Not sure the NFL is a good example to hold up, as they also manipulate their fixture to ensure traditional rivals play each other twice every season e.g. to give just one of a number of examples, despite being in distinctly different geographical areas, traditional rivals Dallas and Washington are always lumped in the same 4 team division to ensure they play each other twice per season, whereas a majority of clubs only play each other once every 4 years.Great point re an even draw. It boggles my mind how fixture-ery the AFL is.
Both NFL and EPL (two competitions the AFL would or should admire) have fair and equitable draws. Why are we left with this clearly unfair draw? I know it’s cool the Hawks play the Cats x2 per season for the $$$ but it’s a competition first and the quality of footy and added quantity of 22 teams will bring in enough revenue. ...
Each year, some divisions inevitably turn out to be stronger than others. In short, the NFL fixture is very carefully manipulated and loaded through the use of conferences and divisions to maximise attendances and ratings and this is prioritised ahead of fairness.