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Monday Night Footy could work for AFL

arkie new author
Roar Rookie
23rd March, 2010
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arkie new author
Roar Rookie
23rd March, 2010
9
1231 Reads

Monday Night Football is becoming a huge chance in the next TV rights deal in 2012, with Network Ten at the forefront. Ten’s general manager David White believes that Monday night football would work well because of the competition being “bigger and more robust”.

Monday Night Football has been trialed a number of times in the past, but most recently last season at Etihad Stadium where Collingwood vs. St. Kilda drew 46,880 people.

In all the previous trials, the AFL has always chosen teams that have some of the largest supporter bases in the league. Schedule North Melbourne vs. Fremantle on a Monday Night at Etihad and this would be a nightmare.

The main problem with Monday Night Football is that ratings from fans in Western Australia would be severely effected.

If a Monday Night game in Melbourne were to start at 7:40 P.M live it would be shown at 6:40 P.M in W.A. Many people would be on their way home from work.

With daylight savings it would start at 5:40 P.M.

Vice-versa if Monday night football is played in WA at, say, 7:40 P.M. it wont start until 9:40 P.M. in Melbourne, which is far too late. Starting the game earlier in Western Australia to accommodate for the time difference would then lower attendances at the gate.

If the AFL is serious about making Monday Night Footy a reality then the AFL and networks need to find solutions to such problems.

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The timeslot is perfect for Ten, which is probably the reason why they’re the front runners.

They could have regular programming on Channel 10 whilst they show live footy on One HD. They could then replay the match on Channel 10 later that night for those that haven’t made the switch to digital.

Monday night footy has worked in many other sports, there’s no reason why it can’t work for the AFL.

Why should we be limited to only three days of footy a week?

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