AFL

Similarities and differences between the AFL and NFL

Nathan Auty • Monday 17th January 2022

Another unbelievable season of the biggest sporting competition in the United States nears its dramatic conclusion. This gives us an opportunity to take a look at Australia’s own elite football competition, and assess how it measures up against the NFL.

A few months ago, we covered the main differences between the AFL and NFL in the popularity stakes, confirming that viewership for the Australian Football League is hitting record numbers. The popularity of the sport has been helped by Amazon’s “Making Their Mark” documentary which provided an inside look at AFL, capturing a new audience.

However, we also concluded that the AFL still has a long way to go to come anywhere close to the sheer level of financial backing the NFL attracts - starting from the ground up.

Rounding up our previous findings

As per the last report, the NFL easily generates far higher revenues than the AFL, despite the AFL’s recent bonus broadcast deals. The Super Bowl alone clears $500m, some ten times that of the AFL’s Grand Final revenue (the obvious disparity in population figures must be taken into account here, however).

When we compare the figures of the second to last season, the NFL made around $16 billion in total national revenue compared to the AFL’s almost $700m. An increase for the AFL based on previous years, thanks largely to the broadcast deal, but still some way off NFL levels.

Viewing figures and attendances are also a world apart but, again, population comparisons make this an unfair debate. Plus, the American way of presenting sporting events as massive bombastic extravaganzas is a very different approach. Fans in Australia - and most of the world - are more about the game itself and the action on the field.   

So, there are reasons why the NFL trumps the AFL quite considerably. But with increased interest in our own national sport thanks to that broadcast deal, the future does look bright for the AFL to keep turning over ever-increasing dollars.

When you look at attendances, the AFL is somewhat surprisingly the fourth highest domestic professional sports league in the world.

And interest from players and spectators seems to be higher amongst women than it is in the States - another positive thing. The AFLW in 2021 saw an aggregate attendance of over 150,000, record numbers of memberships and a Grand Final attendance of 22,934. Nothing in America is on par when it comes to the women’s footy game.

There are other differences - and similarities - between the most popular sports in each country and here we take a look at some of those, both off and on the field.

Off the field organisation

The AFL is made up of one 18-team league, meaning a 23-round regular season is made up of a 22-game campaign where teams play each other home and away.

The team who finishes the season on top of the ladder is awarded the ‘Minor Premiership’ crown and are joined by the other seven of the ‘top eight’ finishers for the Finals Series, culminating in the AFL Grand Final showpiece, to determine the ‘Premiers’.

The NFL, however, is far greater purely due to the landmass and population of the country. So many states and cities mean many millions of sports fans each wanting a team to support. The NFL boasts 32 teams representing different cities and states which are split into two divisions – the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference.

Each Conference is also then split into regional divisions with the winners of each smaller regional division, along with two wild card teams from each conference, qualifying for the play-offs at the end of the regular campaign. Eventually, those 14 teams are whittled down to just two teams – one from each conference – to contest the world-famous Super Bowl.

Although the size of the leagues are majorly different, the end game is exactly the same, play-offs leading to a showdown between two teams to be crowned overall champions. The excitement is exactly the same.

On the field play

It isn't just how the leagues are set up off the field that has differences and similarities. Elements like the formations of the team line-ups, how to play the game and even the size of the pitch all have their own key signifiers.

As we have just mentioned, the biggest difference between an Australian rules football ground and an American football pitch is the size and shape.

In the AFL, teams take to an oval-shaped field measuring between 135-185m long and 110-155m wide. The average NFL pitch is considerably smaller at 91x 49 meters which makes for condensed, fast plays which perhaps generates the sheer levels of interest - especially for TV viewers.

SoFi Stadium - one of the newest stadiums in the NFL

The pitch size also has a direct impact on the number of players on the field with 18 on an AFL team compared with 11 on an NFL side. The AFL has just four players on the ‘bench’, while the NFL has many more. The squad size in the AFL is a maximum of 38, while for the NFL, it is 53.

Finally on the field, it would seem that AFL players have it far easier to score points for their team. They only need to kick the ball between the goal posts for easy point-scoring – a goal (six points) for kicking the ball between the two large middle posts, and one point for kicking it on either side, between the goal (inner) post and behind (outer) post.

The NFL, meanwhile, provides a spectacle that most Australians will see as on a par with both codes of rugby. Scoring requires a team to work the ball forward towards their opponents’ end zone and touch down for six points, then adding to the tally with a kick (conversion).

Conclusion

So, although there are major financial wins for the NFL, the AFL is starting to gain traction across the world due to its unique style of play and this is sure to attract even American audiences when the new campaign gets under way.

The 2022 AFL season commences on 16th March and runs through until September. Last season’s Premiers Melbourne will be looking for a historic double after claiming their first premiership since 1964. Melbourne finished top of the league standings last year and were rightful overall winners.

Meanwhile, the NFL reaches its conclusion on Sunday 13th February when the LVI edition sees two major outsiders compete for the Super Bowl crown. The LA Rams are hosting the showpiece finale in their home stadium, SoFi Stadium, and were defeated in the 2018 Super Bowl; their opponents the Cincinnati Bengals have to go back a further 30 years for their last appearance.

You can always find game predictions for the next NFL games in the most important betting sites - including this year’s surprising Super Bowl showdown. Betting on NFL is worldwide, including in Australia, as is wagering on AFL outcomes.

Even the outcome of the final match has shown a stark difference between the two sports, with the AFL format clearly favouring consistency in the league’s regular season – as demonstrated by Melbourne’s success.

Compared to the NFL, seeing a succession of shock results in this year’s exciting play-offs campaign, culminating in two complete outsiders making the final championship-winning game, you can probably have an easier time predicting the AFL premiers next season.

More News

Another unbelievable season of the biggest sporting competition in the States nears its dramatic conclusion, allowing us to compare the AFL and NFL.
The Austadiums website is made possible by displaying some advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker, whitelist us, or DONATE TO US