AFL to sell wildcard finals!!!

[The Sultan]

So WA get the rights to wild card, what happens if two big melb clubs are involved in one game, and two nepo clubs in the other…

 

[oak79]

I went to the Gabba GF during Covid and it was rubbish compared to the 23/24/25 GFs I experienced in person, saying that as someone born and bred in Brisbane. Hope it never moves from the MCG.

I've been to 3 GFs at the MCG, 1 at Optus.

The Perth GF compared pretty well, especially with night half time entertainment.

 

[oak79]

So WA get the rights to wild card, what happens if two big melb clubs are involved in one game, and two nepo clubs in the other…

That would be the best result. Queue outrage, and watch the A(V)FL change it back to Melbourne.

 

[Duckimus Prime]

Imagine West Coast having to travel to Geelong to play a final against Adelaide. The hilarity / stupidity of this league is baffling.

That wouldn't happen. Simply because is the Victorian State government really going to outbid other states to put the games in Geelong, instead of in Melbourne?

 

[Cleavy]

Source?

it was in the Herald Sun.

 

[Kappa]

why not just sell every round to the highest bidder?

 

[010203]

Nice of the AFL to give me another reason to despise the Wildcard concept.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

So now a state can purchase home finals?

Hmmmmm.

Is Victoria excluded? They already have the GF locked in for how long?

Just wait until a WA club wins a final against a Vic heavy weight by less than a kick.

Vic media will froth and go into full zombie apocalypse mode.

At least the AFL are not hiding their unreseved love of money ahead of a fair and equitable competition.

Another example of poor leadership and mismanagement of the game.

I’d hope Victoria was excluded, and I imagine the bidding process would require a choice at least 12 months in advance.

If you’re backing your teams to finish 7-10th, who cares, you aren’t in it under the new system.

The vic media will complain either way, but only half as loudly as the WA media. There’s something in the water west of streaky bay and I’m fairly sure it’s uranium.

To be clear - wildcard is stupid, having it as a carnival? Why not, it’s already Mickey Mouse. Might make it actually fun.

 

[Wrangeroos]

Looking forward to round 42 play-in round in 2027 - The Executive Reach Around Round!

 

[Rotayjay]

Well, it's an acknowledgement that the concept of finals for 8th-10th in an 18-club comp is utter bullshit and not a serious final.

 

[James Colorado]

why not just sell every round to the highest bidder?

It's exactly this sort of forward thinking that will see you be the next AFL CEO!!

 

[James Colorado]

You're all missing out on the most important factor here, and that is keeping our major commercial partners, the gambling companies, happy! Now a book can be opened on where the wild card round games will be played, odds set on if a higher finishing team will be playing at their opponent's ground, and even how many interstate fans will attend! More things to bet on, more chances to win!

 

[Ratboys]

AFL did sell away the grand final for decades which was not forced upon them

 

[Clark G]

Imagine the uproar if a Showdown wildcard final is played anywhere except SA.

 

[SteelWodie]

That’s because there are good ideas, and bad ideas.
Some of that good and bad depends on who gets advantaged.

Interestingly, finding answers and ideas that everyone agrees upon with no advantages to anyone should be the goal.

Worryingly, finding answers and ideas that everyone disagrees upon is the status quo. Wildcard round was one of those ideas. Selling off Wildcard Round is doubling down on a bad idea, one I didn’t see coming because I didn’t think the AFL had it in them to go that low and Odds have been moving quite a bit since yesterday. Again, they prove me wrong.

If this is on the table legitimately, and the AFL continues to sell the GF to the Vic Government for a guaranteed home state GF every season, then I think home prelim finals should automatically offered to non-Vic teams if they qualify for them, for a set price say $3M, paid for by the state government involved.

If the AFL is going to sell the GF to Victoria until 2059, the "sporting integrity" argument is already dead.
Money talks, so if a State Government coughs up $3M to cover the "lost revenue" of moving a game away from the MCG, the AFL loses its only excuse to say no.
It sucks that we’d have to basically pay a ransom for a home final we already earned on the ladder, but it’s better than being forced to play a "home" game at the MCG just because it holds more people.

 

[Bay53]

If the AFL is going to sell the GF to Victoria until 2059, the "sporting integrity" argument is already dead.
Money talks, so if a State Government coughs up $3M to cover the "lost revenue" of moving a game away from the MCG, the AFL loses its only excuse to say no.
It sucks that we’d have to basically pay a ransom for a home final we already earned on the ladder, but it’s better than being forced to play a "home" game at the MCG just because it holds more people.

The grand final is not going anywhere.