The AFL needs a London Football Club

Australia has a population of 26 million. Europe and the USA have about 350 million each, and there are billions of people in Asia.

How is the AFL expected to make inroads into these international markets, when they don’t even have a mechanism to allow a Tasmanian team to enter our competition?

Our growth model is upside down, inefficient, outdated and restrictive for expansion.

Q. What is the best way to expand the AFL domestically and internationally?

A. Create a divisional structure with free trade agreements.

To examine how an international Aussie Rules team can be established and integrated into the AFL, we need to first allow pathways to entry by opening a divisional system with limited restrictions on player transfers and payments.

It is universally accepted that free trade platforms are the most efficient mechanism for growth and expansion, by promoting investor confidence and allowing direct strategic investment without the burdensome regulatory constraints and policies of equalisation which limit growth.

Investors can then put their whole weight and might into the unrestrained development of their chosen pursuit, without restriction.

The establishment of London FC

Imagine if Rupert Murdoch, owner of the News Corp Empire and Fox Sports, partners with Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines to establish a London Football Club.

The first international football club incorporated into the AFL, hosting home games at the 2012 Olympic London Stadium which has a 66,000-seat capacity.

If hypothetically approved and given 10 months before the first game, the core administration of the club is quickly formed and capital raising is launched by floating London FC on the stock exchange, raising AUD$41 million on a 49% share offering, valuing the startup at $80M, similar to the current valuation of the Melbourne Storm.

The AFL directs the club to enter league via the 12-team Division 3 competition, so the Club gets working on the recruitment of key figures such as the experienced Peter Jackson as CEO, Neil Balme as GM, and Nathan Buckley as coach, all on three-year deals for a combined total of AUD$12M.

The community is engaged to help develop the colours, logo and guernsey of the club, while Robbie Williams is tasked with creating a catchy and powerful anthem. Club merchandise is designed, produced and sold on the back of sponsorship agreements which inject a further AUD$10M into the club.

As momentum builds for the first home game, 25,000 memberships are sold, mainly comprised from the 200,000 Aussie expats who reside in London and some of the two million Londoners that have previously lived in Australia and have acquired a fondness for our game.

The remaining seats are expected to be filled by some of the 300,000 Australian tourists who visit London annually and local football enthusiasts.

London FC is anticipated to sell out their first home game which will be full of fanfare, however, estimates for home attendances over the entire first Div3 season is expected to average 15-20,000 people per game.

The Club’s expectations after five years and with the financial resources to reach Div 1, is to have 60,000 members, 500,000 dedicated subscribers to Fox Sports/London FC, and regularly sell out blockbuster matches against the likes of West Coast FC, Collingwood FC, Melbourne FC, and Sydney FC.

What would an AFL side in London mean for the sport? (Photo by Mark Kolbe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

The distance from Australia to London is 22 hours, so four home games and four away games are scheduled in succession which also allows athletic carnivals to be scheduled at London Stadium.

Virgin Airlines is named ‘Official AFL International Travel Partner’ in exchange for free First Class international travel for all AFL players and staff to and from Australia.

With the AFL’s hypothetic pivot away from the restrictive policies of equalisation and the draft, and the adoption of player transfer fees and free trade agreements significantly increasing the operating costs for all clubs, London FC allocates approx.

AUD$30M is distributed to create a lean 28-man playing list. They produce a side which is predicted to win the 12-team Division 3 AFL premiership, competing against the likes of Bendigo FC, Ballarat FC, Canberra FC and North Tasmania FC which all have operating budgets of around AUD$5-10M p/a. However, new privateers Cairns FC owned by Clive Palmer and Darwin FC owned by Ziggy Forrester have also just made their entry into Div3, and have acquired talented playing lists.

Competition for elevation into Div 2 will be fierce and the stakes are big; however, London FC is confident and has allocated further investment into player acquisitions in their second-year push for promotion into the pinnacle 12 team division 1 competition, where the club expects to make significant annual profits on the back of broadcast rights, to lift the valuation of the club to around AUD$250M.

London FC draws significant organic media attention in Britain, and is further hyped into the European and US sporting markets by Murdoch’s Fox Sports/ News Corp Empire, promoting the game and London FC’s grand strategic plan of becoming one of the biggest football clubs in the world.

Our game is on the verge of its maiden Global breakthrough, and everyone is excited.

As the club settles into its first full pre-season training, the CEO Peter Jackson starts investigating future domestic pathways for recruitment.

AFL London becomes the natural target, established in 1989, it is the premier football competition outside Australia with an existing 5 divisional levels, 27 teams, 1400 players and eight standout Div 1 clubs. AFL London is acquired by London FC and resourced with a full-time professional administration tasked with building a junior development league and integrating Aussie rules into the education system.

(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

As the local league grows and strengthens, and London FC gain national and worldwide attention for winning their first AFL Trophy, investor confidence is buoyed, not just from club success and increased asset valuation, but from the spectacular nature of the sport which has captivated the fans and sparked the attention of potential investors and new start-ups worldwide.

Irish Fighters Football Club

Soon rumours circulate that Denis O’Brien, founder of Digicel Group, philanthropist and sports investor, has lodged an application for the establishment of a team in Dublin, and that he has already signed 15 Irish-born AFL players and recruited some elite Gaelic talent.

The team is to be called Irish Fighters FC and through clever PR, he hires Connor McGregor to be their strength and conditioning coach and unofficial spokesperson. Unlike London FC, the Fighters will focus on the acquisition of ethnic Irish players and coaches so as to gain authentic acceptance within the indigenous Irish community.

Mr O’Brien is also aware of the 10 Million Irish expats living around the world, the 2 million Irish descendants that live in Australia, many of whom love a Guinness, and co-incidentally becomes their first major sponsor outside Digicel.

The establishment of the hypothetic London FC and the Irish Fighters FC could become a reality, if only the AFL considered the merits of an open divisional league, using free trade agreements as the mechanism for expansion. Is there really any other option for global expansion?