Should poor performing teams be banished from prime time?

[TRP1996]

Lock all the underperformers in the MCG and make them fight to the death. The surviving 40-odd players can form a new team.

 

[Underarm]

Not necessarily. Adelaide vs Brisbane on prime time Friday night was one of the highest ratings games of H&A 2025

Because they were first and 2nd at the time which is not something you can plan for.

the reason the big Vic clubs get the timeslots is because they have a high floor of people watching.

People want to watch good footy between good teams. There's a reason why Channel 7 opted out of Carlton vs Essendon in round24 last year

Because they could decide that the week of the match, usually they have to lock in the tv schedule months In advance.

Truth is we don't really know because we hardly get any non Vic vs non vic prime time games

We see plenty of Vic v Non Vic as they rate great. 7 of the next 8 thursday/friday nights are Vic v Non Vic.

Its the full Non Vic matchups that they dont have the confidence that they would rate well.

 

[Toump Ass]

Because they were first and 2nd at the time which is not something you can plan for.

You can plan for Carlton being shit tho. There's like 30 years of evidence to the fact.

 

[bzparkes]

I would rather watch the best teams play than see Essendon or Carlton get pumped.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

If people stopped watching them, they would stop getting tv slots.

Theyve tried playing 2 non vic sides and it rates worse than 2 Vic clubs.

Amazing people don’t get it.

The broadcasters choose who plays in prime time.

Everybody screaming for more money yet they want to tell the broadcasters they can’t have their choice of teams. How do you think that’s gonna go?

 

[SSSSSS]

We had to earn our way back to prime time. We were stuck on the dreaded Sunday afternoon slot for pretty much all of 2022-2024, with the exception of Easter Monday. Only came back to prime time fixtures last season.

Seems a pretty reasonable approach. I didn't have anything against it at the time.

 

[koshjjennedy723]

We had to earn our way back to prime time. We were stuck on the dreaded Sunday afternoon slot for pretty much all of 2022-2024, with the exception of Easter Monday. Only came back to prime time fixtures last season.

Seems a pretty reasonable approach. I didn't have anything against it at the time.

At least now you're good you get to leave the dreaded Sunday arvos games. It's a "quirk of the fixture" that the Eagles have been playing the same time slot for 20 odd years*. At least back then it was something to look forward to, now I'm just filled with dread.
* I have no factual basis for this claim, I just made it up, but it feels right

 

[Count_Zero]

I prefer Sunday at 3:20, weekend has happened and you sit down to watch your team play after a busy Sunday morning.

But back to prime time, why not give every team a Friday and Saturday night game. 18 teams, pair them up and you get 9 games then space them out over the year and you wouldnt complain about one bad primetime game a weekend.

Also, dont have Brisbane playing West Coast on Friday, match the teams based on their previous year finish. Crows Vs. Lions or Demons Vs. Blues.

 

[Golumless]

100% should be, unless it's a proper rivalry.

 

[Scotland]

We had to earn our way back to prime time. We were stuck on the dreaded Sunday afternoon slot for pretty much all of 2022-2024, with the exception of Easter Monday. Only came back to prime time fixtures last season.

Seems a pretty reasonable approach. I didn't have anything against it at the time.

Your crowds also died in the arse a bit once you stopped being good. Easter Monday in 2014 after the 2013 prelim was 80k. Easter Monday in 2022 was 48k.

The reality is the AFL just goes where the money is. If Hawthorn sold out the MCG every time they played on Friday night they would be on Friday night every week. When the AFL see Hawthorn get 22k at the G and 18k at Docklands they move on to the next shiny thing. Hawthorn vs Essendon wasn't a particularly good game because one of those teams isn't particularly good, but with two big supporter bases that hate each other and the off season Merrett thing with Friday night billing it got 71k. The AFL would take that every day of the week and twice on Sundays over say Hawthorn vs WB which would be a better game but isn't typically a big crowd puller.

 

[Donakebab]

"Prime time" ****ing sucks anyway.

I would be chuffed if my club played Saturday arvo as much as possible.

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

No.
Broadcasters have too much say in scheduling. They should have NO say in it at all. The league should allocate these games evenly across all clubs.
Giving out prime time spots to high-drawing clubs is another factor keeping struggling teams at the bottom.
They let the broadcaster choose time-slots in exchange for a bigger broadcast deal. This shows a deliberate prioritisation of profit over fairness.
I for one would happily still follow a 'less shiny' sport if it was fairer.

 

[Underarm]

At least now you're good you get to leave the dreaded Sunday arvos games. It's a "quirk of the fixture" that the Eagles have been playing the same time slot for 20 odd years*. At least back then it was something to look forward to, now I'm just filled with dread.
* I have no factual basis for this claim, I just made it up, but it feels right

West coast play the shit timeslots because you are in a shit timezone.

 

[Underarm]

No.
Broadcasters have too much say in scheduling. They should have NO say in it at all. The league should allocate these games evenly across all clubs.
Giving out prime time spots to high-drawing clubs is another factor keeping struggling teams at the bottom.
They let the broadcaster choose time-slots in exchange for a bigger broadcast deal. This shows a deliberate prioritisation of profit over fairness.
I for one would happily still follow a 'less shiny' sport if it was fairer.

Without the tv rights deal half the clubs would be in financial peril.

 

[Scotland]

West coast play the shit timeslots because you are in a shit timezone.

And demand inelastic.

Other than the two derbies our biggest crowd last year in Perth was WC vs GC, Rd 2 2025, Sunday 3.10pm: 45.6k.

In what universe does any Melbourne team get their highest home crowd playing a Sunday game against Gold Coast?

We currently stink so our crowds do tend to drop off after it's clear our season is over (so, about now) but if you go back to a time when we were good 11 out of 12 games at Optus Stadium drew 50-60k and the one that didn't was 47k and probably a sell out anyway.

WC and to a lesser extent Freo are a ****ing gift to the AFL in that they can fixture us wherever, whenever vs whoever and we remain self sufficient. We don't need Friday night games vs Collingwood to generate interest and Hamish Davis is as recognisable in Perth as Christian Petracca. Need the wheels to start squeaking to get some oil from HQ, and it's pretty clear when it comes to on field performance they DGAF.

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

Without the tv rights deal half the clubs would be in financial peril.

If everything was scaled back, including player and executive wages, it could be managed.

I know what I’m saying is highly hypothetical. Don’t take it too literally. It’s more about the principle of profits over fairness.