The AFL will reap a major windfall from the Gather Round deal with South Australia, receiving close to $80 million in cash and non-capital investment from the SA government for the next three years.
And, as sources familiar with the deal confirmed, the AFL will benefit even further if infrastructure and longer-term spending on facilities and community footy are counted in the deal announced on Sunday by Premier Peter Malinauskas and AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.
Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas with AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan at the launch of Gather Round at Adelaide Oval.Credit: AFL Photos
If this longer-range spending is included – in addition to the cash and non-capital expenses – the SA government’s investment in Gather Round over three years would exceed $90m, although the investments in facilities outlive the three-year deal.
The AFL received what well-placed competition and AFL sources said was between $16m and $20m from the Malinauskas government for last weekend’s first Gather Round in Adelaide and Mount Barker. This consisted of about $15m cash from the major events budget of the SA government, plus a much smaller amount that came from a promotional budget.
All told, the AFL grossed close to $30m from the inaugural Gather Round, counting earnings from ticket sales, but will have to subtract costs from that return. They have handed much of that money to the clubs – lifting the soft cap by $250,000 – and a significant share to the players for playing an extra round.
The AFL estimated that more than 60,000 fans came to South Australia for the first Gather Round, but the expectation of both the SA government, the league and several clubs, including the Adelaide Crows, is that the number of fans who travel from out of state to SA will increase next year and bolster the impact on the state’s economy.
The NSW and Western Australian governments also made pitches for hosting the round. Sources familiar with the negotiations said that, in the early discussions with McLachlan, the premier suggested that the concept would fare better and become more valuable if it was hosted by the fanatical football state rather than NSW, with McLachlan having first floated that SA could host the round next year after it started in NSW.
The AFL and SA government are hoping to host games in the Barossa and possibly McLaren Vale next year, clearly to attract more tourists and dollars from other states. To do so would require more spending on local community grounds and facilities to get them up to AFL standard for spectators and players.
The novelty of games at Norwood Oval (Fremantle v Gold Coast and Hawthorn v Greater Western Sydney) – which could only accommodate 10,000 fans but which offered a more intimate atmosphere – has resulted in SANFL clubs, such as Glenelg and Sturt, expressing interest in hosting those games at their homes next year. Mount Barker also hosted a game between the Brisbane Lions and North Melbourne, a template for what could be done in the Barossa.
The premier has a major events budget of $40m for this year and has indicated that the Gather Round spend is less than half of that budget.
The argument about which state should host the Gather Round intensified over the weekend, with GWS chief executive David Matthews telling The Age the AFL needed to show courage by taking the round to NSW to grow the game, rather than being a vehicle for tourism and government relations. The WA football commission also expressed disappointment that the deal had been struck for three years when WA could have bid.
But the AFL believes they gained a better return by entering a longer partnership with South Australia, which was willing to build facilities and also that the concept of Gather Round – used by the NRL first in Australia – would be cemented in SA.
Malinauskas will be up for an election in 2026, which will be the final year of the three-year deal with the AFL.
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