The AFL Players Association, the players' union of the top division of Aussie rules football in Australia, has said it wants a seat at the table during the league’s negotiations over its next broadcast rights deal.
Talks over the next rights deal for the AFL are reportedly due to commence before the 2015 season begins on April 2. The AFLPA is seeking a share of the league’s future media rights revenue and chief executive Paul Marsh has written to his counterpart at the AFL, Gillon McLachlan, to request a place at the negotiating table.
Marsh told radio station SEN: “They may choose to involve us, they may choose not to. It's really about having the opportunity to sit down with the AFL and broadcasters and say, 'what do you guys want? What are the things you want from players that you're potentially prepared to pay more for to enhance the value of your broadcast?'
“We can then take those things back to the playing group and hopefully come up with a better situation for everyone. I can't see how it would be hurtful for us to be there in the room. I don't see a negative. I guess we'll have these conversations with the AFL and see where it goes.”
The AFL’s current deal with commercial broadcaster Seven, pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports, pay-television operator Foxtel and telecommunications company Telstra is worth A$1.26bn (€860.8m/$978.8m) over five years, from 2012 to 2016. The league is said to be seeking A$1.75bn from its next five-year contract, with preliminary talks with broadcasters reportedly held late last year.
The AFLPA’s call comes after the AFL Coaches Association this month pushed for joint coach post-match press conferences to be televised on Foxtel, with the union to have received A$500,000 if the innovative idea had gone ahead.
The proposal has failed to receive league backing for 2015, but Marsh said similar ideas could lead to players receiving a greater share of revenues from the AFL’s next rights deal. “We've been on the record certainly since I started saying we want a percentage share of the game's revenues,” Marsh added.
“That's what this is all about, trying to work in partnership with the game to increase the revenues and then everyone wins. The players get more, the game gets more, the clubs get more. It's not a threatening thing, it's about taking our responsibility as major stakeholders in the game seriously and see where we can add value.”