Opinion The Scheduling Of An AFL Round (Start Times)

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LordLucifer

Cranky Old Fart
Mar 20, 2002
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I usually just check game times on my phone

Or are we assuming most afl fans don’t have those

Thats great for you, but if the times were consistent then you wouldn't have to do that.

Having games that don't overlap is a key piece of this proposed review of the scheduling, don't ignore that aspect.
 

MisterMarcus

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AFL need to get rid of the 3:20pm (EST) time slot. who cares if the game go straight into the news. its a terrible time slot. should be 2:10pm and have the "twilight" fox game start at 3:20pm. sundays are bad enough as it is.. dont need games going into the night.
It often ends up that they have to cut the post-match short to go into the news. If there's any injuries of longer quarters, they pretty much cut it off straight after the final siren.

If it started even at 2:30pm, that would give them 30 mins to do reviews, summaries, interviews, coaches' press conferences etc.

It's not like they're competing against much FTA content on a Sunday afternoon.
 

Outtatym

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Jun 29, 2020
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Is it stupid because you have never thought of that option before or because it just doesn't suit you ??

I don't think you will have to worry about that just now though, I can't see your mob getting a primetime TV slot for a while
No need to to-as I said it suits the minority.
Must be lights out at 8:30 in the old folks home so it suits you though
 

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Underarm

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Unsubcribe yourself !!

If you don't think there is a proportion of footy fans who get confused with the start times then you are being unrealistic. Furthermore, if you don't think there is a proportion of footy fans who would like to have the option of watching all games live in full then you are being unreasonable.
I have never heard of anyone not tuning into football because matches don't start at the same time each night. It's fairly consistent week to week and people have been using TV guides since tv has existed.

The amount of viewers you gain by having no game overlap( which are very few) are lost by the viewers who are sitting down for tea or who can't make it to watch at 6pm.
 

doppleganger

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71,000 supporters at the MCG yesterday wouldn't agree... Seven pays billions for the rights and they very much care about the news lead in.
Yeah, Pies are making the 3:20 Sunday slot a blockbuster must watch event.

Watch all clubs start putting in fixture requests for sunday 3:20 games.
 

parano1a

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If it started even at 2:30pm, that would give them 30 mins to do reviews, summaries, interviews, coaches' press conferences etc.
They want the actual game to end as close as possible to 5.59pm so the maximum amount of viewers are still tuned in and continue watching for the 6pm News.
 

scoman

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Thursday nights every week and start the Friday game at east half an hour earlier in line with Thursday and Saturday night game times. That it for me!
 

Gunf

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The only one i really care about is getting Friday nights to start at 7:20-7:30.

You could always try have morning games if you want no overlap instead of stupid 6pm starts.
 

LordLucifer

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I have never heard of anyone not tuning into football because matches don't start at the same time each night. It's fairly consistent week to week and people have been using TV guides since tv has existed.

The amount of viewers you gain by having no game overlap( which are very few) are lost by the viewers who are sitting down for tea or who can't make it to watch at 6pm.

If you don't understand the benefits of having consistent start times then I can't help you.

Big whoop about those people having a meal, they may not watch at 7pm either (dining out at a restaurant). People do other things in their lives that preclude them from being a participant and it is not exclusive to a 6pm football match.

People go straight to the pub after work for a few bevvies and a parmy, they also watch the sport on the big screens too. I don't understand why this will be an impediment.

Lastly, you eat dinner & drink tea.
 
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LordLucifer

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People are making comments here due to having already formed their views purely based on what is happening now and are trotting out the old "we don't like it because we don't like change" adage.

No-one likes change until it happens and then they adapt .......... who would have thought Thursday night games would have been a success until they trialled it ??

With Tassie coming in, you know there will be a 20th club following right behind which creates a 10th game per week. I'm near certain there will be another two new clubs in the not too distant future meaning there will be an 11th game added to the weekly fixture.

With one extra game a certainty and a second quite possible, there needs to be some forethought as to how to structure it over a weekend.

Some clubs may be in the doldrums (it's the bottom-out/rebuild cycle they all work in) and don't pull massive crowds in the ground or in front of a TV. They are the ones game who will be scheduled in the less desirable timeslots whilst the bigger blockbuster games will get always get the primetime, its alway been like that so I don't understand why people are sooking up here.
 

JohnZ

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I don't understand why people are sooking up here.
Because no one likes a 6pm start time on a Thursday or a Friday. I've explained it once before, having no overlapping games is a good thing, but all four days of footy don't need to share the same start times. Each day just needs to be consistent week in week out (ie the first Saturday match always starts at 12.30 for example)
 

LordLucifer

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Because no one likes a 6pm start time on a Thursday or a Friday. I've explained it once before, having no overlapping games is a good thing, but all four days of footy don't need to share the same start times. Each day just needs to be consistent week in week out (ie the first Saturday match always starts at 12.30 for example)

So this was determined in a referendum then ??
 

projectv

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May 27, 2017
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I think having fewer overlapping games is a good goal, but it doesn't bother me if there are some games that overlap.

Friday 6pm is just ridiculous. You can't have city based games starting when it's still peak hour. Also good luck convincing channel 7 to run a prime-time game at the same time as the nightly news (one of their biggest ratings every day).

I do like the idea of them starting at 7pm or 7:20pm though, not a fan of the 7:50pm starts.

With 9/10 games each week it's probably not reasonable to expect zero overlap.
 

parano1a

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The 6pm News bulletin is often the highest rating program for the week for Seven.
Sure they could place the footy on a multichannel (as they do in WA due to time difference) but then the audience is split meaning lower ratings for both shows.

Having been to NRL games that start at 6pm on a Friday, it is just way too early. A 7.30ish start gives people time to relax with a few drinks, have dinner, go home and pick up the kids etc before the game starts.
 

Underarm

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If you don't understand the benefits of having consistent start times then I can't help you.
We already have consistent start times. Friday matches start at 7:50, Thursday starts at 7:20 because its a work night.
Big whoop about those people having a meal, they may not watch at 7pm either (dining out at a restaurant). People do other things in their lives that preclude them from being a participant and it is not exclusive to a 6pm football match.

People go straight to the pub after work for a few bevvies and a parmy, they also watch the sport on the big screens too. I don't understand why this will be an impediment.
People have more free time at 7:50 or 7:20 than they do at 6pm.
More free time = more likely to watch football.
More people watching football = more people watching advertisements.
more people watching advertisements = price of advertisements increases
price of advertisements increase = more Value for Channel 7.
More value for channel 7 = Price of Football rights increases
Price of football rights increases = more money for the AFL

Do I need to go further?
 

Purple Suit

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The scheduling of timeslots is primarily to suit television broadcasters, not crowd attendances.

Channel 7 do not want Thursday or Friday night games to start at 6pm as it clashes with their news service.
Time to move on from this I think. These games are played at 5:10pm in Perth already on 7 mate and it works fine.

Have two games back to back on a Friday will generate a lot better ratings than playing 1 game only so they can have a thirty minute news update. The biggest issue is that the late game will work in Perth due to the time difference but not in other states. Even if WA had three teams, they can't play a late Friday night game every week.

No one is going to go to the footy at 9pm on a Friday night in other states.
 

projectv

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The 6pm News bulletin is often the highest rating program for the week for Seven.
Sure they could place the footy on a multichannel (as they do in WA due to time difference) but then the audience is split meaning lower ratings for both shows.

Having been to NRL games that start at 6pm on a Friday, it is just way too early. A 7.30ish start gives people time to relax with a few drinks, have dinner, go home and pick up the kids etc before the game starts.

Agreed, if you're in the CBD already you can get dinner, chill in a pub for a bit, whatever.

If the game starts at 6pm and you work a full day and you live/work in the suburbs, good luck ever getting to a game.
 

Purple Suit

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We already have consistent start times. Friday matches start at 7:50, Thursday starts at 7:20 because its a work night.

People have more free time at 7:50 or 7:20 than they do at 6pm.
More free time = more likely to watch football.
More people watching football = more people watching advertisements.
more people watching advertisements = price of advertisements increases
price of advertisements increase = more Value for Channel 7.
More value for channel 7 = Price of Football rights increases
Price of football rights increases = more money for the AFL

Do I need to go further?
News flash, the game will still be going at 7:20 & 7:50 if it starts at 6pm. People will adjust or just watch the game from half time if they forget. You will then have another game start straight afterwards at 9pm and you might watch that for the whole time if it's a good game = more advertising.

Once it becomes too hard to fixture Friday night double headers, revert the stand alone game back to 7:50pm. The only way to know the impact is to test it out so I think they need to start to run an early and later Friday night game without cross over against running two games with a 1.5 hour gap. Get that data over a season or two and there's your answer.
 

Mitchell Madness

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Friday double headers.
720pm adelaide/eastern states. live FTA nationally minus perth
720pm perth live FTA into Perth

This should be a near weekly occurrence. So much better than Thursday night games
 

Mitchell Madness

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It often ends up that they have to cut the post-match short to go into the news. If there's any injuries of longer quarters, they pretty much cut it off straight after the final siren.

If it started even at 2:30pm, that would give them 30 mins to do reviews, summaries, interviews, coaches' press conferences etc.

It's not like they're competing against much FTA content on a Sunday afternoon.
They wouldn't know how to review a game.
Look at any footy show. The reviews are gossip masquerading as analysis
 

Underarm

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News flash, the game will still be going at 7:20 & 7:50 if it starts at 6pm.
If they watch half the game, they're only watching half the advertisements.

Do i need to spell out exactly how that impacts the AFL?
 

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