Talking Footy

Why is Demetriou more powerful than Gallop?
Tom Cowie
Friday, 04 November 2011

Today, we present Andrew Demetriou with the coveted Power Index trophy for the most powerful person in sport. He's the Aussie rules powerbroker leading his sport into a brave new expansionist era.

But what makes the AFL chieftain more powerful than, say, his nearest rival David Gallop at the NRL? Here are a few reasons why:

The dollars:

Some people say money isn't everything, it's the only thing. If that's your measure, then the AFL has the NRL well-and-truly licked. Last year the AFL's revenue ($335. 8 million) was pretty much double that of the NRL ($170 million), the AFL's salary cap ($8.21 million) was bigger than the NRL's ($4.3 million).

Even the cash doled out to clubs is higher in the AFL, where they prop up its teams with $142 million in cash. The NRL's grants are somewhere closer to $55 million.

The TV rights deal:

Here's where the competition is really heating up between these two. Before this year the AFL had a $780 million deal over five years, while the NRL was sitting on $500 million (also over five years).

But the AFL recently leapt ahead by scoring a $1.253 billion media deal, the country's biggest ever. The NRL are hoping they can beat that monster contract when their negotiations begin next year. It's not all together impossible when you take a look at...

The numbers:

Rugby league is essentially a sport made for television, which means it is popular amongst the network bosses looking to make a buck out of it. Of the top 100 shows on pay TV in the past year, three quarters were NRL broadcasts.

On free-to-air, the competition is much closer, but the AFL generally has the edge with more of its games available on the commercials (four this year, compared with two NRL games).

But that's where the competition stops. The AFL has bigger crowds (7,139,272 versus 3,465,851); more members (650,373 versus 180,824) and a presence in more state capital cities (five versus three, although the NRL has a strong regional presence).

One area where the NRL does win here are its State of Origin and international products, something the AFL lacks.

Participation's a harder one to judge, due to both leagues often producing their own in-house figures. But according to the ABS' last count, Australian Rules has the most players with 268,700 compared with rugby league's 91,200.

The commission:

This is an area that's about to change, as the NRL gets ready to implement a new independent commission (in other words: a united board) to oversee the direction of the game. Until now, the NRL has been controlled by News Limited and the ARL.

Some say that has reduced the power of Gallop, a problem Demetriou doesn't have as the AFL has had its own commission for nearly 30 years.

The expansion:

Expansion has been the real area where Demetriou has exercised his power. This year, the league introduced a new team on the Gold Coast and next year will see the inception of its 18th team based out of western Sydney. Those locations are no coincidence – they're being directly employed to take on the popularity of rugby league.

In contrast, only one new team has entered the NRL since Gallop took charge (also on the Gold Coast). A new team in Brisbane has also been flagged, but expansion is much less of a priority for Gallop than it is for Demetriou.

The scandals:

Joel Monaghan and 'that dog'. The St Kilda Schoolgirl. Group sex on Four Corners. The Andrew Lovett rape case. Melbourne Storm salary cap rots.

Both Demetriou and Gallop have faced their fair share of incidents since taking charge, so it's hard to pick a winner in this area. The NRL's scandals, however, seem to have been more damaging than those of the AFL.

Again that's a hard judgement to make, and maybe it says more about Gallop's power that he has been able to hold the sport together.

http://www.thepowerindex.com.au/sport/w ... han-gallop

Raiderdave wrote:

what a slanted w@nk this is

full of tripe from start to finish
probably commissioned by the AFL .... to be used to wipe ones @rse when one is out of tiolet paper

Topper wrote:

That's the whole problem with fans like these, Beaussie. They are just as ignorant as their leaders and refuse to believe that their game is in so much trouble.

Beaussie wrote:

Topper wrote:

That's the whole problem with fans like these, Beaussie. They are just as ignorant as their leaders and refuse to believe that their game is in so much trouble.

Their absoulte arrogance that they own western Sydney, NSW/ACT and QLD will be their downfall. You can see that happening already with their arrogance demonstrated through comments like their is no room for the AFL in Sydney and western Sydney is their heartland despite decades of neglect. Funny though, the paranoia from the NRL and its fans is rising. Watch and laugh next season when GWS joins the AFL and crowds, members and sponsors flock to the AFL in western Sydney. It's already happening.

Topper wrote:

And none willing to do the hard yards to get out of the red.