I have two thoughts Hypen: first, I think the situation is alarming rather than the description being alarmist (that said, I don’t know what you’re seeing), and second, while there will be interest in the footy, demand for the AFL in an economic sense requires people and companies to have money to spend on it. All I know is that when you see a conservative government handing out free money and doubling Centrelink payments you have to assume they have reason to be worried about that part.
If I had to guess I'd wager that next year the AFL will end up looking very similar to how it looks now, but the AFL and clubs’ finances (like most businesses) are built on assumptions that are no longer true. No-one quite knows what things will look like in 6 months, so I think they are right to be worried.
