The sports industry in Australia is big business. The industry in total contributes $7.9 billion to the Australian economy and generates employment for 95,000 people. Including an imputed value for the volunteer contribution to sport of $1.6 billion, the industry ranks with the financial services, transport and defence in importance to Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Confederation of Australian Sport, 1999). The increasing awareness of governance issues in business provides a framework for evaluating the emerging focus on governance in professional sporting bodies, which are incorporated entities under Australian Company Law. The discussion on governance issues will focus on the pre-eminent sporting competition in Australia, the Australian Football League.