Gordon Farkas
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NFL coming to the MCG in September 2026 - clash with AFL finals?
- Thread starter Cmarsh
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Bjo187
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What exactly do you have in mind?
A game is Las Vegas?
With the Indian government you could get some games broadcast on local tv, use a cricket stadium for an exhibition game or have somewhat of a testing camp like they previously did in the U.S. The Indian market is an untapped gold mine, not necessarily for over there, but to tap into all the expats for support here.
With the U.S. it would be promoting the game through their massive audiences there, cross promotion of our code etc. Dunno if a game there is feasible at this stage due to no decent stadium, although they might be building one for cricket in L.A. or something.
I lived in the U.S. our game would be popular there if it were to be promoted, but nobody knows it even exists.
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Generally speaking the NFL plays Thursday nights, Sunday arvo, Sunday night and Monday night over there.
College football gets Friday nights and all day Saturday and Saturday nights.
- Thread starter
- #29
From this article, it seems like it's the AFL that are definitely being bent over.
amp-nine-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org
"While neither league has confirmed its 2026 fixtures, the 2025-2026 NFL season will open across the first weekend in September - a clash with the first weekend of AFL finals.
While the AFL fixture includes a pre-finals bye week, the NFL would likely require exclusive access to the MCG for at least a week before the fixture, which would force the AFL to move games away from its showpiece ground at least one of the weeks either side of the bye.
One option could be for the AFL to push its season back a week, which could potentially allow them to move games away from the ground for the final home-and-away round, which would then also give the NFL clear air in the bye week.
But doing so would push the grand final away from its usual last Saturday in September slot and into October."
AFL 2025: AFL finals 2026 scheduling headache after NFL deal, MCG unavailable, comments, reaction
"While neither league has confirmed its 2026 fixtures, the 2025-2026 NFL season will open across the first weekend in September - a clash with the first weekend of AFL finals.
While the AFL fixture includes a pre-finals bye week, the NFL would likely require exclusive access to the MCG for at least a week before the fixture, which would force the AFL to move games away from its showpiece ground at least one of the weeks either side of the bye.
One option could be for the AFL to push its season back a week, which could potentially allow them to move games away from the ground for the final home-and-away round, which would then also give the NFL clear air in the bye week.
But doing so would push the grand final away from its usual last Saturday in September slot and into October."
catstorm
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The AFL doesn’t usually play nice with competition.From this article, it seems like it's the AFL that are definitely being bent over.
AFL 2025: AFL finals 2026 scheduling headache after NFL deal, MCG unavailable, comments, reaction
"While neither league has confirmed its 2026 fixtures, the 2025-2026 NFL season will open across the first weekend in September - a clash with the first weekend of AFL finals.
While the AFL fixture includes a pre-finals bye week, the NFL would likely require exclusive access to the MCG for at least a week before the fixture, which would force the AFL to move games away from its showpiece ground at least one of the weeks either side of the bye.
One option could be for the AFL to push its season back a week, which could potentially allow them to move games away from the ground for the final home-and-away round, which would then also give the NFL clear air in the bye week.
But doing so would push the grand final away from its usual last Saturday in September slot and into October."
It is all well and good for people to say the AFL needs to do this or that, but what exactly are the MCGs contractual obligations? Might be interesting to see how this plays out.
Dirty Bird
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Not exactly correct.
NFL has Sundays
College Football has Saturdays
High School Football has Fridays
Hence why Thursdays/Mondays work around it.
It wouldn't be the first time the AFL held its GF in October. The only real problem is it isn't ideal to hold the AFL GF the same weekend as the NRL GF, particularly if a NSW or Qld side is ion the AFL GF.
Or with the long flights, considerably longer than east coast to London for example, they might play the previous Sunday (Saturday night US time) for recovery.
1st weekend of September and game not in US would mean the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 wouldn't apply.
Would imagine AFL aware and involved in discussion, due to being major tenant of MCG.
Having the NFL game on the Bye weekend between H&A and finals ( Sunday arvo Melbourne time) would mean a Saturday night game in US.
Schedule the game for Sunday 6th September, and then it means AFL could still schedule games at G in final week of H&A season on Thurs-Fri-Sat and then give NFL full week (Sunday to Sunday).
Hand the ground back to AFL and then if needed could still have Thursday/Friday finals at the G in week 1 and the GF would be Saturday Oct 3rd.
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Funny how the AFL melted down over the prospect of Australia hosting the FIFA World Cup, but are all too happy to embrace this even if it potentially disrupts the finals scheduling.
Given how narrow an NFL field is and all the stuff they have on each sideline for the teams, will those with tickets in the lower tier at the G manage to see any part of the game whatsoever?
I still hope it's a massive success, but yeah don't think I'll feel the need to attend, also there is absolutely 0 chance I'll be successful in roping my wife along to an NFL game ever again.
- Mar 25, 2019
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Will be big for AFL having the NFL come to town so I'm all for it. Having all the players and media that go with it down in Melbourne around finals time will be great for promotion etc imo.
Bjo187
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Don't believe the news corp hit job outta their Sydney headquarters on that to make the afl look bad. The ffa stuffed it up big time and sprung it on them last minute with no guarantee of compensation for having to move half their season. The nrl weren't happy either and gave the same response, but funnily enough that wasn't mentioned outta Sydney hq, as they saw a great opportunity to paint the afl as the bad guys.
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I understand adjusting the fixture for the Olympics.
Hell, considering she had 3 sold out shows at the G, you could understand the need to alter the fixture for Taylor Swift if necessary.
Why would the AFL need to bow to pressure from an overseas sport coming over to play a single game that will only be attended by as many people that attended the Hawks and the Dogs in an elimination final??
What else are they offering???
It's a putrid sport anyway. Give them Marvel or tell them to do what the WWE did in 2018 and have it a week after OUR Grand Final.
Hell, considering she had 3 sold out shows at the G, you could understand the need to alter the fixture for Taylor Swift if necessary.
Why would the AFL need to bow to pressure from an overseas sport coming over to play a single game that will only be attended by as many people that attended the Hawks and the Dogs in an elimination final??
What else are they offering???
It's a putrid sport anyway. Give them Marvel or tell them to do what the WWE did in 2018 and have it a week after OUR Grand Final.
- Thread starter
- #41
This is only one game though. The multiple games in a short space of time for the WC would have been a logistics nightmare for the AFL.
Why would all the tickets end up in the hands of people who have no interest in the game?
I can tell you some of the top sporting events I have attended have been American Football games both NFL and college.
The AFL had no issue with the MCG. Or, at least nothing that hadn't been overcome already.
It was when the FFA started showing FIFA officials around Docklands with no notice that the AFL got tetchy. Losing both venues could have meant 6-8 weeks without a game in Melbourne due to FIFA requiring venues exclusively four weeks in advance of any match.
Actually, it was a lot worse than that - the FFA bid demanded exclusive use of the MCG for 10 weeks - which the AFL agreed to - but then they also demanded exclusive use of Docklands Stadium as well for 10 weeks. The AFL conceded the use of the MCG for 10 weeks - but not Docklands -
AFL block to World Cup bid
Australia's bid for the World Cup is in danger of being derailed after AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou declared Etihad Stadium off limits for the world's largest sporting event.
“…In an extraordinary outbreak of war between the codes, Mr Demetriou has lashed out at soccer authorities for ''trumpeting'' their plans to use Etihad Stadium as a World Cup venue without consulting the AFL. He said the AFL had already offered to give up the MCG for part of a season and could not afford to do without the Docklands stadium as well.
In response, Football Federation Australia has threatened to strip World Cup games from Melbourne and send them interstate. …
“… Mr Demetriou said he only learnt that Etihad was being targeted for the World Cup when he read in The Age that visiting journalists were being hosted at the venue. Suddenly we have them trumpeting Etihad as a stadium for their bid. It's completely disrespectful to us, it's completely misleading to people, because it's completely untrue,'' Mr Demetriou said. ''It's for them to go away and work out solutions. It's not for us to come up with a solution of what to do about Etihad.
''We've got Etihad and we've got the MCG. People forget there are things called agreements in place.''
… and Howard Littlejohn beat me to it.
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The AFL hadn’t even been guaranteed that they could play over those two months plus had they, they were going to lose tens of millions of dollars with no compensation guarantees.
Absolute amateur hour by the FFA
The Educator
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What?
The Football Australia wanted both the G and marvel for up to half a season and apparently fought hard against compensation.
The AFL and NFL have likely signed an MOU around fixturing for one match.
What a ridiculous comparison.
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Probably because soccer isn't a real sport?
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My money would be that they did, and for all his faults this wouldn't have happened under Fat Andy at finals time.
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For some it will be a must attend event for some and then they talk about for months afterwards with mates and work colleagues.
