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NFL is the best in the business, so why doesn’t the AFL copy as much as possible from them?
They are currently the top of sports entertainment worldwide, so with a few tweaks the AFL landscape could be changed for the better.
Every NFL game that has ever been televised has the notion that it matters in context to the finals. This comes down to a far different perspective on the draw. Last year two hall of fame quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers played their first games against each other.
In terms of American viewing, if you weren’t on your couch watching this match you may as well hand in your citizenship.
Currently the AFL has had almost the worst match-ups it could find during prime time. If the AFL wants to make itself a better brand like it prioritises with expansion clubs then it needs to make the effort to change the draw immediately.
Obviously it will be a huge effort with presidents like McGuire requiring all the matches Collingwood play be at the MCG. Divisions/once a year matches per teams are suitable options, or even the potential for some kind of floating schedule.
On top of this, the AFL television broadcasting is poor. When the AFL signed its billion-dollar deal with Seven it needed to mandate a higher level of quality, as non-1080p shouldn’t even be an option.
Seven even has the ability to turn amazing games and commentators into non-opinionated drones. Maybe apart of this is that Bruce McAvaney is actually a commentating ‘tagger’ and is able to drag everyone else to his level, or maybe the operations team doesn’t want people to speak their mind.
This needs to change. The way the information is delivered needs an overhaul as well. The current camera work and view has been the same since Up there Cazaly got played the first of its million times.
One of the best parts about a live AFL match is seeing the players move freely and anywhere. Seeing a backman stream down an empty side of the field to take a grab 150 metres away from where he started loses context when we haven’t seen them do it in the field of view shown on television.
Obviously a lot of people will hate change, but trial out something new and wait for the feedback. If it doesn’t work people will instantly let Channel Seven know via every social media outlet available to them.
The draft is surely the next big thing we could change. The NFL is a shorter season, yet their offseason sparks huge television audiences based around the NFL draft combine, and then their four-day draft weekend.
Beforehand countless media documents create speculation over trades on the day to occur, best fits for team needs, best athletic players, and players who are likely to fall for off field issues that may still be picked up.
On the day this manages to create a huge tension with every pick as the commentators try to analysis what the hell a team is thinking. Does your team trade up to take the next Wayne Carey; selling their next few years picks for adding that one piece they believe is all they need?
The AFL should try to copy this as much as possible. In doing this they need to relax their stance about trading players and future draft picks.
Trading future draft picks makes teams nervous, but to be honest the only teams who are nervous are basket cases anyway. It’s not the AFL’s responsibility to hold a team’s hand and make sure they draft correctly and don’t screw their franchise.
Allowing teams to do this type of trading allows them to make bigger moves on draft day. This is also able to create larger off field boosts for a team that’s season wasn’t as successful due to being able to market their new draft picks and the rebuilding of their team straight away.
The AFL footprint on Australia has stagnated, and I feel the sport needs to make some tough decisions to allow the game to flourish for the future. While many will say the game is fine and shouldn’t be changed at all, they also need to be reminded that the AFL is still one of the smallest minority sports in the world.
Getting the sport to a stage where the entire Australian population – and maybe possibly further abroad – cannot go without their footy fix, as opposed to the same Victorian fan-base of the last 50 years, is something the AFL needs to prioritise for the next year.
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.