Eddie McGuire’s campaign to make 2015 the year of the AFL fan has its first big-name recruit: David Koch.
The breakfast morning host-turned-Port Adelaide club chairman joined his fellow television star for a lunch-time business forum at the MCG on Friday.
In the often sharp-barbed world of football politics, it seems the Magpies’ boss and his Power counterpart have found a friendship, and a partnership.
As the new kid on the block, Koch said there was plenty of room for collaboration between the two clubs, with a focus to be “bringing the fun back into footy”.
“It’s been one of the pillars of what we’ve been doing for the last two years,” Koch said.
“It’s been reflected in the attendance you get at Adelaide Oval.
“The world’s so grumpy … footy’s got to be fun, a great night out.
“Every year has got to be the year of the fan.”
Whether they’re listening or not, the AFL is certainly acting, with chief executive Gillon McLachlan pledging to improve fallen Victorian attendances.
McLachlan told ABC radio on Friday morning he was working on the fixture, match-day costs and the fan experience as a way to improve crowds.
McGuire praised his leadership, saying there was an “opportunity for football to get back to what it should be about”.
“It should be a religion – it shouldn’t be a business,” he said.
“We have become very business-orientated; the whole world has.
“I’m really confident football is going to be great again.”
While McGuire and Koch work for rival networks, the pair clearly share a passion for renovating football clubs.
“David’s having the best time of his life because he’s taking a moribund club and turning them into something spectacular,” McGuire said.
“I did it in 1998 with the board of the Collingwood football club.
“It is the greatest thing you can ever do. Staying there is the hardest thing.”
The two clubs meet on Sunday afternoon in a match which could determine whether Port Adelaide can make it into the top four, and if Collingwood make finals at all.
McGuire hailed the young partnership between the two clubs, saying footy sides should leave the fighting to the field.
“Sometimes, it sounds like we’re all punching on with each other but we’re not,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t critique things … but it doesn’t mean we’re going to die in a ditch over it.”
Cat
Roar Guru
How about Collingwood? Sydney?
AR
Guest
Hawthorn is a big club and its had anything *but* a dream draw. And as Premiers, that's the way it should be. Maximising attendances via afternoon slots rather than night games, doesn't automatically mean big clubs get an easy ride. As I said, you can even out the fixture whilst focussing on maximising crowds.
Cat
Roar Guru
"The fixture next year will be drawn up squarely through the lens of attendances,” McLachlan said. With that quote it shows the AFL aren't going to change anything, the big clubs will continue to get the dream draws and easiest fixtures while the clubs who could use more exposure will continue to be shuffled to the worst slots and the AFL will keep wondering why small clubs struggle to gain members and make money.
AR
Guest
The two things aren't mutually exclusive. Caro's article this morning talks about returning games to the traditional Saturday afternoon timeslot and ensuring that blockbuster games can be as big as they can be - rather than Sunday night fixtures. You *can* have both.
Cat
Roar Guru
But if the AFL fill the stadiums at the cost of a fair draw it will pretty much be the same old same old, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
This is a hard one for the AFL it really is. Whilst I agree with the premises of the article to some extend, I don't agree the AFL should be shying away from being business savvy in favour of the zealous fan. The AFL at the moment is in a very good position to take the game forward and become the only code in the country that is truly national. We are not quite there yet, about 20-30 years in my opinion, but it is a good decade a head of anyone else. TV rights are critical to the success and development of the game and what I don't want to see happening is Gill making knee jerk reactions to some poor crowds due family unfriendly time slots. These same times are prime time TV rating slots and are one of the reasons the AFL was able to negotiate the largest TV rights any code as ever seen in this country. However, other codes have also done this and have taken it to the extreme by selling out to many of these prime time slots to maximise their TV rights, thus affecting crowd numbers significantly for the poorer. This is where the fine balance must come in and the AFL needs to be brave enough to continue trialling different time slots and being innovative with their product and not looking backwards. Yes, sometimes you need to look backwards in order to go forwards and I agree that some of the time slots this year have been plain ludicrous. Eddie also is a bit of a joke and always has been in my opinion. Eddie will be the first to tell you that the Collingwood football club is an 80 million dollar a year business. Those are his words, not mine, so for him to say that we need to think of the AFL more as a religion and not a business again just shows to the Australian public that Eddie really has no credibility what so ever when it comes to the better of the AFL. Sure he has done wonderful things as a president for his beloved Pies, but he is not the man I want to be taking ANY advice from when it comes to the best for the game. I like Gill, but he needs to prove himself more before I blow his trumpet. Andrew was a guy that was tough, but fare. Look at is decade plus in tenure and what he has achieved for the AFL. He was ruthless and I like that in a CEO, I don't like soft people. The game is healthy at the moment and I am really looking forward to a cracking finals series. GO THE CATS!
AR
Guest
You don't have to like Kochie...and you certainly don't have to like Eddie...but the 2015 Year of the Fan is a fantastic idea. The AFL faces some very important decisions over the next few years. It is absolutely critical that it reconnects with the people...and reaches out to new ones. Fill the stadiums and the sport will be ok.