AFL bids were all close in price
“Foxtel / Seven was not a knockout bid," says AFL Chairman Richard Goyder.
- Published by David Knox
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A report today confirms bids by rival broadcasters for AFL rights were all serious money.
AFL chairman Richard Goyder says the decision went down to the wire.
“Foxtel / Seven was not a knockout bid, all three of the final contenders were close in price,” he told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. “The last 48 hours of negotiations was about terms and conditions.”
Paramount even lobbed a $6 billion offer over 10 years with global chief executive Bob Backish part of the team presenting its bid to the AFL executives.
In the end Seven / Foxtel secured the games for a further 7 years at 4.5b, a record in Australian broadcasting.
Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany spoke about final presentations made last Monday.
“In the last 48 hours, and in particular on Monday with the shoot out, the competition became very intense and cutthroat,” he said.
“It was a matter of putting your best foot forward otherwise, it was time to go home. All bidders took that extremely seriously. And there was very hot competition for the rights.”
Morningstar’s Brian Han estimates that the current split for broadcast rights (and costs) at 65:35 Foxtel/Seven and underlined the value of the code to a broadcaster.
“One only needs to look at Network 10 to see the consequences of losing AFL. 10 lost the rights at the end of 2011 and its metropolitan (television) revenue share fell from 28.1 per cent in fiscal 2011 to 20.9 per cent by fiscal 2014 and has not recovered since, showing the vulnerability of an undiversified TV network which Seven still mainly is.”
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5 Responses
When the AFL announced the rights deal in 2011, I was very worried that 10 will pull out of the bids. And sadly they had to becuase of Lachie Murdoch running 10. 10 imploded quickly with axing of shows, the loss of AFL, news outputs and the staff culls. As an AFL fan, this really hurts. Unfortunatley, they’ve never recovered after the loss of AFL in October 2011.
I think the AFL only cares about making money than fans. At the end of the day, it comes down to the highest bid. The point is that Rupert Murdoch has too much power on the AFL. I heard on the ABC radio & someone mentioned that Greed will kill sport. This was reflected back in 2018 when Fox took over the rights to cricket. Sadly, crowd numbers went down and so are TV ratings.
What you’ve said here is spot on…who talks about V8’s anymore now they’ve been relegated to Foxtel for most of the season? They expanded the BBL season to gain more money but now a lot of people have lost interest in the product. I’m sure there’s many more examples just like this.
i am just happy that when i watch games on foxtel i dont have to listen to the ch7 comms with the new deal i always never understood why it was still in there when the nrl it was gone along time ago
Lots of people don’t have foxtel, cannot afford Foxtel. I hear Channel 7 with no longer have Football on a Saturday, the traditional day of Football. Very sad.
I have a feeling that crowds will decline when Sat footy is put behind a paywall. My family never had Pay TV but it would be a disgrace to put more matches exclusive to Pay TV. I think that the AFL only cares about profits than fans. Back in 2011, AFL announced a whopping billion-dollar deal for 7/Fox. I felt that the AFL is pumping more money into the AFL rights. Unfortunately, the AFL wanted to stick to 7/Fox instead (with 10 pulling out of the AFL rights in 2011). Sadly, we had to put up with the same coverage.