Coaches from the Australian Football League Aussie rules competition have begun talks with pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports over a deal that would lead to opposing coaches holding joint press conferences after games, according to Australian newspaper the Age.
The potential deal, which is believed to be the first of its kind in world sport, could be worth up to Aus$500,000 (€357,050/$391,147) per year, the report said.
Discussions have been confirmed by Mark Brayshaw, chief executive of the AFL Coaches’ Association, who yesterday (Thursday) met with AFL executive Simon Lethlean and Ben Buckley, the head of the Fox Footy channel.
Lethlean was reportedly seeking details of the proposed press conferences, which, under the current proposal, would only be staged in front of Fox Footy cameras.
Although details of the agreement are yet to be finalised, an alternative plan is for the joint press conferences to be open to all media, but shown live on an exclusive basis by Fox Footy.
Brayshaw said that the money raised from the deal would help establish a coaches’ retirement fund and other coaching development schemes. He also said that coaches have indicated that they would not have a problem appearing on camera together after controversial incidents in matches.