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While enjoying its status as the most popular sport in the country, the AFL is never stopping to admire its achievements – instead it is always striving forward in the hope of bigger and better things.
However, I believe there are certain areas where the AFL has gone down the wrong path, and thus changes need to made.
Here is my blueprint to improve the game:
1. Create a third stadium in Melbourne
Too much money is being wasted week after week by financially stricken Victorian clubs, such as the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne, who play every home game at Etihad Stadium.
This situation is detrimental to their already poor financial position as these two clubs in particular have very low crowds in comparison to the rest of the competition, and a terrible stadium deal – often resulting in a net loss for a home game.
More must be done to equalise the competition and creating a third Melbourne stadium of around 30,000 seats is perfect, and would also look much better on television than a match at Etihad Stadium which isn’t even half full.
However, I must emphasize it would be ideal if the third stadium was a redeveloped, current team training ground, such as Punt Rd or Visy Park – as mentioned in this week’s print media.
This would reduce the cost of creating the stadium, and allow the stadium to be ready for matches sooner.
2. Make a draft lottery
Over the past decade, a number of clubs have come under severe scrutiny for tanking matches late in the season in order to gain a stronger position at the national draft.
After the recent dramas involving the Demons’ tanking saga, where the club was fined $500,000 among other penalties however not convicted of tanking, the tanking issue remains a large barrier needing to be knocked on the head in order for the game’s integrity to remain strong.
My solution is to create a draft lottery, where all teams finishing outside the top eight participate, with each team having a higher or lower chance of drawing of the first three picks depending on where they finish.
Once a team is drawn they are removed from the lottery, increasing the chance for other teams to gain one of the first three picks.
After the first three picks have been drawn, the next six picks are given to the remaining six clubs (who all didn’t make the finals) based on where they finished, from highest to lowest.
The rest of the draft will continue as in previous years.
A draft lottery is a strong concept that will reduce the prevalence of tanking due to teams having no knowing advantage in the national draft, even if they finish of a low position on the ladder.
The system has worked in the NBA for a number of years now, and there is no reason why it can’t work in the AFL.
3. Expand into overseas markets
While much of Australia’s best young sporting talent are converted into AFL stars, not enough is being done to bring young athletes from overseas with enormous physical capabilities to our shores to play Australian Rules Football.
With Indonesia, China and India not far from our doorstep boasting a combined total of close to 3 billion people, the untapped talent out there is enormous and simply too good to ignore.
If the AFL wants to continue to improve the standard of the game then this is their best long term option – not to mention the massive marketing opportunities available to the league if top athletes from these countries are successful in the AFL.
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.