AFL's threat to league exaggerated

[Coxy]

Interesting article by Roy Masters about the junior numbers, or lack thereof, of AFL in Western Sydney. Only as many as play Rugby League in Melbourne! [icon_lol1.

http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/ho ... 40139.html

CONFIDENTIAL data on participation rates of junior players in greater Sydney has reflected a flawed and desperate mission by the AFL to lay a footprint in the city's west.

When paired with inflated crowd figures on the Gold Coast, the data shows the AFL's expansion plans to be a hall of mirrors.

Heavy use of contra advertising - part of the AFL's $780 million broadcasting deal - to generate a big crowd at Homebush Bay for the Swans versus Collingwood match mocks the claims by NRL chief executive David Gallop that AFL deserves its record TV revenue because it is the biggest game in town.

The AFL is involved in a furious game of catch-up following the proud but presumptuous boast earlier this year of chairman Mike Fitzpatrick to expand the AFL to 18 teams by 2012, including clubs in western Sydney and the on Gold Coast, in order to lift TV ratings and generate a $1 billion TV rights package when the current deal expires.

The AFL's own statistics reveal there are only slightly more juniors registered as players in Sydney's west than actually playing rugby league in the city's eastern suburbs, an NRL district maligned for its dependence on imported players.

 

[Kimlo]

I read that, It's interesting.