If I was a major company looking to sponsor an AFL team, the last thing I'd probably look at is membership numbers.
Membership demographic and how this matched my product would be first and foremost.
Then I'd be looking at number of people attending games and the subsequent likelihood of media exposure (big games, especially Friday night).
Most of that is true but you wouldn't traditionally link say Bang & Olufsen with Richmond. I think that sponsorship means that our
branding can go a bit upscale in time and that we can make inroads with brands usually associated with higher income earners.