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The health of the Australian Football League "is at an all-time high," according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. On Wednesday, club CEOs will be presented with "data supporting the league's strong position." At the start of the two-day conference in Victoria between the AFL execs and club CEOs, the league's midseason review will be unveiled and it will reveal that "all key performance indicators are on the rise." Attendances are up more than 6% from 12 months ago, club membership has risen by 3%, TV audiences are up by 5%, participation numbers have improved by more than 3% and digital growth has climbed by more than 100%. National Rugby League attendances have fallen by 2.5% this year from last season. The average Friday night AFL TV audience (as of round 19) is 1,127,648 viewers. The game has a "total viewing audience of 85 million up to June 30." Eight of the 18 clubs now have memberships of more than 50,000 and the total membership figure is at "almost 900,000." In contrast, NRL club memberships are about 312,000. Based on current trends, with three rounds remaining, the AFL is "confident of reaching a total annual home-and-away attendance in excess of 200,000 more than last year." Attendances have "ballooned due to the resurgence of three traditional Melbourne-based clubs," Essendon, Richmond and the Demons. And in a "rare achievement," three clubs -- Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon -- could all attract more than 1 million to their 22 games this season (
THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/9).
