Victoria's grassroots footy clubs are set to see rivers of gold flow to them from the AFL's new record $2.5 billion TV deal.

Details of how the money from the deal will flow are still sketchy, but on Wednesday morning AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan promised some of that money would help the game's base.

McLachlan said players would not have first dibs on the new money.

"No, absolutely not," he told 3AW.

"What we'll be doing is doing all our funding deals going forward simultaneously.

"Community football, nationally and particularly in Victoria needs greater investment in grassroots. And we have a number of AFL clubs who are financially challenged at the comment.

"Supporters over the last 12 months are also finding costs a real issue."

Currently, the AFL offers grants to local and community football clubs for the building of infrastructure including clubrooms and local ovals. The clubs, usually in conjunction with their local councils, have to make a detailed bid to AFL Victoria as to why they are deserving of investment.

The other big area of investment seems set to be the AFL's clubs themselves, with McLachlan critical of the financial states of some.

"Our job is to make sure the game itself is the best we can be, so that's making sure we have 18 strong clubs, and we don't have that at the moment," he said.

Grassroots football will face a fight from the AFL's other stakeholders as to who gets the largest slice of the $2.5 billion pie.

The AFL Players Association has already pledged to fight hard for their share of the deal. Paul Marsh, chief executive of the AFLPA, told radio station SEN the "incredible deal" meant it was "now or never" for players to grab a larger slice of AFL revenue.