The AFL Commission, the organisation responsible for negotiating the next cycle of domestic rights to the Australian Football League (AFL), the top division of Aussie rules in the country, has postponed talks until next year due to uncertainty surrounding the future of commercial broadcaster Ten, a likely bidder in the process.
Ten confirmed earlier this month that it had received non-binding, conditional investment proposals from a “number of parties.”
The Australian newspaper said that the commission had decided to wait until the future of Ten was clarified in an effort to negotiate the most lucrative deal possible,
The report added that the league is seeking between Aus$1.5bn (€980m/$1.2bn) and Aus$1.6bn in the next five-year cycle, from 2017 to 2021. The AFL’s current deal with commercial broadcaster Seven and pay-television operator Fox Sports is worth Aus$1.26bn over five years, from 2012 to 2016.