Demetriou's level playing fieldJon Pierik
September 23, 2011AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou will unveil on Monday one of the most comprehensive and important financial packages of his decade-long tenure.
The move is to help ensure all clubs have a fair chance of a premiership.
The growing gulf between the rich and the struggling has prompted the AFL to act, after extensive meetings with officials from all clubs, including coaches.
Concerns about the number of on-field blow-outs this season, plus the relationship of football department spending and the increasingly disproportionate sports-science arms race were acknowledged by AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson last month.
Demetriou will give clubs their revised distributions just before the Brownlow Medal count, acting on his pledge to deal with the 17 teams despite having yet to broker a new collective bargaining agreement with the players.
A significant part of this package appears to be to help several clubs reduce their debt.
Speaking at the Melbourne Press Club's annual football finals lunch yesterday, Demetriou said clubs had been scrutinised to meet their individual needs.
But, he said, it would be ''delusional'' to think all club presidents and chief executives would be happy after Monday's meeting.
''I think we have got the balance right,'' he said. ''I think the package that we have put together for the clubs is a very, very comprehensive package, probably the most significant piece of work other than our broadcast rights that we have done in my time with the AFL.
''It tries to address this issue of equalisation, and this gap that has grown. It's an attempt to try and give every club an opportunity to do what they should be doing and why they exist, and that's to win a premiership.''
Richmond, Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Essendon, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs are among those to have asked for money in recent months.Demetriou said several clubs would now have the opportunity to hire more staff, who in turn would help generate greater income.
''Some clubs, for example, are very light on in their administration, which actually limits their capacity to generate revenue,'' he said. ''That has a flow-on effect.''
Demetriou said he had no intention banning those clubs that could afford expensive training programs, such as high-altitude training overseas.
''We are not going to stop those guys from doing that. What we need to do is bring the smaller clubs up a bit so they can at least compete on the football field, because they exist to win premierships,'' he said.
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