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The new AFL CEO, Gillon McLachlan, has gained a reputation of being a terrific wheeler and dealer in his various roles so far with the AFL.
He has admitted that he loves the cut and thrust of making a deal and generally that has been with the corporates – especially in regard to nailing down lucrative broadcasting arrangements.
However, now that he is to be the number one man at the highest profile sporting organisation in the country, he has to deal with everyone.
Like his predecessor, Andrew Demetriou, that includes arguably the game’s most important commodity, the fans.
McLachlan has a number of pressing issues that he will have to cope with when he takes over as CEO early next month. One of the priorities is dwindling crowd numbers. Now!
After Round 2 this season the AFL spruiked that they had achieved record crowd numbers for that round.
There are nine games, so that’s not surprising, and they are always going to take a glass half full attitude with this topic, but attendances so far in 2014 have dropped.
That probably has much to do with attendance prices and the food and drink prices on top of that, which are ridiculous.
In his press conference during the week McLachlan admitted this issue had to be addressed. Because most of our supporter base, no matter how much they love the game, won’t be able to afford going every week unless the AFL can absorb a reduction in costs. And they should be able to do that.
It’s fast becoming a game for the fans who have money, which is a huge cause for concern.
It’s like the clubs themselves. The “haves” like Collingwood, Hawthorn and the interstate giants such as Adelaide and West Coast continue to prosper, while the “have nots”, including the Bulldogs and North Melbourne are constantly battling financially.
Much of that has to do with the controversial arrangement the Dogs and the Roos have with playing their home matches at Docklands.
Those clubs struggle to make a profit when they host games there and that’s why they take home matches interstate. North has a deal in place in Hobart and the Dogs have been to Darwin, Canberra and this year are hosting a match in Cairns.
At his presser McLachlan backed up previous AFL statements that they would love to buy the Docklands stadium. If the price was right and that happened, all tenants at the ground should be far more satisfied.
Since his return 18 months ago, Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon has been a vocal campaigner of an equalisation policy being put in place. This would mean the lesser-supported clubs like his are helped out better financially.
Expect him to make regular beelines to put his point across to the new CEO. It’s up to McLachlan to put his dealmaking skills to the test and ensure all levels of the game are in excellent shape.
If he can’t do that then deal maker could quickly become the deal breaker. We will no doubt watch with great interest.
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