AFL chief ANdrew Dillon defends Thursday night football fixture despite criticism over ratings, competitiveness

At the 14th round, Western Bulldogs shredd St Kilda with 72 points before only 20,508 fans in Marvel Stadium. A week later, Fremantle crushed Essendon with 41 points before 37,570 supporters at Perth Stadium. On the 16th round, Port Adalaide beat Blues 50 points before the 30,381 fans in Ovalide Oval.

On the 17th round, Bulldogs scored North Melbourne with 49 points before 25.009 supporters at Marvel Stadium, and Lions broke Blues 37 points before 32,898 fans in the same place a week later.

GWS scored 48 points at the Marvel Stadium before only 20,347 fans on 19 rounds, while Hawthorn won a 24 -point win on the Blues in front of the 51,271 fans in MCG after a dominant first period.

Gary O’keeffe, the President of the Seven, said the network will work closely with the league to 2026.

“On Thursday night, Footy quickly formed the basis of the AFL calendar and we are proud to play an important role in its success and look forward to remaining a fixture for the coming years, O’keeff said on Tuesday.

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“At the age of seven, our passion for the game – and to make it as accessible as possible – is at the forefront of everything we do. Of course, among the best teams, we want to present the best matches in the best time periods for the audience.

“We will continue to work closely with AFL to defend the most compelling fixtures for Australian viewers, to ensure that the teams in the most form are seen alive and free throughout the season.”

Essendon Chief Craig Vozzo said that the weekend club would demand a match on Thursday night next season.

FOXTEL was contacted for a comment.

Although the conflict between the Bulldogs and giants at the Marvel Stadium on this Thursday night, this club’s small fan bases can be another difficult sales.

The NFL of the United States has what is called “flexible planning decision”, and allows the games in the most important basic time nests of Thursday, Sunday and Monday to be changed shortly like six days, depending on the time of the season, and allows for the first time in the form of in -form teams.

However, Dillon said that AFL is restricted by various factors when it comes to late programming changes.

“This is always a balance. We like to give themselves to our fans to organize themselves. We have many fans traveling especially for inter -state games. Just to get this balance is really important for us.”

“While making these calls, we want to bring our fans and viewers to the forefront, but we should do this in the restrictions of a collective agreement [with players]and our arrangements with publishers. And it is also important that they have certainty. “

On Thursday night, the introduction of football to the free air and payment television was at the expense of live broadcasting games for 11 weeks on Saturdays in Victoria and North Markets in the first 25 weeks of the season.

Speaking early in the morning at the morning industry summit, Dillon admitted that he was nervous about this change at the beginning, which gave Foxtel a special “Super Saturday” game as a part of the new $ 4.5 billion media rights agreement. However, on Thursday night, additional games now mean that the league means “two big nights of the week ..

Fans expressed their astonishment when the changes were shot, but Dillon said that on Thursday night, football was here to stay here.

“When there is a change, there is always feedback, the Super Saturday concept was new for Victoria’s first eight to 10 weeks,” Dillon said.

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“But after explaining, you have the same number of games to be broadcasted free of charge, we have an advanced scope on Fox, eight or 10 weeks later, Swans games are broadcasted free of charge on NSW, Giants Games are broadcasted free of charge on NSW on Saturdays, I think the communication key.

“I don’t think anyone would want to give Footy back on Thursday night. I think it was a great winner of this year.”