User:Stewart.boyd/The National expansion of the Australian Football League: Two new clubs to consider

The game of Australian Football was first founded in 1857. To chart the games journey, on August 7, 1858 the first Australian Football club (the Melbourne Football Club) was established along with the first recorded match played between scotch college and Melbourne Grammar.Since then, the game quickly blossomed with a line-up of 12 Victorian football clubs, forming the Victorian Football League, known as the VFL. From its dominance in Victoria it rapidly expanded nationally, influencing populations across other Australian states. By 1987 the VFL had again expanded to include teams from Western Australia, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. In acknowledging these teams the VFL became formally known as the Australian Football League and comprised a total of 16 clubs (Official website of the AFL: AFL.com.au Network, 2000).

More recently, In 2011 the AFL took on an ultimate challenge in continuing this historical trend spreading its influence into Rugby homeland: the Gold Coast and Sydney’s West, with the creation of  the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney (GWS) franchised clubs. By 2012, the AFL will comprise a total of 18 clubs. With the introduction of the 18th club, the Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS) the lead up to the AFL’s 2012 season is much anticipated. Such expansion makes the AFL commission a unique business operating in all Australian states and territories along with development internationally.

Introduction
This essay will examine the theme of seemingly empirical building expansion by the AFL commission by analysing the AFL's 2010 annual report. In doing so, it will highlight the financial growth and expenditure, the key performance indicators of AFL clubs and the established government relations and funding for the AFL's teams. In turn, this will provide supporting evidence toward the flourishing of AFL in Queensland and GWS's successful license bid. Furthermore, it will briefly examine the AFL's profound steps towards developing the game internationally through it's exhibition matches and international cup competitions.

The AFL's Broadcasters and Government Relations Underpin Financial Performance and Growth
With the continued growth of the AFL throughout Australia the financial performance in 2010 was significant when considering the poor economic climate in Australia and on a broader scale the global financial crisis. Eleven of the sixteen AFL clubs traded profitably recording a record total revenue of $335.9 million. This was an increase of $32.4million to 2009. Furthermore, the operating surplus before grants and distributions was $230.4 million. After payments from reserves of $35.1 million, the net profit stood at $4.8 million (Anderson, I., 2010: pg. 57). This financial performance is underpinned by AFL's support from both with their broadcasters along with AFL's ability to develop and maintain strong relations with the government at the federal, state and local levels.

The broadcast rights agreements are the fundamental source of income for the game. During the premiership season, broadcasters showcased the game to an average audience of 4.16 million each week. Furthermore, digital media partner, Telstra BigPond via the AFL Telstra network attracted 3.7 million unique browsers per month. The revenue generated from these broadcasters allows for the AFL to work closely with AFL clubs to ensure their financial performance and stability is maintained. This is done through direct financial support by the AFL commission to the AFL clubs in the form of special annual distributions, strategic partnership funding and grants. In 2010, this form of financial support totaled $190.4 million and of this amount $142 million was provided to clubs. The AFL also invested nearly $24 million into the Gold Coast and GWS regions, resulting in additional revenue from these two new priority growth markets. The 2010 Grand Final replay contributed a further $16 million in revenue (Anderson, I., 2010: pg. 59).

Government relationships have been fundamental in developing world-class venues for AFL matches, training and administration facilities, along with the provision of grounds and club rooms at a local level. 2010 saw substantial progress with the construction of the $140 million Gold Coast stadium. Along with this, many state governments assisted the AFL. The NSW government agreeing to contribute $45 million and the Royal Agricultural Society $5 million for the redevelopment of the RAS show grounds at Sydney Olympic Park, becoming home to the GWS Giants AFL club. The ACT government made a 10 year agreement for the GWS giants to play 4 games per year at Manuka Oval, The South Australian government agreed to provide $535 million to redevelop Adelaide Oval and the Victorian government agreeing to contribute $30 million to the redevelopment of the great southern stand at the Melbourne cricket ground. In total funds invested by all parties including the federal, state and local governments to facility redevelopments exceeded $100 million. To ensure AFL continues financial growth, it was decided between both the Federal Government and Football Federation of Australia, that if Australia’s bid for the 2022 World Cup was successful the AFL season would continue (Anderson, I., 2010: pg. 58).