AFL 2011 Annual Report

[The_Wookie]

The Full report is here: http://www.afl.com.au/portals/0/2012/afl_annual_report_2011.pdf

The Ins and Outs of the AFL 2011 Annual Report

The full Annual Report for 2011 has been released by the AFL and as usual it makes for some fascinating reading if you are into that sort of thing.

Attendance

Total Attendance was 7,488,198 - a new record for the AFL, even though the average was down, the AFl believes its in the top 4 in the world.

• NAB Cup 2011 Attendance was 256,342 up 12% on 2010.
• NAB Challenge attendance was 92,002 (down 4.2%)
• Finals attendance was 614,783 (down 5.6%)
• 2,536,695 attended the MCG (53,972 ave)
• 1,575,605 attended Etihad (32,825 ave)

Subiaco, Docklands and the MCG were the only old stadiums to record slight increases. The Gabba had a 30% drop, while Manuka also dropped 28%.

Participation

Note: According to the AFL Annual Report -
"The Australian Football participation census is compiled annually and measures participants who play in a structured competition of more than six weeks’ duration"

Participation numbers were 790,905 in 2011. With 94,412 female participants. The AFL also announced that participation outside Australia reached more than 100,000 for the first time.

In 2011, 2537 community clubs participated in competitions across Australia each week in 273 leagues. 17,971 school teams competed as well. Andrew Demtriou notes in the chairmans report that participation in NSW was 36,390 in 1998 - today that figure is over 136,000.
School football reported the highest growth in 2011.

• AFL Auskick 167,080
• Club Football 314,290
• School Football 304,485
• Social Football 4690

Participation by State

• Vic - 227,428
• NSW - 136,438
• QLD - 133,200
• WA - 130,482
• SA - 116,626
• Tas - 33,295
• NT - 22,800

Membership

AFL record of 650,373, up 5.9% on the previous record in 2010. It was still a record even when you exclude Gold Coast members.

Players

• Players earnt a total of $164.83 million in 2011, including 9.2 million in Additional Services Agreements and 1.93 million from marketing arrangements.
• 2 players were paid more than a million dollars
• 1 player between 900,000 - 1,000,000
• 4 players between $800 - 900k
• Most players recieve between 100-300k per year.

The Draft

• 164 players were taken across all drafts
• Victoria - 51 + 29 Rookies
• South Australia - 17 + 5 Rookies
• Western Australia - 15 + 8 rookies
• NSW/ACT - 12 + 7 Rookies
• Queensland - 5 + 4 Rookies
• Tasmania - 3 + 1 rookie
• Northern Territory - 2 + 2 rookies
• International - 0 + 2 roookies

Finance

The AFL total revenue increase by 2% to $343 million with an operating surplus of $234 million and $159 million paid to clubs. As already reported, The AFL made its first net loss in ten years - 23.6 million, due in part to the extra costs for Gold Coast and GWS, as well as a profit share payment of 10 million to the AFLPA.

Things to note

• Between 2007 and 2011 the AFL invested more than $240 million in more than 600 local clubs across Australia.
• The AFL now wholly owns and operates AFL Victoria as of March 2011 (as well as AFL NSW/Q/NT and reports that all AFL operations in NSW, QLD, NT and Victoria made a profit in 2011. The report does not say what that profit was.

Gold Coast and GWS funding

• Extra Gold Coast funding beyond normal club distributions was 16.8 million as it transitioned to the AFL competition.
• Establishment funding for GWS was $22 million, but it includes the $10 million paid for Skoda stadium.

Club Funds

The AFL has allocated 1.1 billion in funding to the clubs over the next 5 years from 2012-16 (about 52% of total funds), including a $144 million Club Future Fund.

The Club Future Fund, as defined in the Annual Report
"During 2012-16, the Club Future Fund will be invested into the specific needs of each club to improve viability and improve competitiveness. The investment aims to leave a legacy of improved facilities, reduced debt, more and better resources to grow club revenues, more and better resources to improve on-field performance and to compensate for revenue and cost disadvantages that affect a club’s ability to compete."

The major beneficiaries of this over the next 5 years:

• Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne - 10.2 million
• Melbourne - 9.1 million
• St Kilda - 8.9 million
• Richmond - 8.0 million
• Port, Sydney, Brisbane - 7.2 million

The minimum funding for each club is 3.25 million (Geelong, Hawthorn, Adelaide, Gold Coast and GWS). All other clubs recieve 4.25 million.

The Club Future fund has been specifically tied to funding needs for clubs, including:

• $30 million for club facility and stadium developments
• $6 million for debt reduction grants
• $21 million for new resource to grow memberships and attendances and other fan ititiatives.
• $8 million for achieving a minimum standard in football departments
• $25 million in subsidies for clubs with poor stadium deals

Clubs recieving significant funding will have to meet tougher benchmarks and frameworks.

Media Rights

• Radio rights for 2012-16: $23.2 million
• TV and New Media Broadcast rights for 2012-16: $1.253 Billion

The Financial Report

Where the money went :

• 105 million - Base distribution to all clubs
• 53 million - in other funds to clubs
• 109 million - AFL operating expenses
• 21.9 million - AFLPA funds
• 30.7 million - Game Development Grants
• 5.06 million - Ground Improvements
• 0.16 million - AFL Foundation
• 6.7 million - Facilities development
• 1.9 million - Strategic partnership
• 31.6 million - New Markets
  
  
  
  
  
  Special Assistance Distribution funds to the following clubs:
  -- Western Bulldogs Football Club ($1.7 million)
  -- Brisbane Lions Football Club ($1.6 million)
  -- North Melbourne Football Club ($1.4 million)
  -- Port Adelaide Football Club ($1.0 million)
  -- Melbourne Football Club ($1.0 million)
  -- Sydney Swans Football Club ($0.8 million)
  -- Carlton Football Club ($0.6 million)
  -- Richmond Football Club ($0.4 million)
  

Its important to note that while the AFL made a loss this year, it was in line with predications, and the AFL believes it will generate profits of at least this match in following years.

 

[Stewies Power]

Finally! Been looking for this for months. Cheers Wookie

 

[Hornberger]

Gold Coast and GWS funding

• Extra Gold Coast funding beyond normal club distributions was 16.8 million as it transitioned to the AFL competition.

It is actually $9 million additional funding on top of $7.8m base funding. New Markets spending was $31 million ($22 million GWS, $9 million GC)

 

[The_Wookie]

It is actually $9 million additional funding on top of $7.8m base funding. New Markets spending was $31 million ($22 million GWS, $9 million GC)

That actually makes some sense too. I may have got confused where the Chairmans report says the 16.8 million for Gold Coast was in addition to normal club distributions.

​

 

[Kwality]

Distributions to 15 clubs only listed.

 

[The_Wookie]

Oh crap, I must have cut the other three off the chart. Ill fix it later. the full chart is in the report anyway

 

[RogersResults]

Are there different criteria for what is a 'junior' membership?

For example:

23.7% of Carlton members appear to be juniors.
8.2% of West Coast members appear to be juniors.

 

[Kwality]

A junior at West Coast from the club website:
Start your child’s journey with the West Coast Eagles and sign them up as a junior member. The club has great membership options available, covering toddlers to teenagers.

BABY EAGLES $35
3 Years and under

ROOKIE EAGLES $50
4 – 13 Years

EAGLES RISING STARS $50
14 - 18 Years

Seating @ Subi makes a junior membership more symbolic than for Melbourne clubs.

Membership numbers are a sop for numnuts, dollars are the only real measure of a very uneven comparison.

 

[RogersResults]

A junior at West Coast from the club website:
Start your child’s journey with the West Coast Eagles and sign them up as a junior member. The club has great membership options available, covering toddlers to teenagers.

BABY EAGLES $35
3 Years and under

ROOKIE EAGLES $50
4 – 13 Years

EAGLES RISING STARS $50
14 - 18 Years

Seating @ Subi makes a junior membership more symbolic than for Melbourne clubs.

Membership numbers are a sop for numnuts, dollars are the only real measure of a very uneven comparison.

Thanks for the information. Junior members should be a club's future support base. Which is why this "numnut" thought that the percentage of a club's membership that were juniors was significant.

Will be interesting to see what happens with a larger capacity stadium in Perth if more kids get to go to the footy. If kids are being denied access to AFL matches in Perth because adult members get priority then it is all the more reason to build a higher capacity stadium as soon as possible. If large numbers of people when they are young are not able to get into the habit of going to matches to see their team play, then support and attendance growth is more likely to be diminished.

 

[Kwality]

Apology Roger, I wasnt intentionally having a go at you & the point raised... say no more just dig the hole deeper !!

Take your point re future members but its a bit like those who trot out junior participation numbers as a guide to future generations of 'bums on seats'/code popularity - hasnt worked for basketball or soccer & is irrelevant to the growth of AFL footy as a spectator sport.

 

[RogersResults]

Apology Roger, I wasnt intentionally having a go at you & the point raised... say no more just dig the hole deeper !!

Take your point re future members but its a bit like those who trot out junior participation numbers as a guide to future generations of 'bums on seats'/code popularity - hasnt worked for basketball or soccer & is irrelevant to the growth of AFL footy as a spectator sport.

You are right that revenue is the key not raw membership numbers.

Then if there is no evidence that junior membership and attendance by the young is not important for future support then the Eagles only selling 8% of its membership to juniors is a good economic strategy until the new 70,000 capacity stadium becomes available. However how is it that Geelong with 7 or 8 of its home games at a limited capacity stadium sell 18% of its membership to juniors? Maybe because they still have some first come standing room at Kardinia Park?

 

[The_Wookie]

Apology Roger, I wasnt intentionally having a go at you & the point raised... say no more just dig the hole deeper !!

Take your point re future members but its a bit like those who trot out junior participation numbers as a guide to future generations of 'bums on seats'/code popularity - hasnt worked for basketball or soccer & is irrelevant to the growth of AFL footy as a spectator sport.

I would argue that Victorian clubs have been doing memberships since before West Coast existed, and i would consider it likely that there would be some transition from junior to senior memberships which make junior memberships almost as important for the future. I personally know of several people at Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond - and even Adelaide - who got started that way.

Never underestimate parental indoctrination.

 

[Kwality]

Hey wookie, I was first a member in WA in the late 60s ... Halcyon subi years of the early 70s.