‘Three to five years away’: Private ownership eyes off AFL clubs

A Sydney-based private equity group says it has fielded interest from AFL clubs and believes there is no reason why private ownership cannot happen in the next five years.

David Gibson – a NSW Rugby administrator who last year partnered with former Macquarie banker Ben Carberry to establish Athlon Partners, a sports advisory group which also involves former Australian cricketer Shane Lee – believes the time is fast approaching for the AFL to again seriously consider private ownership.

The prospect of private ownership of AFL clubs is looming.Credit:Getty Images

“The AFL is the biggest code in Australia – one of the best-run codes in the world is the NFL. They are run very much under a commission structure like the AFL, but they are all private ownership,” Gibson said.

“I think there is a model there to replicate that but, as I say at the moment, they (AFL) don’t seem ready for it.

“If I walk into a rugby team or a football team in Europe, I know what I am exactly going to get from the broadcast fees, the governance, I also know I will get audited every month, and if I don’t meet my budget forecasts I will get a warning, and the next month they (league chiefs) will fine me and the next month they will relegate me. It’s very well regulated but, right now, (the AFL) does not offer that.”

However, Gibson said “there are people ringing us from AFL (clubs) going: ‘Can you guys get involved?’ They are from an AFL team so they are prominent”.

He said there were some clubs “we would like to get involved with, but right now they are not offering that structure”.

“I think that is three to five years off before they get serious with that,” he added.

Athlon Partners is seeking to raise $15 million through its Athlon Club Investment Fund to secure deals in European club soccer and rugby.

The AFL has not had private owners since the ill-fated days of the Brisbane Bears and the Sydney Swans that ended in the early ’90s. The AFL also once fielded an offer to launch the Los Angeles Crocodiles.

AFL industry figures quietly admit there is potential value in private ownership which, for instance, could provide added funds for football department spending. Recent cuts have angered senior coaches.

Some figures say the broadcast rights deals here, while healthy, are not enough of a lure for investment funds. Most AFL clubs are member-based organisations and the competition is not-for-profit, but this has left some financially-exposed amid pandemic-induced cuts.

One AFL club president, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “The AFL is a form of socialism but, unlike socialism, it works”. However, the club president wouldn’t rule out private ownership “forever”.

Gibson and his partners are pursuing deals with lower-level clubs in Europe in the $5 million range. He says AFL clubs are “under-valued” and supporters should not fear private ownership.

“Not at all. Under our structure, we offer some of our shares to the local stakeholders … without that, it’s not worth doing,” he said.

The majority owners would almost certainly have the power to appoint the chairman and chief executive of a club.

Greater Western Sydney Giants chief Dave Matthews last year said private ownership is “worth contemplating in the current circumstances”, confirming there were Americans interested in investing in the expansion club.

The Giants have a coterie group called M7, featuring about 25 American-based investors who support the club, but officials maintain the investors are only interested in the club claiming a breakthrough premiership, not their own profit.

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