Fox Footy’s coverage of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership is “utterly refreshed” as it enters a new era, says Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany.
The group’s landmark AFL rights deal starts with the new season as the company prepares to supercharge its presentation of the game.
Kayo Sports and Foxtel will cover all live AFL games on Super Saturday LIVE with dedicated commentary in Victoria and Tasmania for every round of the home and away season, and nationally for the first eight rounds.
In a huge coup for the Foxtel Group, legend of the game Leigh Matthews will join Adam Simpson, Shaun Burgoyne and Tom Hawkins in the line-up for 2025, while Garry Lyon will join Gerard Whateley as co-hosts of the award-winning AFL 360.
Fox Footy will also feature bespoke graphics and coverage in 4K and no ad-breaks during play.
‘It’s a very big investment’
Foxtel, with Seven West Media, secured the AFL media rights from 2025 to 2031 in a historic deal worth $4.5bn. As a result, according to Delany, this new coverage has seen huge investment from Foxtel, and production teams are following the blueprint of their success with Fox Cricket.
“Obviously we are trying to be more efficient and more match-fit, but the way we approached this was how we approached the cricket too,” he said.
“What we need to do is to really excite our subscribers and make it different, better and special. That’s where we started and then we move backwards from there about what the reality might be.
“It’s a very big investment, from the rights through to the way we present this, but to be frank, we just have to go for it.”
Foxtel’s General Manager of Fox Footy, Michael Neill, agreed the pressure is on to give fans exactly what they want, in the way they want it.
“It’s our biggest year,” he said. “We’ve basically reviewed every single part of what we do. We’re refreshing everything from sets, graphics, music, talent, show lineups, even how we call games. We are totally reinventing Saturdays so we can go from midday to midnight.”
Foxtel Group’s Patrick Delany.
Delany clearly expects to see a surge in subscriptions.
“We want to see Kayo subscriptions grow at least more than last year,” Delany told Mediaweek. “We want to see engagement on Kayo and Foxtel higher than last year – that’s the number of minutes watched by viewers, which allows us to to gauge how happy subscribers are, but also helps monetise advertising.
“But all of this builds over seasons, right? I know the first season is always hard to sell. It’s the second season where you make your mark. So this year, the success is all about disruption. We want people talking about having to buy Kayo and Foxtel to see football on Saturday.”
‘To anyone that says Kayo’s not affordable, that’s nuts.’
While Delany won’t be drawn on the number of new subscribers he hopes to leverage, he’s convinced the new commentary and analysis line-up will convert casual fans into dedicated subscribers.
“To anyone that says Kayo’s not affordable, that’s nuts. It’s $25 a month. We’re all paying $6 or $7 for coffee so $25 for a young family is extraordinary value for what you get. I think this is a year of great opportunity.”
For the Foxtel Group, this is also the year News Corp sells its majority stake in the company to global sports streaming giant, DAZN Group Limited, for an enterprise value of $3.4 billion, should the deal gain ACCC and FIRB approval.
New future with DAZN
So will subscribers see any changes to content following the acquisition?
“Yes,” said Delany. “I think over time, hopefully our products become better. We will get the benefits of a global streamer, just like Netflix. This includes app development technology which would be better and would evolve quicker.
“I think an unseen thing is that having them as a parent makes the company stronger, makes us more confident, makes us better able to compete against global streamers, and that’s something all Australian businesses aspire to do.
“DAZN is in 200 countries, so being able to take Australian sports and push them globally without having asked favours from other traditional broadcasters is incredibly exciting.”
Fox Footy lineup for the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership season, starting Thursday, 6 March.
Hall of Famer Leigh Matthews joins AFL greats Adam Simpson, Shaun Burgoyne and Tom Hawkins for the season 2025.
Garry Lyon will co-host alongside Gerard Whateley on AFL360, Monday to Wednesday at 6.30pm.
Jack Riewoldt will host On The Couch alongside rotating experts Jonathan Brown, Nathan Buckley, Jordan Lewis and Leigh Montagna on Mondays, 7.30pm.
Lauren Wood will host the expert panel for Midweek Tackle, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7.30pm. Corbin Middlemas will join the show and commentary team.
Thursday Night Footy will be hosted by Sarah Jones alongside Jason Dunstall, David King and Leigh Montagna, with Mark Howard and Matt Hill calling the games.
Friday Night Footy will be hosted by Garry Lyon alongside Jonathan Brown, Nathan Buckley and Jordan Lewis, with Gerard Whateley and Anthony Hudson calling the matches.
Kath Loughnan, Jack Riewoldt and David King will host Super Saturday LIVE’ from the Fox Footy studios, with commentary live from around the grounds.
Bounce returns every Sunday after the footy, hosted by Jason Dunstall with Andrew Gaze, Cam Mooney, Ruby Schleicher, Ben Dixon and Bernie Vince.
Following Bounce, trusted AFL voice Jay Clark will be joined by David King and Leigh Montagna for First Crack.