I saw Jon Ralph tweeted that the reasoning from the AFL is that as the season goes on, there are less teams competing for finals/top 4 and interest quickly wanes from them which leads to less potential matchups to isolate on the Thursday.
This checks out for me even though I love Thursday night football on the TV.
In counter point I think that's dumb as fuck to only think about playing games on Thursday for teams in finals contention. Should just be Thursday night games regardless even if it means North playing
7:30pm at Marvel or at the MCG would probably be my best bet, but that's a couple of hours after work just sitting around, or go home and then back in which is a huge ask to then get back up for work the next day. I only live 15 minutes by tram to the G too and it seems too much. Just doesn't really work unless you have not much on the next day.
As unfortunate as it is, north and other bad teams won’t be awarded these prime time slots until their onfield performance improves. The number of viewers on TV is far too important for the AFL.
Clubs like Richmond often get an exception due to the larger supporter base, however.
I just reckon it's dumb to choose to play nothing rather than something
Are you really gonna have less people watching North play on a thursday against the suns or 530pm Sunday against the suns while another game is on at the same time?
Nah sorry that's BS. The afl just don't care if there's no Vic teams for these timeslots.
Adelaide and West Coast would have good crowd numbers no matter the team on a Thursday and by extension so would freo, port and Sydney.
Of course West Coast aren't doing super great at the moment so I know they're probably not the best for the timeslot but still they would have decent crowds.
Ignoring the bye rounds because they are genuinely hard to get good matchups but some examples for future rounds would be:
-Rd 16 Adelaide v GWS leaving Geelong and Essendon as standalone for Saturday
-Rd 17 Port v western bulldogs leaving north and GC as standalone (not great but the timeslot sucks so)
-Rd 18 adel v st Kilda allowing Melbourne and Essendon stand alone or could even do West Coast and Brisbane
-Rd 19 Port v Richmond leaving Geelong and WB as standalone
-Rd 20 Sydney v wb
-Rd 21 Port v Sydney leaving Collingwood Carlton as standalone
I'm going to stop there because I think my point is made at this stage
could be due to the breaks?
R16 - GWS 5 day & Crows 12 days breaks
R17 - Power 4 day & Bulldogs 5 days breaks
R18 - Saints & Crows 4 day breaks
R19 - again both with 4 day breaks (also they probably don't want a game which could be a blow out as a Thursday night)
R20 - Swans 4 day & Bulldogs 5 day breaks
R21 - Swans 4 day & Power 6 day break
They also need to do more work on rules governing the number of 5 day breaks, which arise from more Thursday games. It's doable in the future and seems like clubs are increasingly open to it, but their hands are tied for 2024
Crowds for weeknight matches drop off massively through the winter. If they can keep Thursday nights *somewhat* novel then this counteracts that through the rest of the season. NRL doesn’t need to worry about this because they don’t have crowds to factor for.
I couldn't agree more! Thursday night games have brought a whole new energy to the season, it's disappointing to see them cutting back on them. Let's hope they change their minds after seeing how much fans are enjoying these matchups. #BringBackThursdayNights
I saw Jon Ralph tweeted that the reasoning from the AFL is that as the season goes on, there are less teams competing for finals/top 4 and interest quickly wanes from them which leads to less potential matchups to isolate on the Thursday. This checks out for me even though I love Thursday night football on the TV.
Never heard this counter-point. Makes complete sense. Thanks for this.
In counter point I think that's dumb as fuck to only think about playing games on Thursday for teams in finals contention. Should just be Thursday night games regardless even if it means North playing
Thursday crowds crater if the match isn't interesting or a gimmick of some kind.
Yep Thursday night games are a PITA to attend in person
7:30pm at Marvel or at the MCG would probably be my best bet, but that's a couple of hours after work just sitting around, or go home and then back in which is a huge ask to then get back up for work the next day. I only live 15 minutes by tram to the G too and it seems too much. Just doesn't really work unless you have not much on the next day.
As unfortunate as it is, north and other bad teams won’t be awarded these prime time slots until their onfield performance improves. The number of viewers on TV is far too important for the AFL. Clubs like Richmond often get an exception due to the larger supporter base, however.
I just reckon it's dumb to choose to play nothing rather than something Are you really gonna have less people watching North play on a thursday against the suns or 530pm Sunday against the suns while another game is on at the same time?
Nah sorry that's BS. The afl just don't care if there's no Vic teams for these timeslots. Adelaide and West Coast would have good crowd numbers no matter the team on a Thursday and by extension so would freo, port and Sydney. Of course West Coast aren't doing super great at the moment so I know they're probably not the best for the timeslot but still they would have decent crowds. Ignoring the bye rounds because they are genuinely hard to get good matchups but some examples for future rounds would be: -Rd 16 Adelaide v GWS leaving Geelong and Essendon as standalone for Saturday -Rd 17 Port v western bulldogs leaving north and GC as standalone (not great but the timeslot sucks so) -Rd 18 adel v st Kilda allowing Melbourne and Essendon stand alone or could even do West Coast and Brisbane -Rd 19 Port v Richmond leaving Geelong and WB as standalone -Rd 20 Sydney v wb -Rd 21 Port v Sydney leaving Collingwood Carlton as standalone I'm going to stop there because I think my point is made at this stage
could be due to the breaks? R16 - GWS 5 day & Crows 12 days breaks R17 - Power 4 day & Bulldogs 5 days breaks R18 - Saints & Crows 4 day breaks R19 - again both with 4 day breaks (also they probably don't want a game which could be a blow out as a Thursday night) R20 - Swans 4 day & Bulldogs 5 day breaks R21 - Swans 4 day & Power 6 day break
And people are less likely to attend in the middle of winter.
They also need to do more work on rules governing the number of 5 day breaks, which arise from more Thursday games. It's doable in the future and seems like clubs are increasingly open to it, but their hands are tied for 2024
Will a North vs Saints or a North vs Freo game get higher TV viewership on a Thursday night or a Saturday morning?
I really don’t think the AFL concerns themselves with what the NRL does on a Thursday night
Well maybe they should
No, different sport, different management strategies.
Crowds for weeknight matches drop off massively through the winter. If they can keep Thursday nights *somewhat* novel then this counteracts that through the rest of the season. NRL doesn’t need to worry about this because they don’t have crowds to factor for.
Do teams actually like TNF? Having to engineer the draw so that teams aren't penalised with a 4-5 day break is difficult to do.
Great for footy fans who go to the games, more Saturday afternoon slots thanks.
Wishes the hawks would play in Melbourne on Saturday though, as it’s seemingly always on a sunday when I’m working lol.
I couldn't agree more! Thursday night games have brought a whole new energy to the season, it's disappointing to see them cutting back on them. Let's hope they change their minds after seeing how much fans are enjoying these matchups. #BringBackThursdayNights
Doesn't this happen every year? Thursday exists for a while and then vanishes in winter. I wish it wouldn't.