Unlike Andrew Demetriou’s counterpart at the NRL, David Gallop, the AFL Commission believes Demetriou is still on his game and has more good work to do.
In 2011 there was a murmur in football circles that Demetriou was ready to hang up the suit at the end of the 2012 season and spend the rest of his life at Lake Como in Italy.
Having transformed the AFL into the biggest sporting organisation in the country with massive TV deals, club membership booming and strong grassroots growth, it may have been time to handball the Sherrin to another in the top job.
This was no reflection on Demetriou but rather a belief that having met the challenges put to him by the AFL Commission, this perhaps was a time for consolidation.
Whilst many in the sporting world believe Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney are Demetriou’s babies, the fact is the introduction of the two new teams was pushed at Commission level.
It was Demetriou’s job to gain club support and oversee the formation of the new clubs, which he has achieved.
As one of the most astute hard nosed negotiators in the land, it is welcome news that AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick wants Demetriou to stay in the CEO role for a few more years yet at least.
I think the AFL acknowledges that the Suns and Giants will take time to settle and find their niche in crowded markets. Add the uncertain economic climate and it’s likely the next five years will be just as important as the last.
The next broadcast rights for the AFL commencing in 2017 promises to be a watershed in Australian sport. A transformation from the current free-to-air TV and pay TV deals to delivery of sport via the internet through the national broadband network (NBN).
The NBN has its detractors but ultimately if the network is running at reasonable cost into most homes by 2015-16, then an array of internet service providers will be falling over themselves to get a piece of the sports action.
This transformation from TV to internet will require careful strategic management. I would think the AFL will want a foot in each camp and a strong negotiator to make it happen.
Sounds like a significant challenge to me.
Redb
Roar Guru
Very little day to day. The CEO is the servant of the Board (Commission) to implement strategic plans. Demetriou is answerable to Fitzpatrick on those counts. Most Boards operate at arms length, the AFL is no different.
Redb
Roar Guru
I'd tip more Monday Night Football. 9 games are hard to spread, 5 on Saturday from a Tv perspective creates a lot of overlap and thus loss in tv ratings.
Redb
Roar Guru
Crikey Republican you've jumped the shark - NZ again!. :)
Brewski
Roar Rookie
I can't think of a better administrator than Demetriou, wonder though how much Fitzpatrick behind the scenes has to do with it.
Dingo
Guest
New Zealand and China for certain. ;)
Republican
Guest
Sure Cat, but some things are still worth fighting for. Personally the 'substance' in elite sport has all but been subsumed by commercial interest in my opinion, which flies in the face of the virtuous qualities that sport was intended to inspire in us. The Swans should have been plonked in Canberra, GC and or GWs should have been based in Tassie or Canberra or even Darwin, while NZ have no role to play in respect of any club not being able to pay the bills, eviction or homelessness when you consider the domestic options at our disposal. The symbiotic relationship we have with sport and especially in Australia, where its status is obsessively unhealthy is more concerning than anything else because sport is a powerful metaphor for society in general I suspect. As I often suggest, what we have in professional sport today is a concoction of commercial illusion, which I find impossible to connect with so while I am not sure that I admire the fortitude that you and those like you so rationally display in resigning yourself to it's nasty ways, I am bemused by your ability to promote what is in essence an unsustainable and unfulfilling farce.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Jaceman, He has the leverage of AFL Media broadcasting games directly to fans, with no *media* between the fan and their club's game. You can have membership, match membership and TV membership.
Jaceman
Guest
What leverage does Demetrious have in the next TV rights deal (4 years away) his most important task - 2 more teams?, blockbuster games on friday night?, Monday night footy, shorter games spread over longer time periods, ads on the goalposts.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Republican I remember being quite angry at the thought of sending South Melbourne to Sydney - exactly 30 years ago. But I was young, foolish, immature, unacquainted with the ways of a nasty world. I now understand that worse things could have happened to the Swans back then. If you can't pay your bills, you either do something drastic or get evicted and become homeless.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Kardinia Park is a construction site at the moment.
Republican
Guest
I can't help but wonder where you derive substance from Cat. You are clearly resigned to a desensitisation that already renders you - incommunicado.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
In this brave new world - our very existence will be reduced to a digitised 16 character alphanumeric identity. I will cease to communicate directly with you. Our digitised identities will do that on our behalf.
Republican
Guest
Kardinia Park certainly looks sparsely patronised these days. Do you attend any live fixtures Cattery? This is not exclusive to our code as I see that even in NZ's Super fixtures, the lack of punters is quite surprising, given that nations obsession with Union. I reckon we are now at a X roads in respect of sport at this tier. The on the ground support that was such a vital element of clubs v's the now stay at home markets targeted and prioritised by businesses or organisations as we so clinically like to refer to them, is a distinct shift which has already affected the cultural DNA of our game and not for the better in m humble opinion.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
NO time for anyone to rest on their laurels - the challenges have barely begun.
Republican
Guest
HO hum - it's all about the commercial and especially tele is it not. Card board cut outs are in the offing as the backdrop to fill the stands of our once great and vital colosseums. The devoted member is virtually irrelevant and indeed extinct in the brave new world i.e. 2012 - 13 super seeded by insular and sanitised home entertainment membership it would seem. AD, next stop NZ?