It’s “probably” the AFL Grand Remaining shall be performed in a twilight timeslot this yr, in keeping with a brand new report.
The yearly debate over whether or not the premiership decider ought to stay in its conventional 2:30pm AEST timeslot, or transfer later within the day in a bid to enhance the TV rankings, is about to be sparked as soon as once more.
Talking on the SportNXT convention on Wednesday, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan stated a choice can be made by the AFL Fee “within the coming weeks”.
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Earlier in March talking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 he stated “as somebody who’s a traditionalist (about conserving it within the day) … I’ve observed simply on the market that persons are a bit extra receptive to taking a look at one thing else.”
The Age stories “nearly all of the AFL Fee stays open to the concept of the sport being performed underneath lights this yr.
“It stays unlikely, nonetheless, that the AFL will go from a 2:30pm begin to 7:20pm (night time timeslot) in simply 12 months.
“Sources acquainted the discussions in regards to the timing point out for that motive, a 4:40pm fixture stays probably for 2023.”
Nearly all AFL finals are performed in a twilight or night-time slot, with final yr’s Geelong-Collingwood and Sydney-Collingwood finals each twilight video games.
However fan polls have nearly unanimously acknowledged the choice of most footy watchers is for the Grand Remaining to stay within the daytime slot.
The 2022 Grand Remaining, which featured Geelong smashing Sydney in a sport that began at 2:30pm, obtained almost a million fewer viewers than the 2021 or 2020 video games, which had been each performed at night time (east coast time).
Nonetheless the Cats-Swans score can be attributed to that sport being a blowout from the early phases, whereas pandemic lockdowns nearly actually helped the figures for the 2021 and 2020 contests.
Initially printed as AFL Grand Remaining begin time ‘probably’ to change to twilight, report claims
