The AFL met with the AFL Players Association board on Tuesday night and detailed a $1.144 billion pay offer for the next five years.
Although the proposal does not meet the players' demand of a fixed share of AFL revenue, it does represent a significant rise of $333 million on the players' last CBA, plus a doubling of retirement contributions from $36 million to $72 million.
Demetriou said he received a good response at the meeting, and was positive about the prospects of the players accepting the offer by the AFL's September 15 deadline.
"Judging by the mood and the tone of the meeting, I think everyone was looking to go forward with this," he said on Wednesday.
"There's some real wins in this for (the players).
"It's a very substantial offer and they're the largest beneficiary.
"They've fought very hard to get a lot of the things they've wanted, and I think we've delivered on most of that, if not all."
Demetriou reiterated that the League had no more money to offer the players, given its need to provide for clubs and to further invest in game development and grassroots football, while keeping the sport affordable for fans.
"We articulated that this is a very generous and substantial offer, but it is the final offer," he said.
"There is no more money. We were very clear about that."
The League chief said the size of the offer meant the AFL would have to cancel or postpone some items on its 'wish-list'.
It would not invest any money into its future fund in the next five years, and would have less money than hoped for to provide to clubs.
Of particular concern was a lack of a contingency fund should one or more clubs run into serious financial trouble in the near future.
"In my ideal world I'd always plan for a contingency and have funds available," Demetriou said.
"If one or two or three clubs get into diabolical strife in the next five years … what we'd have to do is start considering other options.
"We'd have to cut programs or take on debt."
Demetriou admitted that the players had expressed concern at Tuesday night's meeting that, in the absence of a fixed revenue model, there was no profit sharing included in the offer.
But he said the League maintained that any profit over and above projections should be reinvested back into the sport.
And, despite reports this week, Demetriou still doesn't believe that industrial action by the players is likely.
"Industrial action wasn't even discussed last night, and everything I've heard from the players is that they'd do everything that they could to avoid that," he said.
"The amount of good will in the room last night and the positive way that everyone in the room approached last night's discussion, I don't even contemplate it."
