News The AFL will introduce a 24 round home and away season in 2028

[LordLucifer]

 

[LordLucifer]

The smartest thing to do would be to bring in a 20th team, play each other once (i.e. 19 rounds) and firm up the ladder to have a Final 10 instead of this fanciful wildcard shite.

Anything less than that is farcical.

 

[LordLucifer]

It's like they think the game is booming and better than ever yet if you added together the collective IQ's at AFL House you still wouldn't get an idiot.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

With 19 teams you must have an even number of rounds (i.e. 22 or 24), or else one team must have an extra bye above what the rest of the competition gets.

There needs to be an even number of games since there are two clubs competing (i.e. 19 x 24 = 456, for a total of 228 games (456/2)). Your proposal of 19 x 25 calculates at 475 (19 x 25) divided by 2 = 237.5 games.

Yep I get that.

So from a club’s point of view, how do you split the 24 rounds between home, away, byes and GR?

 

[Sentinel]

Yep I get that.

So from a club’s point of view, how do you split the 24 rounds between home, away, byes and GR?

Ah sorry I think we're speaking of different things - the article in the OP speaks of 24 games (per team), as opposed to 24 rounds. It's an important distinction in a competition with obligatory byes.

24 games per team means 26 rounds. That's 11H/11A/2N/2B.

In a 19 team competition, you can't run 24 games per team across 24 or 25 rounds, it's not possible outside of teams doubling up within a round.

The only way to do it in 24 rounds is to have 22 games per side.

 

[VicBased]

Can anybody else foresee player burnout being added to the already Immense pressure being placed on players?

 

[Teen Wolf]

Where this falls down is that you end up having 18 byes across 2 rounds (the rounds 12 & 13 that you propose). There's a total of 38 byes (2 x 19 teams) to be had across the season, which leaves 20 byes remaining outside of these rounds.

With 19 teams, each round needs an odd number of byes (minimum 1) - therefore you'd need to split 20 byes across the remaining 22 rounds, so it doesn't work.

I think your solution could only work in a 22 round season (10H/10A/2N).

That all assumes Opening Round won't return in 2028, thereby changing the number of byes required altogether. I don't think it will be gone forever, given the real reason for the change in 2027.

But if I'm wrong about that I would still expect the AFL to play the extra neutral games in chunks, thereby allowing another themed round(s). For instance a 6th game could just be played in each of those Rounds 12-13, except not as neutral fixtures like the other 5.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Ah sorry I think we're speaking of different things - the article in the OP speaks of 24 games (per team), as opposed to 24 rounds. It's an important distinction in a competition with obligatory byes.

24 games per team means 26 rounds. That's 11H/11A/2N/2B.

In a 19 team competition, you can't run 24 games per team across 24 or 25 rounds, it's not possible outside of teams doubling up within a round.

The only way to do it in 24 rounds is to have 22 games per side.

So what we’re truly looking at is

11 home
11 away
2 neutral (Gather Round)
[2 byes]

That’s 24 games each

Ok… now…

How do 19 clubs play exactly 2 neutral games each?

 

[Teen Wolf]

How do 19 clubs play exactly 2 neutral games each?

Plenty of ways, but it can't simply be 2 Gather Rounds of 9 games each and leave it at that.

 

[BigVic]

The 'play a game in America' idea sounds like a junket.

It's ridiculous

 

[BigVic]

So what we’re truly looking at is

11 home
11 away
2 neutral (Gather Round)
[2 byes]

That’s 24 games each

Ok… now…

How do 19 clubs play exactly 2 neutral games each?

I came up with this concept. One team misses out on the SA Gather Round and they add a second Gather Round in WA mid-season before the run home when they play so they don't miss out.

 

[Sentinel]

That all assumes Opening Round won't return in 2028, thereby changing the number of byes required altogether. I don't think it will be gone forever, given the real reason for the change in 2027.

But if I'm wrong about that I would still expect the AFL to play the extra neutral games in chunks, thereby allowing another themed round(s). For instance a 6th game could just be played in each of those Rounds 12-13, except not as neutral fixtures like the other 5.

Yeah, you're right. That would work.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Plenty of ways, but it can't simply be 2 Gather Rounds of 9 games each and leave it at that.

So just one way, for example…

Gather Round 1 = 9 games (18 clubs, 1 bye)

Gather Round 2 = 9 games (18 clubs, 1 bye)

Random standalone game = 2 clubs, 17 “byes”)

That would work right?

 

[BigVic]

So just one way, for example…

Gather Round 1 = 9 games (18 clubs, 1 bye)

Gather Round 2 = 9 games (18 clubs, 1 bye)

Random standalone game = 2 clubs, 17 “byes”)

That would work right?

Gather Round 2 Winter Festival of Footy. School holidays in Victoria could be pushed back a week from September 30-October 16 to accomodate the later mid-October AFL Grand Final at the MCG. The Everest is run on 14 October with the Caulfield Guineas at Caulfield on the same afternoon meaning a twilight affair to keep punters happy

 

[Teen Wolf]

So just one way, for example…

Gather Round 1 = 9 games (18 clubs, 1 bye)

Gather Round 2 = 9 games (18 clubs, 1 bye)

Random standalone game = 2 clubs, 17 “byes”)

That would work right?

Could do that, or the random standalone game could be part of an otherwise normal round.

I don't think the AFL will actually do a full blown second Gather Round though. A renewal with SA probably comes with some expectation of exclusivity, even if not explicitly written into the contract.

 

[rdrdrdrd]

Ah sorry I think we're speaking of different things - the article in the OP speaks of 24 games (per team), as opposed to 24 rounds. It's an important distinction in a competition with obligatory byes.

24 games per team means 26 rounds. That's 11H/11A/2N/2B.

In a 19 team competition, you can't run 24 games per team across 24 or 25 rounds, it's not possible outside of teams doubling up within a round.

The only way to do it in 24 rounds is to have 22 games per side.

If we have 24 rounds of footy with each of the 19 teams playing 22 games, that will work.
However, it means Round 24 still has a team on a bye.
Which means that a team that is sitting in the top 6 could have a bye for Round 24, followed by another week off whilst teams 7-10 play their finals, so that team then commences their finals campaign not having played a game for 2 weeks.
So I think the AFL would have to ensure that the previous year's wooden spooner is the "bye team" for Round 24.

Similarly Gather Round should just be conducted for the top 18 teams of the previous season - with the wooden spooner serving one of their 2 season byes that round.

Yes, the wooden spooner is missing out on Gather Round and also Round 24 - in return they get the #1 draft pick.

And no overseas footy - deprives the loyal fans of a game to see their team play in the flesh - unless you're very rich which appears to be the target audience of the AFL these days.

 

[Sentinel]

I think another issue they need to work through will be the timing of the season. 24 games as specified in the OP article means 26 rounds (minimum), plus 5 weeks of finals. The season started this year on the weekend of March 7, which would mean an October 3rd Grand Final.

Are enough grounds going to be available in early March to kick the season off at the beginning of March each year, and/or are the AFL prepared/able the move Grand Final day further into October?

 

[Teen Wolf]

Yeah to get a 31-week season ending in September 2028, they would start approx Thursday 2nd March.

If any main grounds aren't available in early March, that will be used as the justification to start the year with some neutral games in different venues around the country/planet.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

I think another issue they need to work through will be the timing of the season. 24 games as specified in the OP article means 26 rounds (minimum), plus 5 weeks of finals. The season started this year on the weekend of March 7, which would mean an October 3rd Grand Final.

Are enough grounds going to be available in early March to kick the season off at the beginning of March each year, and/or are the AFL prepared/able the move Grand Final day further into October?

I think there's clearly enough grounds given the types of grounds that the use over the course of the season. It's just that the AFL always the season to start off with a bang, being played at the high-capacity major cricket venues.

AFL in theory easily play in Darwin in the first week of March - and in fact it would be better to do so because this is actually culturally local footy season in Darwin - but they don't want a game, in rain, in Round 1.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The main problem with timing is the AFL are for whatever reason absolutely glued to the end of September. I suspect it’s a sweetheart understanding with racing authorities.

As a result they have taken over March and are moving into February. There’s absolutely no good reason for this. It’s too hot, which impacts the quality of games and has a big impact on players who are being asked to play more and more games. It’s far more uncomfortable for fans.

As I’ve started a thread about in the past, October is hugely cooler than March and and is the direction the AFL should logically go. Something has stopped them…

 

[Teen Wolf]

Cricket also wants to get the pitches dropped in and/or prepared asap every year so that's always going to make it tough to extend beyond very early October.

It'll be a particularly tight turnaround in 2028, with the T20 World Cup scheduled to start in like the 3rd week of October I think.

 

[Dan26]

It's weird how we always think that more content is better and worth more to broadcasters, and the AFL falls into this trap with the prospect of now expanding to a ridiculous 24 games in 2028.

In the U.S, the three major sporting leagues are the NFL, MLB and NBA.

MLB broadcast deal (each team plays 162 games) is worth $2 Billion per year ($800,000 per match)
NBA broadcast deal (each team plays 82 games) is worth $7 billion per year ($5.6 Million per match)
NFL broadcast deal (each team plays 17 games) is worth $10 Billion per year ($36.7 Million per match)

Obviously, if the AFL reverted to an 18-game per team fixture (which they won't) each game would be more valuable, because each game would be more important. The product would be less diluted, there would be less dead-rubbers. You could even then run a knockout Cup comeptition along-side it on spare weekends to space the season out to roughly the same length and have a much-needed (in my opinion) secondary trophy.

I've always been curious to know if the season was shortened, by how much increased value would each game then be worth? And is there an inverse relationship between season length and broadcast rights? I know Channel 7 were not happy with what they got last year, as the long, diluted season petered out with dead-rubber after dead-rubber. Would they have preferred less games, but more valuable games? Or more games, but less valuable games?

I'm firmly in the "less is more" camp, NFL style.

At any rate Gather Round is a complete cluster-f**k that completely stuffs up the whole fixture. We are essentially going to 24 games because if it went to 22 (it can't be 23) then that would mean that half the teams have to sell a home game to Adelaide against their consent and just have 10 home games. So, they'll move to 24, for the sole reason to accommodate Gather Round, which shouldn't even exist anyway.

As stated, I'd personally rather an 18-match home and away season where eveyone plays everyone else once, running concurrently with a knockout Cup interspersed on spare weekends to extend the season out to 22 weeks with a million dollar prize attached to it. That way, you get a vital secondary trophy, which is sorely needed in a bloated 19-team competition, where 18 teams fail every year, you increase the importance of games (like they do in the NFL) with a high-TV-rating scarcity model. But that's just me.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

It's weird how we always think that more content is better and worth more to broadcasters, and the AFL falls into this trap with the prospect of now expanding to a ridiculous 24 games in 2028.

In the U.S, the three major sporting leagues are the NFL, MLB and NBA.

MLB broadcast deal (each team plays 162 games) is worth $2 Billion per year ($800,000 per match)
NBA broadcast deal (each team plays 82 games) is worth $7 billion per year ($5.6 Million per match)
NFL broadcast deal (each team plays 17 games) is worth $10 Billion per year ($36.7 Million per match)

Obviously, if the AFL reverted to an 18-game per team fixture (which they won't) each game would be more valuable, because each game would be more important. The product would be less diluted, there would be less dead-rubbers. You could even then run a knockout Cup comeptition along-side it on spare weekends to space the season out to roughly the same length and have a much-needed (in my opinion) secondary trophy.

I've always been curious to know if the season was shortened, by how much increased value would each game then be worth? And is there an inverse relationship between season length and broadcast rights? I know Channel 7 were not happy with what they got last year, as the long, diluted season petered out with dead-rubber after dead-rubber. Would they have preferred less games, but more valuable games? Or more games, but less valuable games?

I'm firmly in the "less is more" camp, NFL style.

At any rate Gather Round is a complete cluster-f**k that completely stuffs up the whole fixture. We are essentially going to 24 games because if it went to 22 (it can't be 23) then that would mean that half the teams have to sell a home game to Adelaide against their consent and just have 10 home games. So, they'll move to 24, for the sole reason to accommodate Gather Round, which shouldn't even exist anyway.

As stated, I'd personally rather an 18-match home and away season where eveyone plays everyone else once, running concurrently with a knockout Cup interspersed on spare weekends to extend the season out to 22 weeks with a million dollar prize attached to it. That way, you get a vital secondary trophy, which is sorely needed in a bloated 19-team competition, where 18 teams fail every year, you increase the importance of games (like they do in the NFL) with a high-TV-rating scarcity model. But that's just me.

This is very stupid.

NFL model is valuable because the nature of their revenue generation comes from essentially each game selling out the entire stadium (not true of AFL), and the division between local broadcast (the games on a Sunday, except for a couple) and the national broadcast being distinct (couple of Sunday plus Thursday/Monday night) being distinct and two separate things that they raise money from and feeds into the economics of the league.

You claim in the NFL model works because it's fewer games and each match "matters". I disagree. I say it works is because an individual NFL game is a broadcast-worthy product unto itself into the home team's and away team's market, as are their home games with everyone getting 50,000+ crowds to every game.

This is not the financial model of the AFL. GWS get no crowds, is of no worth to broadcasters. You need to bring them into the fold of a national broadcast and a national competition where their "growth" matters. A GWS game isn't more valuable to its fans "mattering" because all of a sudden they only have 6 or 7 + "knockout" games to take to Western Sydney, for instance. Different sports, different leagues, different motivations, different countries.

 

[Elixuh]

Pies should just buy their 5 away games. 24 games at the G.

 

[Dan26]

The main problem with timing is the AFL are for whatever reason absolutely glued to the end of September. I suspect it’s a sweetheart understanding with racing authorities.

As a result they have taken over March and are moving into February. There’s absolutely no good reason for this. It’s too hot, which impacts the quality of games and has a big impact on players who are being asked to play more and more games. It’s far more uncomfortable for fans.

As I’ve started a thread about in the past, October is hugely cooler than March and and is the direction the AFL should logically go. Something has stopped them…

The AFL Grand Final should be on the second Saturday in October one week after the NRL Grand Final.

That way the AFL Grand Final gets a week of clear air and the Preliminary Final weekend falls with no direct competitiion on TV. One Prelim is on Friday, the other on the Saturday and the NRL Grand Final on the Sunday. This would increase the reach of the product into the Northern markets.

If the AFL Grand Final was at night, or twilight where it should be, it wouldn't conflict with racing either. (the Caulfield Guineas)