understand why our conversion rate is so inferior. Just a bad on field year? In days gone by we had true supporters who would turn out no matter what.

I think its a combination of our poor form, plus opponents who are in poor form or have a small supporter base to supplement our attendendance numbers.

If Carlton or Richmond were flying, then our game would have 40k plus. Geelong was disappointing but no suprise as we were fearing the worst by then and it came. The rest of the teams, except Adelaide in the list has a who cares factor.

 

[Interstater]

These are good numbers for Port. We sit pretty much where we should.

My only concern is that we have about 10k less members than the Cows yet our average home crowd is about 10k less than theirs. I don’t understand why our conversion rate is so inferior. Just a bad on field year? In days gone by we had true supporters who would turn out no matter what.

Should?
True supporters?

I suspect you are inside the bubble lad.

==============

Like everything else Port should be bloody top!
Watch the numbers rise in 2026.

Hell I even looked at the membership website just now to decide whether there is any benefit to buying the Vic one now or should I wait to see whether management decide we should have:

• 5 co-captains,
• 4 prison bar jumpers,
• 3 midfield coaches,
• 2 first round draft picks and
  a spine that can ground ball get for free

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

weirdly, i think Port the only club to be audited down from their club reported figures.

Because of the Adelaide Oval Bullshit.

All the freebie and other BS memberships you have now, compared to 10 years is why now the other 16 non SA clubs don't get audited down any more. The AFL want as many club members as possible, for marketing and government funding purposes.

Adelaide don't have a running total during the year like Port do, just an occasional announcement - we've hit 50k or we've hit 60k members, and then the next figure they announce is the audited figure.

Koch and Richo, and KT before him, get a big hard on by counting the full 8,000 AO members - calling them passionate Port supporters - then every year they have to do the audit adjustment

The AFL audit applies criteria across the league’s 18 clubs to provide a standardised view of membership club-by-club and AFL-wide each year. The primary difference between Port Adelaide’s official club member number, and the AFL audited number, is the allocation of the Adelaide Oval stadium members who have access to all the Port Adelaide games, with Port Adelaide allocated 2,708 (34%) of the 8,000 members.

It goes back to the old days when the SANFL's Category 1 Football Park Memberships were double counted by both Port and the crows, but back then both clubs received the same amount of $$$ from the membership fee paid to SANFL as all AFL clubs got from the AFL Memberships when they ticket their club support box when they renewed their membership.

Post the 2015-17 AO deal, reviewed after every 3rd season, neither SA based AFL club get a cent from the AO Football Membership annual fee.

 

[PowerLil]

Do you have a breakdown of types of memberships that count towards the tally RussellEbertHandball?
For example, I have platinum, Magpies and AFLW memberships (season tickets). Do I count as 1 or 3?

 

[Steve Dore]

.....

Port Adelaide recorded 4th in membership increase (+10.1%) behind Brisbane (+18.7%) .....

Brisbane's increase in 2025 on the back of winning the flag in 2024. If only we had a financial guru on the board who could see the financial benefits of actually winning a flag.

 

[240volt]

Brisbane's increase in 2025 on the back of winning the flag in 2024. If only we had a financial guru on the board who could see the financial benefits of actually winning a flag.

10% increase is plenty good enough to keep the boys in a job.
Only one team a year can win a flag, it’s not easy you know.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Do you have a breakdown of types of memberships that count towards the tally RussellEbertHandball?
For example, I have platinum, Magpies and AFLW memberships (season tickets). Do I count as 1 or 3?

No. Never have.
I know Power + Magpies membership is only counted as 1 member.

Dont know about AFLW. But it would be the same rules as rest of the clubs.

79k AFLW members over 18 clubs sounds to me like they are separate individuals to those who are AFL members.

That's only about 4.5k members per club and I reckon there are more than 4.5k per club especially for the 60k+ member clubs who have both memberships.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I'd love a membership revenue figure. I feel like that would give a far better indication of how clubs are doing.

Home attendances vs interstate opposition is also a pretty good guide, although this year we were clearly lying about attendances as well. Those 3 games that just cleared 30k by a few hundred in the back half of the season were 100% below 30k.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I'd love a membership revenue figure. I feel like that would give a far better indication of how clubs are doing.

Home attendances vs interstate opposition is also a pretty good guide, although this year we were clearly lying about attendances as well. Those 3 games that just cleared 30k by a few hundred in the back half of the season were 100% below 30k.

Unless the AFL provide the figure or mandate clubs release it, which I highly doubt, then this is about as good as it gets.

Last year I took all 18 clubs' 2023 annual report and put all the different revenue items into a spreadsheet and sorted them by the following categories;

AFL sourced

Membership, Merchandise & gameday

Corporate

Venues

Business Enterprises

Investment Income

Government Grants and Donations

Other

Profit/(Losses) on Sale of Assets

This is the Membership, Merchandise & gameday items.

 

[bomberclifford]

Given the general membership increase across the board in the AFL over the last decade, the uptick from moving to AO in 2014, and the introduction of AFLW memberships, we haven't actually done much more than maintain our numbers.

The crowds are definitely down, as El_Scorcho says, so I wouldn't be surprised if an adjusted set of membership numbers to cater for the broader league trends actually shows us under performing.