AFL GM of broadcasting and clubs Travis Auld has forecasted several potential changes to the AFL fixture in the coming years.
The rolling fixture became a pivotal part of the game throughout 2020 and 2021 as the league dealt with the COVID pandemic, becoming a necessity to keep games going through adversity.
The league chose to keep the model in 2022 with the opportunity to fixture the biggest games at blockbuster times, however some fans have reacted unfavourably to the move.
The rolling fixture leads to a lack of certainty when booking future travel options and could be a reason for the lower crowd numbers observed this season, and the league has moved early to provide certainty in 2022.
Dates and times for Rounds 1-15 of 2023 will now be confirmed when the fixture is released.
“We’ve certainly listened to fans and clubs … we fell into a rolling fixture during COVID because we didn’t know where we were going to be week to week,” Auld told Sportsday.
“We went into this current season, I think we released nine or ten rounds upfront, still a bit worried about the impact of COVID, but we also saw some benefits in a rolling fixture.
“The feedback we got from fans was they wanted a bit more certainty, we had a chat to clubs about that a couple of weeks ago, and their view is 15 rounds feels really good.
“I’d imagine we’d then release Rounds 16-22 around Round 10-12, somewhere around there, and give them plenty of runway into the last part of the season.
“Then we’ll leave Round 23 as a floating round which has worked quite well to set up the finals.”
Another issue creating plenty of fan debate this season has been the number of Thursday night games and Friday night start times.
From Rounds 6-13 there was no Friday night footy earlier this year, although the fan outcry and rolling fixture allowed the AFL to respond.
There are no more scheduled Thursday night games for the remainder of the season after this weekend, however Auld predicted there will be more of those fixtures next year, provided there could be more “leeway” in five-day breaks.
“I think we’re seeing more Thursdays … we’ll see more Thursdays and you can see why,” he stated.
“Fans love them, it’s just getting the balance right in terms of right venues, right times of year, right matchups.
“This year I think we’re aiming for about 10, so I think we’ll see a few more than that next year.”
On the topic of Friday night start times, Auld accepted there was momentum building for an earlier start.
Unlike Thursday night games, Friday night games have typically started at 7.50pm, with many calling for an earlier start.
“There is momentum building for an earlier start,” he added.
“I think one of the things we’re trying to understand is has behaviours changed. Are not as many people going to the office going on a Friday?
“We deliberately started later a Friday because a lot of people were getting to the game late, we’re talking five, six, seven, eight years ago, (now) that seems to be happening a bit less.
“I think there’s a lot of learnings coming out of COVID, I think it might give us the opportunity to revisit start times, how it exactly looks I don’t know, it won’t be anything for this year, but there’s certainly some changes in behaviour in terms of patterns of people attending games.”
Auld is one of the front runners to take Gillon McLachlan’s seat as AFL CEO later this year, however he refused to discuss the speculation.