Approach to AFLW's 10th season suggests some remain unconvinced of its value
The AFL has faced criticism this season for its new broadcast deal which has given Saturday's men's matches exclusively to Foxtel in Victoria, in an attempt to increase Thursday night coverage on Seven.
While Seven is still finalising its programming, only the season-opening Thursday night double-header of Carlton v Collingwood followed by West Coast v Gold Coast, as well as Sunday afternoon slots, are set be shown to Victorians on Seven's main channel over the first three rounds.
The qualified support for the women's code from Seven comes as AFL head office seeks to accelerate growth in a competition entering its tenth season, and address negative perceptions about the AFLW.
On Tuesday, the AFL chief executive, Andrew Dillon, rejected the language used in a story in the Age earlier this month which claimed the AFL told clubs at a CEOs' meeting that the AFLW was 'losing $50m' each year.
'That's certainly not a line that's ever been run by the AFL, we have a big investment in AFLW, but it's an investment absolutely worth making,' Dillon said. 'You can talk about direct profit and losses, but I think what's also important when you look at a competition like AFLW, [are] the indirect benefits that we have from having an elite women's competition.'
The comments appeared to be a stern response to a persistent rhetoric from some in the AFL industry who see the women's competition as a waste of resources. Dillon said people shouldn't forget the impact of the AFLW on helping clubs win grants to build new clubrooms, attract new sponsors and retain female fans.
This year will see the men's and women's seasons overlap, triggering a first-ever 18-match mega round. Last AFLW season began during the AFL's pre-finals bye weekend, but this year's first round coincides with round 23 of the AFL. However, the women's competition will still be be prominent on free-to-air, with 11 of 27 matches over the first three rounds screened on Seven and 7plus nationally. All matches until the finals are shown on Foxtel/Kayo.
Dillon this week highlighted the progress in AFLW, given it was conceived barely more than a decade ago: 'If you'd said that we would be here 10 or 11 years later with 18 teams with 30 players, being the [league with the] most professional female athletes employed in Australia, and the fourth-highest combined salary cap of any sport in Australia – men's or women's – I would have said you were crazy.'
But when asked for his reflections on the league's priorities, he instead offered a nostalgic perspective of the early years, when fans came to largely unticketed venues in their droves.
'If we can make that match-day experience as compelling, as engaging maybe as it was in years one and two where there was just so much joy in the game … ' he began saying at an AFL summit of hundreds of club staff on Tuesday, before amending his language. ' … Not that there's not [joy today], but I think that's something if we can rediscover that – I wouldn't say it's a hidden gem because it's really well known – but I think that we've got a really solid base from which we can grow.'
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About 200,000 attended the 29 matches in the first season in 2017, including almost 25,000 to Carlton v Collingwood at Ikon Park for the historic opening match. The inaugural season had an average crowd of close to 7,000 according to website Austadiums. Last year, 108 fully ticketed matches attracted more than 290,000 fans, but at an average of less than 3,000 a match.
The competition now appears better set up for the longer term. The league is now settled into its late winter/spring window. The compressed fixture of last year has been scrapped, and matches in 2025 have been given traditional timeslots. There are no midweek fixtures and there has been an effort to build rituals into the season such as Indigenous round and Pride , as well as capitalising on the men's grand final week when the Geelong women play at home on Thursday night before four AFLW matches in Melbourne on the Friday public holiday.
Despite the hopes of some players and the construction of new change rooms at the MCG, there will be no double-headers with the AFL. Rather, officials are trusting that the athleticism and skill of AFLW athletes, some who have now played for 10 seasons, together with a refined marketing strategy will be enough draw more fans to mostly suburban grounds, and offer a television product that repays the faith of Channel Seven.
'It will be really interesting to see how the two-week overlap goes this year in terms of attendance at games and viewership,' Dillon. 'But I feel it's a competition and it's a game that deserves its own time and its time to shine.'
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