AFL season in doubt if World Cup bid successful

The AFL could be forced to cancel its season if Australia wins the right to host the 2018 or 2022 soccer World Cup, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said on Monday.

Demetriou said that if world soccer’s governing body FIFA could claim exclusive access to the nation’s biggest stadium – the 100,000-capacity MCG – for four months, it would be impossible to schedule a viable AFL season.

Even though the World Cup only lasts for four-and-a-half weeks in June-July, Demetriou said the AFL had learnt that the MCG could be decommissioned for four months while its most important venue was refitted for soccer.

“The World Cup starts … in June and there’s four or five weeks of securitising it, putting signage up,” Demetriou told the Fairfax Radio Network.

“They would commence work in late March or early April and that would probably mean we’d just have to cancel the season because that would mean we wouldn’t have the MCG for 16 weeks.

“We could probably do without it for 10 weeks and we’d have to play at Etihad Stadium.

“But we couldn’t do it (for 16 weeks), we’d have to cancel the season.

“You can’t just move the season to January, it’s out of the (TV) ratings period, you’ve got cricket, it’s hot, it just doesn’t work.

“We’ve even toyed with the possibility of suspending the season for four weeks because that’s what we originally thought was going to happen.

“And that could work, it’s not easy but it could work.

“We’re trying to find ways to accommodate the FFA … but we haven’t had much come back the other way.”

Demetriou said the AFL had a history of working constructively alongside other major sporting events in Australia, such as the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

In 2000, the AFL season began a month early, allowing it to finish in August ahead of the Sydney Games in September.

“Cancelling a season is a disaster, it affects revenue – we’ve got broadcast agreements, we’ve got agreements with members, we’ve got agreements with corporate partners,” said the AFL CEO.

“The cost is a monumental cost and I’m talking hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Secondly, it would probably mean that some clubs who rely on the $7.5-8 million (annual) distribution from the AFL, there’s no way they could be sustained because they haven’t got that money coming in.

” … It does (put clubs at risk), it would mean a lot of jobs at risk, it would mean the severing of some agreements.

” But I don’t think it’s going to get to that, I think wiser heads will prevail.

“It’s not just us, I’m sure the NRL are in the same boat, and the ARU with their Super 15 season.

“This (would be) the first World Cup where four football codes have ever been staged in the one country.”

England are favoured to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup finals, but Australia’s bid for the 2022 competition continues to gain momentum.

FIFA will vote on the host nations for both tournaments in December 2010.

UPDATED

Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley has moved to ease concerns that hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cups could force the cancellation of an AFL season.

Buckley rejected AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou’s claim that soccer’s governing body FIFA could claim exclusive access to the 100,000 capacity MCG for four months.

Demetriou said earlier on Monday that such a situation could make it impossible to schedule a viable AFL season.

But Buckley insisted that the MCG would not need to be out of action for much longer than eight weeks.

“We need to get access four weeks before the competition for preparation for pitches and preparation for overlay that are required by FIFA and the duration of the tournament,” Buckley said on Monday.

“In our estimation, that is six to eight weeks depending on where the finals are played.”

The decision on which country will host the respective 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be made next December.

Buckley said the FFA had provided the AFL with information that the longest a venue could be locked up for would be eight weeks.

The FFA had also had discussions with FIFA last week regarding other football codes in Australia continuing their competition during the World Cup.

Buckley, who was Demetriou’s No.2 at the AFL before taking over the top job at the FFA, said he understood the needs of the other codes.

“I am confident there is goodwill and all the other codes understand there is substantial benefits to Australia as a nation to host a great World Cup,” he said.