- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Speculative revamps to the AFL are a fun past time of the summer, especially as I am watching the live blog of Australia finding a way to lose another Test match that included them declaring. So, here are some minor tweaks to make a major improvement to the AFL.
A smaller, boutique stadium in Melbourne
Okay, maybe this isn’t a small tweak but hear me out. As part of a tossed aside draft of an unrelated article, I was discussing the intimacy of smaller venues (see Manuka Oval, Hindmarsh Stadium, Belmore) and how they have a positive effect on the game as a spectacle in direct comparison to the number of people in attendance.
I’ve been to Docklands stadium with 54,444 people and the stadium was electric (thank you Michael Garidner for taking that pack mark and winning the game for St. Kilda). But I have also been to a Hawthorn training drill against the undermanned Essendon, and even the diehard fans were struggling to stay involved in the atmosphere.
What I would propose to counter this, and similar problem at the MCG is to build a third smaller venue in Melbourne with a reduced capacity that could accommodate the smaller drawing crowds.
I haven’t explored it enough to detail where this venue would be, or if it would be a reimagining of an existing VFL home ground, but there would be enough merit to create another venue that interstate teams with a low draw can play at, without completely removing the place of atmosphere.
Reduce the cost of tickets to low drawing games
Caveat to this, only about 24 hours before a game – and not telegraph in advance that this will happen. Again picking on Docklands, a storied history of long queues to buy tickets on the day.
This won’t solve that; the tickets can go back to normal pricing three hours prior to kick off. If people haven’t bought tickets by then, let them go buy the walk up tickets. But a flash sale to offload unsold tickets that are in large supply could entice people to attend if they can pick up two adult tickets and two kids in okay seats for fifty bucks.
The key as mentioned earlier, would be to not advertise/telegraph this will happen to avoid people only buying the tickets when they are cheap. I’m sure there are people more business minded that would have the statistics on easy/hard sell games and would have historical data on walk ups to make the decisions of when to discount and when not to.
Second Friday night game
Two stages to this plan, and please don’t grab those pitchforks just yet, but one of these games will likely be a Fox exclusive. Also, there wouldn’t be many of them, I would propose five of them, mostly in the earlier or later parts of season to avoid the colder night temperatures.
Also, two of these Friday night games would be played in New Zealand, to capitalise of the time zone shifts for Foxtel. The games would start at 7:20pm local time (5:20pm EST) to get the people at the pub venues, and workers would be home without missing too much of the action. With it being a Foxtel game, it would lead into the main Friday night fixture which would be free-to-air already.
The other three Friday night games that I would propose sliding in, would go the Queensland, Sydney and Perth based teams against low television drawing opponents in a timeslot that does clash (partially) with the ‘main’ Friday night game.
You can’t win with everything, but this will provide teams like Gold Coast, Brisbane more exposure to Friday night. Sydney teams would be shielded from NRLs Friday night footy (Brisbane Broncos likely playing) so would have clear air to fill the venues.
The Perth-based teams, purely from a timezone perspective, with a late start allowing Foxtel to not clash too much with existing game.
Shorten the pre-season competition to two competitive matches
Shorten the officially pre-season games to two, one ‘home’ and one ‘away’ game. For the interstate teams this limits their travel to one game out of the state. Teams will have their own internal trials, and with most having access to SANFL/VFL/WAFL/NEAFL teams they can have a competitive run if they want it.
This also makes them feel more important, since they are scarcer than they currently are. I would also keep the ‘regional centres’ as a key component, even though Norwood Oval isn’t really regional but that’s a different discussion for another day. Playing the games from Thursday to Monday also is a nice touch, to avoid the day timeslots where possible due to the summer heat.
Less corporate tickets to grand final
This is probably the least likely to happen, but have to mention it as something the AFL could tweak. It is often joked that the preliminary finals are the every man’s grand final, as getting tickets to the actual grand final involves either luck in members lotteries, dumb luck winning a contest, or a large chunk of change for an official package.
It’s not going to change; the corporate dollar is pretty strong. But it’s worth a mention.
So what do you think Roarers, what tweaks to the AFL would you suggest? Leave a comment below, and stay safe other the holiday period.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.