What's the best timeslot for the AFL's ninth fixture?

I'm a strong believer in Sunday night football. The current Sunday twilight game is a great idea, but why not, as we do Saturday night, play 2 games at the same time together with the extra fixture. I think 5 games on Saturday is too crowded, the ratings will certainly eat into each other more. I believe better value would be to have 2 Sunday night/twlight games on in two Australian cities. Sunday night is the night most Australian's watch TV, it is still the weekend, and late Sunday afternoon is much more family friendly time for football than Monday or Thursday night, with start times after 7pm. Fox Sports would show one game and a free-to-air network (eg 7Mate) would show the alternative, using the same broadcast rules as today, eg a Fox Sports game with a Perth, Sydney, Qld or Adelaide team would be show on free-to-air in the respective team home city. Example: Sunday Night/Twilight AFL Brisbane V Adelaide -Fox Sports (seen on free-to-air 7Mate/7 in Adelaide and Brisbane) 4.40PM ET St. Kilda V Essendon- 7Mate/7 in Melbourne, Sydney & Perth. Sunday night football is the highest rated show almost every week on American TV during the NFL season, Sunday night could easily become the biggest rating night for AFL, overtaking Fridays in this scenario.

I would play the ninth game on Friday except for public holidays, Thu N, Mon N etc. This would mean about 14 Friday nights per year with two games on. The key would than be to ensure one friday night game is an all Melbourne clash and the other (often in Perth) is an all interstate clash. I really don't think you would lose much audience in Melbourne watching WC v GWS or in Perth missing out on Melb v Rich etc

Two games on Friday night means the 7.30 numbers are maxed but it means the 9.30 game score relatively poorly especially if you ahve watched the first without many ads, the second game is annoyingly full of ads and ends at 11.30.

Yeah its a worry for Ch 7, the SD broadcast seems to satisfy them, but thsoe with Foxtel HD now and in the future wont go back. Its not quite the difference between black/white and colour but it's close especially on a big screen.

I agree about the finals but the AFL will always err the other way because it means more money in the coffers. A team that has battled through the season to end up, say fourth, and then has a truckload of injuries or has a bad day should not be bundled out by a team that "fell in" to twelfth position.

HD is so much better. Over here (Korea) nearly every decent channel has an HD option (notable exception is Star Sports - which has the formula 1). A real shame that Channel Nine and Seven didn't embrace it like 10 did.

MILF I was tossing your numbers around, and while they work mathematically, I could not see how they could work in practice. If you start from the point of view that the bulk of the 24 round will contain 9 games, I come up with this configuration, which I feel is a bit more practical (and I hope the AFL is reading this because it works out very neatly): * 18 rounds of 9 games, this means that you need to play the remaining 4 rounds over 6 weeks, i.e. 36 games over 6 weeks means 6 weeks of 6 games per week * split those 6 weeks into two lots of 3 weeks, and you have a situation where 2 rounds can be played over 3 weeks on two separate occasion during the year * having these two special lots allows the AFL to some imaginative things, for instance two teams playing a Monday night fixture one week, would have a bye the next, and resume as normal the following week; two teams might have a bye the first week and then play a thurs night game in the second week * the beauty of this arrangement is that by the end of that three week period, everyone is level on games again, and that is preferable to having stacks of teams out of kilter for weeks on end * this arrangement will allow for better planning of the Darwin fixture (or even two Darwin fixtures), and the Cairns fixture, as more recovery time can be put into the fixture, with every team effectivley getting two weeks off during the 24 week season * in periods like when you have Easter and Anzac Day close together, a myriad of options open up - completing two full rounds over a given 3 week period - perhaps another one going from the Queens Birthday weekend, etc.

Finals series should have less not more. the finals are a competition designed for the BEST teams in the competition, not the mediocre or average. have more teams devalues the whole concept and you may as well just have a cup comp instead of the h/a season. Lachlan has the perfect setup right there. Friday night rating dream for tv broadcasters and suitable starting times.

correction perth games can alternate for 16 rounds. thats 8 home games each. west coast and fremantle would have a home match on the bye weekends, which would be 2 of them and also a home game, when theres public holiday monday. also the first month of the weekend, theres daylight savings, which the perth games would start at 3pm local time. you also don't need a 6pm game when theres the ANZAC public holiday round. i hope it makes sense.

I also believe that the rounds should be longer, stretching from 22 to 24 rounds next year. Finals series should have 10 or 12 teams over 5 weeks.

Standard Round (Should Be):- Friday - 7:40pm (EST, Half hour later in SA and NT and hour later in WA) Friday - 7:40pm (EST, Half hour later in SA and NT and hour later in WA) Saturday - 2:10pm (EST, half hour later in SA, NT and hour later in WA) Saturday - 3:10pm (EST, half hour later in SA, NT and hour later in WA) Saturday - 7:10pm (EST, half hour later in SA, NT and hour later in WA) Saturday - 7:40pm (EST, half hour later in SA, NT and hour later in WA) Sunday - 1:10pm (EST, Half hour later in SA and NT and hour later in WA) Sunday - 4:10pm (EST, Half hour later in SA and NT and hour later in WA) Monday - 7:40pm (EST, Half hour later in SA and NT and hour later in WA) Allow an extra half hour on Friday and Monday Night games for people getting home from work. Allow an extra hour before first Saturday Afternoon game for people playing or watching local footy games.

here is how I would schedule an AFL season and weekend 24 Rounds, each team plays 22 games with 2 byes 20 rounds -9 games a week 4 rounds, average 4 to 5 games a weekend, half the teams play, half the teams have the bye. Friday Night 7:30pm Saturday 1:30pm Saturday 4:30pm Saturday Night 7:30pm Saturday Night 7:30pm Sunday 1:00pm- 4:00pm Sunday 3:00pm Sunday Night 6:00pm (Perth Game) Monday Night 7:00pm I try to avoid games that are on simultaneously. Only the saturday night games and only 1 hour during the sunday games 3-4pm. You could have games played simultaneously on Saturday at 1:30pm or 4:30pm as well, but you only need to do it once a weekend on Saturday. With the games from Perth, the games would start 4:00pm local time, alternate with West Coast one week, Fremantle the next. The perth games will alternate for 18 rounds. 2 rounds will played in Victoria at 6pm, Those 2 rounds will be the weekends where theres an easter Monday, or Queens Birthday Monday. The other 4 rounds are filled with teams byes, with an average of 4 to 5 games a week, so theres no need for a game at 6pm. Its those rounds where the eagles or dockers would play a friday night game or saturday arvo game Just your traditional timeslots of Friday Night, Saturday Arvo, Saturday Night and Sunday Arvo. Monday Night Football will be required for 20 rounds. Although it could be 18 rounds with Monday night games if you put a game on easter monday and queens birthday. So with 18 rounds of Monday Night Football, spread the load of hosting games along the 18 clubs, (except the 2 perth teams, because of the timezone) If crowds are down, I'm sure the AFL will compensate. Then again, Monday Night Football could be a ratings bonanza for AFL, similar to what NRL is experiencing The key here is, the less games that are on simultaneously, the better. Spread the games.

i think sunday the way it is is perfect. so saturday should try replicate that, but the problem is its left with too many games. maybe 1 on friday, 4 sat, 4 sun?

i dont get Damien's original idea, using non-Victorian teams on Friday night. Why would West Coast or Adelaide appeal to Qld or NSW anymore than Essendon or Carlton? It's not like GC, BL, Sydney or GWS will play each other every week!?

Over here in WA, the WAFL have kicked up a bit of a fuss about saturday twilight games particularly because the AFL are eyeing off those timeslots for the WA teams. not much u can do about it though.

haha tend to agree. u can't have too much of a good thing IMO ;)

Still annoys me when my team is playing at the same time as I am...

i wasnt aware they did that. can understand your pain, but money rules doesnt it.

i actually forgot monday night footy was on. i wonder if the perception of monday nite footy would change once it becomes engrained in the AFL public's mind? worth pondering?

i believe there should be 2 friday night games 2 saturday afternoon games, 2 saturday night games, 2 sunday games and 1 monday night game.