What the AFL should steal from the NFL

Not sure how much green stuff you've had access to but you should probably stop. FoxFooty has the most boring, head-banging commentators (with the exception of Hudson) you could possibly get. Bruce and Dennis (and even BT) make the game entertaining. As for the NFL, this Australia, not the US. There's nothing wrong with entertainment, seeing as the game is the actual entertainment. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

i bet you didnt even read the article

you sir are a battler

that doesnt mean that they are not a well run top flight organisation that should be used as a basis for comparison. remember that one country you talk of has 320 million

EPL is far more popular than NFL, though if you talking 'entertainment' as in show production etc, I guess NFL gets up. Though not sure the AFL needs that, what it does need is investment in the poor teams to ensure the struggling teams have the chance to improve. One big issue with the EPL is that there are only about 5 or 6 teams that have any chance of winning. I follow Everton but in some ways it is all a bit pointless. They are never going to win

Start again.

The AFL has been copying the NFL for years already. -Evident in the score review system (flawed but let's not get into that) -Deals with UnderArmour and the draft combine process essentially being exactly the same as the NFL. -Constant affiliation with fantasy football after seeing its success in the US. -Increase in tailgating 'game day' experience. -An impotence in "statistical analysis" to explain the game rather than "that guy was tougher on that occasion." -Free agency and so forth. These changes have been in AFL for a long time already are being copied as is evident by many execs and team officials making diplomatic business visits to NFL franchises in the off-season. However, in many situations NFL traits dont work in Australia because of our national personality (laid back etc), Australian sports goers I dont believe want the hollywood aspect that NFL brings. When was the last time anyone clamored for the Grand Final entertainment? It seems the majority of responses is "just play the damn game." Australian sports culturally align better with the UK simply because of our still strong connection. Hence Port Adelaide's great success with "Never Tear Us Apart" and the prevalence of soccer style scarves being used in attendance now. You forget that American Football is such a stagnant game that these entertainment qualities are needed to make the product bearable, they need the atmosphere and up to date technology more than any other sport because if not you have a 3 1/2 hour product with only 45 or so minutes of on-field action. In this way we are lucky to have a sport that is so free flowing and demands so much of our attention. Also, in regards to commentating. I'm not a huge fan of McAvaney either, hence the reason I prefer BT for his emotion. This is personal preference. The same way that some people in the states prefer Gus Johnson's explosive commentary to that of the emotionless Joe Buck or Chris Collinsworth. There doesn't need to be a change in commentary styles. Perhaps further investment in club centric calls such as 'EdTV' or 'KBTV' like Fox Footy have done for those interested, but this shouldnt be the norm and cant be done in Australia where Footy clubs share the same television and radio stations unlike America where so many cities have their own affiliates whom can afford to be subjective.

Considering how much you're bagging League fans for being dumb, I take great joy in telling you that this article is referring to 'NFL' - the biggest sport in America, not 'NRL.' People in glass houses, Simoc.

"NFL is pretty much a two state competition which is big in Australias biggest state." I thought when you typed NFL that it was a typo and you actually meant NRL. However, after re-reading the original article, there is no mention of NRL, so I can only assume you have not understood the article what so ever and mistaken the NFL for the NRL. "The players are retarded" That may be so and is your opinion, but I'm betting they know NFL stands for 'National Football League' and is a competition in the US. You might want to think about that before posting how lame and stupid some people are.

Very lame article. NFL is pretty much a two state competition which is big in Australias biggest state. That is all it has going for it. The players are retarded; the coaches blame the referees. Boring video replays take up large chunks of time for zero entertainment and no benefit. It is better now than it has been but the commentators apart from Sterling and Warren are poor or hopeless. It is very much a game for cavemen. Soccer and Oz rules are the future for young Australians. And league will continue to be for the drunks and poor people of NSW & Qld.

I see the merit in a mid-season draft but i dont like it. It takes great skill/work to build a roster at the start of the season (and over many seasons) and manage it until the end. It divides the best and the worst coaches

"They are currently the top of sports entertainment worldwide, so with a few tweaks the AFL landscape could be changed for the better." How are they the top of sports entertainment? What proof do you have of this? stats? figures? anything? Im not denying that NFL is'nt one of, if not THE, top sport entertainment - however you cant state this and not back it up with any proof. ---- "Last year two hall of fame quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers played their first games against each other." I presume you mean two future hall of famers? And dont you think its sad that two of the best players may not even vs each other for years? I mean if Fremantle were to vs Collingwood for the first time in years it would be billed and marketed as a 'Fyfe vs Pendlebury' battle and have an increased interest in the game. ---- "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." How? Who? What do you suggest they do? ---- "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. " Does it really matter? ---- "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. " They're there to call the action, not tell us about their opinions on matters unless it is a pre-match or post-match discussion. Would you prefer bias commentators like Gus Gould or Wally Lewis? Watch a couple NRL games on TV and tell me you rather have commentators who give their personal opinion every 30 seconds. ----- "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. " AFL has players all over a massive oval. NFL has two lines of offence 1 metre away from each other. You speak about wanting AFL in 1080p yet you completely bypass the fact that 'zooming out' of the action would greatly affect the quality of the broadcast and it will be like looking at a bunch of ants on TV. Im not even going to read through anymore of your article and comment on it. You obviously havent thought anything through properly

Mid-season trade week in lieu of the byes would be great. Would give a supporter of a bottom-four or underachieving side something to be interested in. Imagine what Port might do if a trade week was on now? Or West Coast might choose to grab a tall defender to maximise their positive start to the year. Would definitely add drama to the season, and could change clubs fortunes. Look at the Cavs in the NBA - they were wallowing and then made mid-season trades which totally refreshed the team and they made it to the Finals. I also agree with trading future picks but there needs to be cap on it, ie only being able to trade picks from the next draft, or if you trade future picks in one off-season you can't do it the following year. My reasoning is there are already clubs in pretty dire circumstances right now, imagine if they didn't even have any draft picsk to look forward to because they whiffed on a major trade. ie, Fev to Brisbane was bad enough for the Lions and they're still reeling somewhat five years later - imagine if they also threw in some future draft picks to land him?

John just on your 5 points: 1. They have been trialling this for the past few years. Sunday night football was a mass failure last year and people voted with their feet, especially Collingwood supporters. Monday nights have also been a disaster in the past. 2. This has a knock on affect. The AFL would rather have the broadcast rights for both TV and radio split across multiple channels and platforms. This offers greater Australia wide distribution of the product to as many people as possible. Having a monopoly is always a bad idea, especially when it comes to growing a product such as the AFL. 3. They tried this with variable ticket pricing last year. It was a disaster and one Gill fixed very quickly with a simpler ticketing system. 4. You mean a bit like what the NRL did last year with Tom Waterhouse being in every comment. I don't think so. The rest is just pocket change and wouldn't make for any discernible revenue increase. 5. A decision for naming rights on venues such as the MCG and SCG would need to be made by the major stake holder i.e. the government. Both are considered icons within their respective cities and would probably do more damage than good over time changing their names. I don't think you will ever see the MCG or SCG change their name for commercial profit for this very reason, just like I don't think you will see Wembley changd its name any time soon. "Pretty simple, no need to reinvent the wheel." It's not that simple - sorry to burst your thought wheel.

A few thoughts of my own. In order to generate revenue the AFL could: 1) Start playing regular Thursday night, Sunday night and either Wednesday or Monday night games like the NFL. Any games on Wednesday, Thursday or Monday nights would have to involve a Victorian Derby as travelling for interstate fans (either intestate fans to Victoria or Victorian fans to interstate) would be incompatible with the working week. The money would be generated from Broadcasting. 2) Offer monopoly radio rights to a single radio station and then rebroadcast to the remaining three. 3) Tax the big games - Collingwood Vs Carlton, Carlton Vs Essendon, Essendon vs Collingwood and so on. 4) Auction off key aspsects of match day experiences etc. Coin toss, Special comments for broadcasting. 5) Maximise naming rights for stadiums etc, for example SCG. In dealing with scheduling: I would have this. 1) All 18 teams play each other once = 17 rounds 2) Teams then divided into 3 divisions, 1 top and two equal bottom divisions: Teams finishing top; 1 to 6 = Division (1), (Automatic finals selection) Teams finishing equal bottom division; 7, 9,11,13,15,17 (Odds) = Division (2a) Teams finishing equal bottom division; 8,10,12,14,16,18 (Evens) = Division (2b) 3) All teams play each other in their own division = 5 rnds, therefore season would = 17 rnd + 5 rnd = 22 Rnd season 5) Finals would be top 2 teams from bottom divisions 2a and 2b = 4 teams playing for 2 wildcard positions 6) Then add the two wildcard positions to the existing 6 in the top division and you have a finals 8 Mcyintye system. Pretty simple, no need to reinvent the wheel.

"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." This is a confusing statement. The AFL has actively been trying to expand the league into new areas with new teams in non-heartland areas and playing games in even more places. Hasn't every single state and even New Zealand had a game of AFL played within its borders every year for a while now? It sounds like the AFL is already making "the tough decisions." Getting to the stage where AFL is top dog in not only ALL of Australia, but also overseas is a tough ask. Especially since these areas already have strong traditions following other codes. It would be a huge achievement to happen at all, let alone "the next year."

Actually the fixturing has been poor. Yes it came out last year but why earlier this year did we have Port v Hawks & Freo v Sydney on the same time on Sat night & yet Carlton, Melbourne & GWS have multiple stand alone games? Why were almost the 4 stand out teams form 2014 playing at the same time?

The AFL Fixture comes out in November. Even the crystal ball can't be that accurate every time. Do we really want the AFL equivalent of the Friday Night Broncos? As for HD broadcast, I thought the Fox guys do that already? FTA don't, but its, you know, free.