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AFL Sponsorship Report
AFL
Sponsorship Report
Sport sponsorship management, SP0712
Student: 14034202
Tutor: Dr. Paul Blakey
Hand in date: 30/01/2015
Word count: 2633/3000
Executive Summary
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the professional Australian football association. The sport was
created in 1857 in Melbourne. Nowadays the AFL consists of 18 teams. AFL is played in 53 different
countries and a world cup is held once in every 3 years.
As a brand and organisation the AFL is very healthy. With a revenue of Aus$446 million (in 2013), a
brand value of (approximately) Aus$400 million, a sponsorship revenue of Aus$168 million, an
average of 4.729.423 television audience a week during the season and a total of 6.368.346
attendants the AFL is the largest sport league of Australia.
The AFL has a high brand value and 14 of the 18 teams are in the top 20 of teams with highest brand
value. The average of the 14 clubs is Aus$23,83 million in brand value.
The consumer attitude towards sponsorship is positive and they accept international companies as
sponsor but they do appreciate sport/AFL related companies.
There are three recommendations for the AFL concerning there sponsorship approaches.
- More global/European
- Sponsors more affiliated to sport
- Bigger sponsor deals
More global/European
Attract more European sponsors. This will create more affiliation with the European market/fans and
increase the amount of consumers/fans.
Sponsors more affiliated to sport
The consumers/fans have shown that they prefer sponsors that are related to the sport or sports in
general. By making sport affiliated organisations the main sponsors the AFL will have more
authenticity and a bigger, more loyal fan base.
Bigger sponsor deals
The AFL has a brand value of Aus$400 million but only get Aus$168 million of revenue from sponsors.
This shows that the AFL could and should ask more of the sponsors.
Key findings
Australian sport industry generated Aus$15 billion of income and 107,256
employed (IBIS World, 2014).
2013 the AFL created revenue of Aus$446 million (Australian Football
league, 2014).
The AFL has a total revenue of Aus$168.275.000 on commercial operations
(sponsorship) (Australian Football league, 2014).
Most AFL sponsors are car manufacturers and beverage companies.
A brand value of Aus$400 million (Brand Finance, 2013).
4.729.423 television audiences in each (season) week and a total of
6.368.346 attendances (AFL, 2014).
Australians are relatively positive towards sponsorship (fullerton, 2004)
Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 3
Key findings ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 7
The AFL .................................................................................................................................................... 8
Sponsors .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Brand value ............................................................................................................................................ 11
Consumer attitude towards sponsorship .............................................................................................. 13
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 14
References ............................................................................................................................................. 16
Introduction
The Australian Football League, also known as the AFL, is the professional Australian football
association. Australian football was created around 1857 by Tom Wills, H.C.A. Harrison, W.J.
Hammersley and J.B. Thompson (AFL, 2015). They formed the first football club in Melbourne (The
Melbourne Football Club) on August 7, 1858. This was also the year of the first match, Scotch College
against Melbourne Grammar School. The Victorian Football League was the first league to be
established in 1896. In 1987 more clubs from other parts of the country joined, creating the
Australian Football League. In 2011 it became an 18-team national competition (AFL, 2015).
This report is about the sponsorship deals and value of the AFL. Smith (2008) explained sponsorship
as a marketing tool and often seen as a part of promotion and personal selling. But sport sponsorship
has developed to more than just a part of promotion and personal selling. It has grown towards a
point that it is part of the marketing mix. Sponsoring can be on different levels; individuals and
organisations (Smith, 2008). Both parties should benefit from the sponsorship. The sponsored sport
organisation receives cash, goods, services or expert advice and the sponsoring company receives
benefits such as promotional rights and marketing advantages. By sponsoring a sponsor wants to
increase consumers’ awareness of their brand and increase their brand equity (Smith, 2008).
As said this report will involve the sponsorship deals and value of the AFL. It answers the question:
What can the AFL do to increase their sponsorship deals and value? The answer will be gathered by
analysing the leagues sponsors, the brand value and the consumers’ attitude towards sponsorship.
Methodology
To develop this sponsorship report several secondary sources have been used. The study focused on
the sponsorship of the AFL. But also looked at the 18
clubs that where represented by the AFL.
The main source was the annual report of the AFL. The
most recent annual report was used, which is the
report of 2013. Next to the annual report other
important sources have been taken into account.
Reports of companies such as Repucom, IBIS and the
Australian government have been used. Also different
news articles and independent studies have been used.
All these sources have been analysed and used
according to university standards. The value of every
source will be discussed. The acquired information was
used according to standards and was referenced.
The analyses consisted of a comparison of different
sources and the necessary information, for the different chapters, was valued and used. The used
information was compared and following this comparison a conclusion was made.
The information that was gathered was gathered through the internet. The first site and document
that will be obtained is the library website of Northumbria University and the Annual report of 2013
of the AFL. If these sources did not give a source that provided the necessary information an
extensive search through internet would be done. With the official AFL site, the Australian
government site or the most accurate links through Google as main sources.
Figure 1 (Australian Football league, 2014)
The AFL
The Australian sport industry generated Aus$15 billion of income and has 107,256 employees (IBIS
World, 2014). It can be stated that the sport sector in Australia is big, but there is no particular
market leader. There are no organisations that holds more that 5% of the sector revenue (IBIS World,
2014). In 2013 the AFL created revenue of Aus$446 million. That is 2,9% of the total revenue of the
sport sector but still makes Australian football one of the biggest sports in Australia (AFL, 2014).
AFL is played in 53 different countries around the world (AFL, 2014) and with a stunning 32.163
attendances per game (in 2013) the AFL Premierships season is the fourth highest average
attendance per game in the world (Australian Football league, 2014).
It can be concluded that the AFL is a healthy organisation with a good revenue, compared to the
other Australian sport organisation, a worldwide fan base and many attendants per game. All of this
together makes the AFL the biggest league in the Australian sport industry.
Sponsors
The AFL has several sponsors. The premier partner is Toyota. The Major partners are Carlton Daught,
National Australia Bank, Coca-Cola (Gatorade) (AFL, 2014). Figure 2 shows all the official Partners.
The AFL has a total revenue of Aus$168.275.000 on commercial operations. Commercial operations
are the sponsorship deals of the AFL. This is an increase of Aus$10 million in comparison to 2012
(AFL, 2014).
Figure 2 (AFL , 2014)
Table 1 shows the most important sponsors and their activities within the AFL. These are some of the
most important sponsors to the AFL. Because they give a lot of money, do a lot of activities with and
around the AFL season or/and because they have a special deal.
- $8million estimated deal (SportsPro, 2011)
-Naming rights
o Toyota AFL premiership season,
o Toyota AFL finals series,
o Toyota AFL grand final parade
o Toyota AFL grand final.
-$2.3 million to community football
-$353.000 to grassroots clubs in victoria, Tasmania and southern new
south wales.
-My Legendary Moment.
o 2 tickets to the grand final
o Overall winner wins a Toyota sr5 HILux
o Witnessed by 100.000 people and TV audience of +3.6million
-Planet ark’s national tree day
-Association with the VFL
-Toyota good for footy tour, 12 regional locations in Vic and SNSW
- 2 years of 10-year contract.
- Emphasis on consumer experience
- Alcohol partner
- Estimated $3 million sponsorship deal (SportsPro, 2011).
- PowerAde
- Non-alcoholic beverage partner
- Ticket giveaways
- Coke rewards
- Prizes of $10.000
- $3million
- Talent pathway programs
o NAB Cup
o NAB Under-16 and Under-18 championship
o NAB AFL Draft
o NAB AFL Draft Combine
o NAB Footify FM
o NAB AFL Rising Star
o NAB AFL Auskicker
- Media exposure of $5.28 million for the NAB AFL Draft.
Virgin Australia is the official airline of the AFL.
Table 1 (Australian Football league, 2014)
The data in table shows that the AFL has a lot of different sponsors from different countries, from
Australia but also from other parts of the world, mainly from the USA and Asia. A large percentage of
the sponsors are from American origin, but almost none of the sponsors are European or African.
Brand finance (2013) shows that a lot of the sponsors are car manufacturers or alcohol/drinks
companies. This is not only with the AFL but with most sports in Australia.
It can be concluded that the AFL has a strong sponsorship deal position, with Aus$168.275.000 and
with 29 sponsors. It can be said that they are doing well and the Aus$10 million shows that the AFL
keeps growing. But they still mainly have American, Asian and Australian sponsors and no European
or African based companies. This means that a big sector is still untouched by the AFL. This means
that they can keep growing.
Brand value
According to a report of Repucom
(2011) the average value per sponsor
per team is approximately
Aus$3.573.160. With 18 teams in the
AFL that should come to a total of
Aus$64.316.880 of value for all the AFL
teams combined. But a report of Brand
Finance, ‘The top 20 most valuable
Australian sports brands’, shows very
different numbers.
This report shows that 14 of the 18 AFL
clubs are in the top 20 of most valuable
sport brands. Figure 2 shows the top 20
teams brand value. It can be stated that
the AFL is the most valuable league in
Australia with 14 teams in the top 20,
even though they do not dominate the
top 3. Most of the clubs get a rating of
AA or higher with a couple of teams that
even have an AAA+ rating. This is a
rating in equity and other measure
ratios. That means that it is an
extremely strong brand. The 14 teams
that are listed have a combined brand
value of Aus$334 million (Phelan, 2013).
That is an average of Aus$23,83 million.
That would mean that the AFL is approximately Aus$400 million worth.
Figure 3 shows the brand value of the clubs in the states of Australia, from the AFL and the NRL
(National Rugby League). This shows that the AFL’s brand value is a lot more that the NRL’s but also
that the amount of brand value is not evenly spread across the different states. This is because the
majority of the teams are in Victoria and there is no AFL Team in the state Northern Territory. An
important aspect that shows the brand value is the equity and revenue of an organisation (Brand
Finance, 2013) but also the audience per game/week/season is important, because that is of a value
for the sponsor.
The AFL has an average of 4.729.423 TV audiences in each (season) week and a total of 6.368.346
attendances, at matches, for the 2013 Toyota AFL premierships season. The season ended with the
grand final between Hawthorn and Fremantle with 100.007 attendants and 3.633.764 average
national TV audience (Australian Football league, 2014). With all the clubs combined the AFL has
756.717 club members (Australian Football league, 2014).
It can be concluded that the AFL has the highest brand value of Australia, being Aus$400 million. And
the quality that is given to the AFL teams shows that they have future potential. The 4 million weekly
television audiences and six million total attendants make the AFL a valuable company for sponsors,
showing that there is a lot of future potential.
Consumer attitude towards sponsorship
The attitude of the consumers and therefor fans towards sponsorship is affected by a range of
variables. This includes the duration of the sponsorship deal and the commitments of the AFL fans to
the club/organisation (McDonald, 2005). According to McDonald and Shaw (2005), one in 16 AFL fans
actively seek out and use the sponsors’ products and around 28% of the ALF fans use the sponsors’
product if they have the choice. But 58% of the fans pay only little attention to the sponsors
(McDonald, 2005). According to Fullerton, Morgan and Garland (2014) 80.8% of their respondents
agree that sports sponsorship represents a good way for a company to achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage. Next to that 75.4% believes that sponsorship exhibits good community
relations. But Fullerton et al. (2014) show that on the other side 43.9% thinks that companies should
spend less on sponsorship and more on social programs and that a big part of the fans thinks that
sponsors should be companies that are affiliated with the sport.
As Taylor and Fullerton (2004) said it can be concluded that Australians are relatively positive
towards sponsorship. Combined with the results of the research of Fullerton et al. (2014), which
shows that foreign companies are accepted as sponsors of Australian sport properties, and the
conclusion of McDonald and Shaw (2005), it can be stated that the consumer attitude towards
sponsorship in Australia and the AFL is positive and the consumers/fans appreciate it but that they
do think the sponsors should be affiliated sport or the AFL.
Conclusion
All the analyses conclude to three recommendations as answer to the question, what can the AFL do
to increase their sponsorship deals and value? The three recommendations are, more global
orientation, use sponsors more affiliated to sport and make bigger sponsor deals. These will be
explained in the following chapter.
More global
As the analyses show, the AFL is already engaged with several largely international companies. But it
also shows that most of these companies’ origins are Australian or American. More interaction with
the European or African market will attract more sponsor possibilities, fans, and it will have a huge
benefit for the current sponsors. This will give the AFL a larger brand value because more people will
watch and follow the AFL. AFL is already played in 53 (AFL, 2014)countries across the world and 20
countries in Europe (ALF Europe, 2014). This shows that AFL is already growing in Europe for the past
10 years (AFL Europe, 2014). And because the consumers/fans in Australia are open for foreign
sponsors there will probably be no complications about originality or commitment. A sponsorship
deal with several European companies will create benefits for both sides. The AFL will, as said, gain
more brand value, create a bigger market by entering a new one, have a diversity of sponsors and
create more revenue and/or income. But it will also be a strategic step for the European companies.
Because sponsoring the AFL will be the most effective deal to reach the biggest part of the Australian
market. But they can also use the sponsorship in Europe. This will position them as a new, strong and
manly company.
Sponsors more affiliated to sport
As the analyses of the consumer attitude showed, the consumers/fans of the AFL feel positive
towards the sponsors and they think that the sponsors contribute to the development of the sport
and league. But they also mention that they think that a sponsor should have an affiliation with the
sport or league. Possible sponsors would probably be clothing manufacturers/brands, sport
stores/brands (possibly with an affiliation to the AFL), training facility real estate or Fitness
companies.
By committing to main sponsors that are directly affiliated to sport (and AFL in particular), the AFL
will obtain several benefits. One of the main benefits will be the authenticity. Having and keeping
authenticity can be a huge benefit for an organisation because this can and will create more fan
loyalty and eventually will attract more sponsors because authenticity is a good promotional tool.
And in extension of the authenticity the loyalty of the fans will increase. An increase in fan loyalty will
mean that the AFL is more attractive to sponsors and the brand value will increase. But besides
benefits there will also be some disadvantages that the AFL will have to deal with. One of the main
disadvantages is the decreased variety of possible sponsors. That might mean that the AFL will have
to settle for lower sponsorship deal, but not necessarily. There are many big sport related companies
that have big sponsorship deals and marketing budgets, some examples are Nike, Adidas or Sports
Direct.
Bigger sponsor deals
The analyses show that the AFL has an (approximate) brand value of Aus$400 million. In total they
receive $168.275.000. This means the AFL only gets half of their estimated brand value in
sponsorship deals. This means they can and should ask more money for their sponsorship deals. The
increase of Aus$10 million on sponsorship income in 2013 shows that they are developing better
deals.
References
AFL . (2014). Corporate partners. Retrieved 01 23, 2015, from AFL.com.au:
http://www.afl.com.au/afl-hq/partners/corporate-partners
AFL. (2014). Annual reports. Retrieved 01 19, 2015, from AFL.com.au: http://www.afl.com.au/afl-
hq/annual-reports
AFL. (2015). History of Australian Football. Retrieved 01 19, 2015, from AFL.com.au:
http://www.afl.com.au/afl-hq/the-afl-explained/history
AFL Europe. (2014). About us. Retrieved 01 24, 2015, from AFLeurope.org:
http://www.afleurope.org/about-us/
ALF Europe. (2014). Join a Club. Retrieved 01 24, 2015, from AFL Europe:
http://www.afleurope.org/play/how-to-join/
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013, October 24). Sport schores goals for aussie economy. Retrieved
01 19, 2015, from Value of sport,Australia, 2013:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/latestProducts/4156.0.55.002Media%20Release1
2013
Australian Football league. (2014). Annual report 2013. Melbourne: AFL.
Brand Finance. (2013). The top 20 most valuable australian sports brands. Sydney: Brand finance.
fullerton, S. a. (2004). Sports sponsorship: a comparison of attitudes held by australian an american
university students. SMAANZ Proceedings, 35-37.
Goldpaper, S. (n.d.). The First Game. Retrieved 01 09, 2015, from NBA Encyclopedia:
http://www.nba.com/history/firstgame_feature.html
IBIS World. (2014, June). Sports in Austraila: Market research reports. Retrieved 01 19, 2015, from
IBIS World: http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?indid=1975
McDonald, S. (2005). The relationship between AFL season-ticket holders satisfaction and sponsor-
related behaviour. Melbourne: Deakin University.
Morgan, F. G. (2014). A Contemporary Snapshot of Consumer Attituedes to Sport Sponsorship in
Australia. Queensland: University of Southern Queensland.
Phelan, J. (2013, 12 09). AFL clubs lead way in most valuable sporting brands. Retrieved 01 22, 2015,
from AFL.com.au/News: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-12-09/afl-clubs-lead-way-in-
most-valuable-sporting-brands
Repucom. (2011). 2011 REPUCOM International 10th Annual Football Benchmarking report Australia.
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Smith, A. C. (2008). Introduction to Sport MArketing. London: Elsevier.
SportsPro. (2011, July 01). News. Retrieved 01 20, 2015, from Sportspromedia.com:
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ralian_sport
