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Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has put News Limited’s money where his mouth is, backing the AFL to flourish over the next eight years, with a huge investment in the code’s latest broadcast deal.
The value of the AFL’s broadcast rights hit unprecedented heights with the announcement of a $2.508 billion deal on Tuesday, which will see the code pocket around $418 million per season from 2017 to 2022.
The deal was expected to click over $2 billion, but few would have envisioned the ferocity with which it barged past the milestone.
Although, when you have the head of the world’s most powerful media organisation on your side, perhaps more should have seen it coming.
News have agreed to contribute the largest chunk of the $2.5 billion kitty, chipping in around 1.3 billion, with Seven West Media contributing 1 billion, and the remainder topped up by Telstra, who have retained the league’s digital rights.
When speaking at the announcement on Tuesday, Murdoch said he believed the AFL was Australia’s ‘premium’ football code.
“This is a very significant investment for us. We’ve always believed that this is the premium code in Australia – it’s the national game,” Murdoch said.
“We’re very happy to be doing this. We believe in the strength of the game and we’ll do everything we can to make it stronger.”
Although these words from Murdoch make no direct reference to it, his seemingly whole-hearted support for the AFL has the appearance of a thinly-veiled attack on the league’s major rival, the NRL.
Murdoch’s company is yet to negotiate a new broadcast deal with the NRL, who last week announced a $925 million agreement with Channel Nine, seeing them increase their free-to-air offering, as well as retaining State of Origin and all finals.
When asked if the investment in the AFL would impact those negotiations, Murdoch flatly stated, “No, it won’t affect the NRL deal.”
Murdoch also made it clear that he would have not have personal involvement in brokering the deal with the NRL.
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