Most valuable AFL clubs

[Taper]

Screenshot from the financial review showing the top 10 most valuable clubs.

No surprise to see Collingwood ranked number one but it does surprise me to see Essendon aren't even top 4 for most valuable.

Screenshot of the full list ranking clubs from one to 18 in terms of value.

No surprise to see the expansion sides and the small three Melbourne sides making up the bottom five.

However I don't understand why Sydney and Brisbane aren't more valuable? I mean they are the most supported clubs in Australia according to Roy Morgan surveys.
West Coast should be higher on this list too.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Piggy Smalls]

If it included the amount of Freo merch I've gotten from Red Bubble I reckon we'd be pushing for top 3.

 

[Walshawk]

It is not what the club is worth, it is what the brand is worth, WC are lower due to onfield form. panthers are a small club but the brand has value due to four flags in a row. Advertisers and corporates want to be involved with winners. Brisbane will be higher next year,

 

[Johnny Bananas]

No matter what the numbers, I'm very glad the AFL walked away from the idea of private ownership 30 years ago. The NRLs most valuable brand is majority owned by Newscorp, who also own the pay TV and streaming rights of the whole competition. That feels kind of incestuous.

 

[PhatBoy]

It is not what the club is worth, it is what the brand is worth, WC are lower due to onfield form. panthers are a small club but the brand has value due to four flags in a row. Advertisers and corporates want to be involved with winners. Brisbane will be higher next year,

There’s a little more to it than that. Panthers are a middling club who have a huge, huge financial presence through poker machines and licensed venues and other feeder clubs that are loosely associated with them. The onfield success certainly doesn’t hurt

 

[Bunk Moreland]

What are the numbers based on?

 

[Meteoric Rise]

When the wooden spooner has the 3rd most valuable brand, & 8 rd 1 picks in a super draft, 17 other clubs need to start worrying...

 

[RonnieRaven]

Screenshot from the financial review showing the top 10 most valuable clubs.
View attachment 2170907
No surprise to see Collingwood ranked number one but it does surprise me to see Essendon aren't even top 4 for most valuable.

Screenshot of the full list ranking clubs from one to 18 in terms of value.
View attachment 2170908
No surprise to see the expansion sides and the small three Melbourne sides making up the bottom five.

However I don't understand why Sydney and Brisbane aren't more valuable? I mean they are the most supported clubs in Australia according to Roy Morgan surveys.
West Coast should be higher on this list too.

What are your thoughts?

Take out pokies value/revenue and I suspect it would look completely different.
I’ve seen a table without pokies and afl handouts and freo were third behind eagles and pies in 2023 for revenue.
Freo were also the only club of every sport in the land in 2024 that didn’t have a home crowd below 40k
The Eels have less than half the home attendance ave and membership of Freo but are $20m more valuable.
(Pokies pokies pokies)

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

What are the numbers based on?

Thoughts and feelings.

 

[Papa G]

Collingwood Tops Club Brand Valuations in Australian Sport - Ministry of Sport

Discover the latest insights into AFL and NRL brand valuations, highlighting Collingwood and Brisbane Broncos.

ministryofsport.com

A bit more context but not a lot. Seems a very flawed assessment though.

I honestly can't see how Port are just slightly less than West Coast, who are the biggest club in the land, and above Sydney who are the darlings of Australia's most important city.

 

[BigFrizz36]

When the wooden spooner has the 3rd most valuable brand, & 8 rd 1 picks in a super draft, 17 other clubs need to start worrying...

That said club is likely to win multiple wooden spoons and drop down the list of the most valued club in a significant way?

Yes. I would be worried for them.

 

[Monsterdarlz]

Serious underrating of the West coast brand it’s a corporate behemoth and brand in WA. Over 100 million in cash and assets, highest paying membership base and huge merch sales. Only Collingwood rivals us in that regard

 

[CURVE]

Take out pokies value/revenue and I suspect it would look completely different.
I’ve seen a table without pokies and afl handouts and freo were third behind eagles and pies in 2023 for revenue.
Freo were also the only club of every sport in the land in 2024 that didn’t have a home crowd below 40k
The Eels have less than half the home attendance ave and membership of Freo but are $20m more valuable.
(Pokies pokies pokies)

Parramatta's home ground only holds about 30-31,000 so attendance numbers are always going to be below most AFL clubs, and I don't remember hearing about NRL club memberships until the mid to late 2000's so they may be a relatively new concept or not heavily promoted until just recently which is why the numbers aren't as great as in the AFL, but they have been growing over the last decade.

What the NRL clubs do have is very strong and, in some cases, very rich Leagues Clubs. Pokies are a big part of their wealth, but they also have big portfolio's within their local area's. The Penrith Leagues Club own a number of properties, including hotels and a sports park and the Parramatta Leagues club own property around the CBD and I think they may part own of a local shopping centre.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Serious underrating of the West coast brand it’s a corporate behemoth and brand in WA. Over 100 million in cash and assets, highest paying membership base and huge merch sales. Only Collingwood rivals us in that regard

Apparently it’s less valuable than the Dess

 

[HairyO]

Would love to know what gets included. Penrith Panthers as a business is probably worth billions.

 

[RonnieRaven]

Parramatta's home ground only holds about 30-31,000 so attendance numbers are always going to be below most AFL clubs, and I don't remember hearing about NRL club memberships until the mid to late 2000's so they may be a relatively new concept or not heavily promoted until just recently which is why the numbers aren't as great as in the AFL, but they have been growing over the last decade.

What the NRL clubs do have is very strong and, in some cases, very rich Leagues Clubs. Pokies are a big part of their wealth, but they also have big portfolio's within their local area's. The Penrith Leagues Club own a number of properties, including hotels and a sports park and the Parramatta Leagues club own property around the CBD and I think they may part own of a local shopping centre.

I’m sure they own stuff but their biggest assets are pokies
Their Rich league club houses 440 pokies over a quarter of all pokies in their local government area.
The value of owning the licence for 440 pokie machines and the revenue they bring by itself would be more valuable then majority of Australian sporting clubs

 

[LordLucifer]

Time to relocate 14 & 16 interstate permanently.

 

[Cyclops]

Thoughts and feelings.

 

[CURVE]

Time to relocate 14 & 16 interstate permanently.

I think merging 1 & 2 is a more realistic option.

 

[Dazb86]

This list is very confusing.

Dees ahead of the Eagles in any metric doesn't make sense.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

That said club is likely to win multiple wooden spoons and drop down the list of the most valued club in a significant way?

Yes. I would be worried for them.

Any reduction in brand value for the said club is only likely to be a pre-tsunami illusion BigFrizz. We all know when the Tiger tsunami strikes the cash registers will ring like Blair Hartley's phone at a draft pick auction.

 

[bzparkes]

I can't understand under what criteria Melbourne has more 'value' than WCE.

The seagulls outnumbered their fans at games this year.

 

[BigFrizz36]

Any reduction in brand value for the said club is only likely to be a pre-tsunami illusion BigFrizz. We all know when the Tiger tsunami strikes the cash registers will ring like Blair Hartley's phone at a draft pick auction.

The worrying part is that the Tigers valuation is high mainly based on recent successes. There's a period of darkness coming and your club will shed some of their fair weather supporters and it will go back to being just your hard core supporters.

 

[STPer18]

No surprise to see the big 4 at the head of the pack.

 

[bobs head soup]

I can't understand under what criteria Melbourne has more 'value' than WCE.

The seagulls outnumbered their fans at games this year.

Any formula that rates Melbourne as a higher marketing value than any of WCE, Swans or Hawks is pretty laughable.