The Australian Football League is a beast of a business. For the reporting period ending October 31, 2024, the AFL’s gross revenue was $1.04 billion. The company’s operating surplus came in at $618 million.

Following distributions to stakeholders, including clubs, state leagues, and the AFL Players’ Association, the AFL’s net profit for the same period topped out at $41.3 million. Tax-free. Add into the mix, the AFL has a net asset base of $482 million.

Waiting for the smoke signal.Credit: Simon Letch

Standing up those figures in context illustrates the gargantuan footprint of the AFL as a corporate entity. The Australian Sports Commission’s aggregate allocation to all National Sporting Organisations, National Sporting Organisations for People with a Disability, State and Territory Sporting Institutes, and other partner bodies for 2025/26 adds up to $245 million. A quarter of the AFL’s annual gross revenue, and way less than it hands out.

Put differently, the AFL trousers more than the Australian government gives to the entire sports sector. And 10 years ago, the AFL’s total revenue was just half as much as it is currently, as was its audited surplus. Indeed, in the company’s *2016 financial year, the AFL made an operating loss (*as it did in each of the years disrupted by COVID-19).

I raise this to illustrate these points. First, whatever the myriad causative factors are, triggering so much angst about the prolonged reign of outgoing AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder, one at least must presume the sprinkling of his fairy dust has something to do with the present robustness of the AFL’s financial position.

Second, while the deployment of taxpayer funds into Australia’s sporting sector is by no means insignificant, anyone who tells you it’s too much has rocks in their head.

Third, because of this abject rudeness of the AFL’s financial health, and its non-reliance on government handouts, the corporate governance principles which are forced by........

© The Sydney Morning Herald