Greek Australian Andrew Demetriou, who was the CEO of the Australian Football League for the last 11 years handed the company over to Gillon McLachlan.
“No final clips. I am going out without having any enemies,” he said while handing the league over to his successor. “It’s been a long farewell [...] I can’t keep going to lunches and having nice things said about me continuously,” he joked.
After 11 years of working as AFL’s CEO, Demetriou is leaving it in much better shape than before. Despite the scandals that may have occurred over the years, Demetriou helped make the sport popular and profitable.
During his farewell, Demetriou even dedicated time toward some courses of action that he thinks Gillon McLachlan should follow. “There is certainly something going on around a combination of variable pricing, affordability, the schedule, the start times. We have trialled some start times aggressively this year as part of our broadcast rights and we are starting to learn about what is working and what is not working. All of those things will be factored in. I know Gill is committed to tackling this issue of affordability for our supporters.”