Fixture 2025 Fixture Discussion

[rye]

north is the sick man of the afl.

not a matter of if theyre going to get kicked out its a matter of when.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

How Fox Footy’s ‘Super Saturday’ deal will shape the AFL fixture (The Age, 1 Nov 2024)

Clubs are bracing for the commercial impact of delayed free-to-air AFL coverage on Saturdays from next year as Fox Footy holds exclusive live broadcast rights of the game nationally for the first eight rounds.

The AFL’s lucrative new broadcast deal starts in 2025 and runs for seven years, and it is having an impact on the schedule for next season, with the league working to release the fixture by mid-November.

The $4.5 billion broadcast deal has some restrictions on the number of games teams can play on Saturdays for the first eight rounds to share the load across the competition, but that desire to spread the number of games each team plays on a Saturday is also making the development of the fixture more complicated.

Clubs want clarity from the league as to how it will affect them, and their fans.

The deal means that supporters of teams playing anywhere in Australia on Saturday in the first eight rounds will need a Foxtel or Kayo subscription to watch them live, with free-to-air coverage on Seven to be delayed. Only the Anzac eve, Anzac Day and Dreamtime games will be shown live on free-to-air if they fall on a Saturday.

Assuming we are fixtured on a Saturday prior to R8, for the first time since 2001 not all Lions games will be live on FTA into Brisbane, which is a shame.

 

[mighty_lions]

How Fox Footy’s ‘Super Saturday’ deal will shape the AFL fixture (The Age, 1 Nov 2024)




Assuming we are fixtured on a Saturday prior to R8, for the first time since 2001 not all Lions games will be live on FTA into Brisbane, which is a shame.

I have Foxtel so it doesn't matter too much to me, but why would anyone want to watch a game on delay, its not the 90's or early 00's

 

[dlanod]

Assuming we are fixtured on a Saturday prior to R8, for the first time since 2001 not all Lions games will be live on FTA into Brisbane, which is a shame.

I remember watching games on delay back in 2003 and getting the result spoiled occasionally before I moved away so at least there's a couple more years there.

Just did digging - 2002 was the first year every game was shown live or on delay, which is probably what you're thinking of. I think 2012 was the first year of the deal that meant every NSW/Qld game was live and every local team game would be on FTA, the combination getting us where we are today.

 

[Nunez]

I remember watching games on delay back in 2003 and getting the result spoiled occasionally before I moved away so at least there's a couple more years there.

Just did digging - 2002 was the first year every game was shown live or on delay, which is probably what you're thinking of. I think 2012 was the first year of the deal that meant every NSW/Qld game was live and every local team game would be on FTA, the combination getting us where we are today.

Flashbacks to "if you don't want to know the score, look away now" being muttered by the commentators.

 

[Dalions]

Hopefully we don’t get scheduled many Saturday games in the first 8 rounds.

 

[briztoon]

I have Foxtel so it doesn't matter too much to me, but why would anyone want to watch a game on delay, its not the 90's or early 00's

Welcome to watching AFL on free to air in SEA. Every game is on a slight delay, even the grand final.

 

[Dalions]

Welcome to watching AFL on free to air in SEA. Every game is on a slight delay, even the grand final.

Isn’t that the case everywhere?

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

Isn’t that the case everywhere?

Yes, the digital tv/radio process has an unavoidable delay of about 10 seconds compared to analogue, which was what killed radio-TV simulcasts like Roy & HG's calls of RL and AFL grand finals from their card table. Video over the internet adds more delay again, might be about 20s.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

I remember watching games on delay back in 2003 and getting the result spoiled occasionally before I moved away so at least there's a couple more years there.

Just did digging - 2002 was the first year every game was shown live or on delay, which is probably what you're thinking of. I think 2012 was the first year of the deal that meant every NSW/Qld game was live and every local team game would be on FTA, the combination getting us where we are today.

I'm sure you're right, but I don't remember watching Lions games on delay during that time other than those played on Friday night, which were fairly rare. My memory isn't what it once was though!

 

[dlanod]

I'm sure you're right, but I don't remember watching Lions games on delay during that time other than those played on Friday night, which were fairly rare. My memory isn't what it once was though!

Honestly can't remember which night games - could well have been Friday nights only, but I thought it was Saturdays too. I mainly know the year because I lived in a share house in 2003 and I remember setting up camp in the rumpus room until after midnight.

 

[Section 5]

Yes, the digital tv/radio process has an unavoidable delay of about 10 seconds compared to analogue, which was what killed radio-TV simulcasts like Roy & HG's calls of RL and AFL grand finals from their card table. Video over the internet adds more delay again, might be about 20s.

The large screen viewing at The Gabba has a 1-3 second delay
It is a long way to and back from those satellites

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

Honestly can't remember which night games - could well have been Friday nights only, but I thought it was Saturdays too. I mainly know the year because I lived in a share house in 2003 and I remember setting up camp in the rumpus room until after midnight.

You're right though in that the 2012 deal was the first one that didn't actively withhold live games from Qld/NSW fans. The new deal is a slight step back but at least you can watch the games live for a price.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

The large screen viewing at The Gabba has a 1-3 second delay
It is a long way to and back from those satellites

It has the advantage of being able to take the feed directly from the broadcast van outside the ground

 

[dlanod]

You're right though in that the 2012 deal was the first one that didn't actively withhold live games from Qld/NSW fans. The new deal is a slight step back but at least you can watch the games live for a price.

I'd say it's pretty big deal if Qld and NSW stop getting all local team games live and on FTA. That was a big part of the push into our states. Start putting that behind a paywall or on a delay and you'll start losing some casual fans when they can't find the game or it starts going until 11:00pm or later on a Saturday night.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

I'd say it's pretty big deal if Qld and NSW stop getting all local team games live and on FTA. That was a big part of the push into our states. Start putting that behind a paywall or on a delay and you'll start losing some casual fans when they can't find the game or it starts going until 11:00pm or later on a Saturday night.

Hopefully our exposure is limited. We'll have seven games in that period, one of which will be on Easter Thursday night so on Seven, and it's expected we'll open the season in R0 on Thursday night as well, so fingers crossed it's 2-3 games max. We're a premiership team, play attractive footy and get great crowds, so we're a good chance of getting more Friday and Thursday night games.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Will the Grand Final be on Foxtel ?

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

I have Foxtel so it doesn't matter too much to me, but why would anyone want to watch a game on delay, its not the 90's or early 00's

The grand final is the only game I watch on FTA all year. So many ads, that it's an ad for Kayo/Foxtel in of itself. I don't think I'd be able to watch footy much outside my own team if I had to put up with that

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

Will the Grand Final be on Foxtel ?

Yes. And the two rights holders will have their own calling teams for all matches, even those broadcast by Seven. The trade off for Seven is that they'll be able to put their games on Seven+ live and on demand.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Yes, the digital tv/radio process has an unavoidable delay of about 10 seconds compared to analogue, which was what killed radio-TV simulcasts like Roy & HG's calls of RL and AFL grand finals from their card table. Video over the internet adds more delay again, might be about 20s.

When I tried out the SEN Sync function during the season, I had to delay it by about 50 seconds using Foxtel Go.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

When I tried out the SEN Sync function during the season, I had to delay it by about 50 seconds using Foxtel Go.

I think it varies a lot by internet speed, ISP, service... A lot of variables

 

[Grasshopper17]

The large screen viewing at The Gabba has a 1-3 second delay
It is a long way to and back from those satellites

I once had a fascinating discussion with someone in TV who had a physics background. Essentially if there is a delay of 2-3 seconds, this basically means the signal is travelling around the world several times before it reaches the receiver.

Incredible when you think about it and how these signals, wherever they are being (mis)directed, are still travelling at the speed of light.

 

[dlanod]

Yes. And the two rights holders will have their own calling teams for all matches, even those broadcast by Seven. The trade off for Seven is that they'll be able to put their games on Seven+ live and on demand.

"Boy oh boy wowee!"
- me, when I never have to hear that again

 

[Grasshopper17]

Will the Grand Final be on Foxtel ?

I imagine that arrangement will be maintained going forward, given that it's a government regulation that restricts "major" events to free-to-air television live exclusively.

HOWEVER I expect Fox will be able to provide their own commentary team, just they won't be able to broadcast the game until after it's concluded. Similar to how rugby league currently operates with State Of Origin and I think the Grand Final.

 

[dlanod]

I once had a fascinating discussion with someone in TV who had a physics background. Essentially if there is a delay of 2-3 seconds, this basically means the signal is travelling around the world several times before it reaches the receiver.

Incredible when you think about it and how these signals, wherever they are being (mis)directed, are still travelling at the speed of light.

Fun fact - a lot of pre-Starlink satellite communications used geosynchronous (positioned so they're always above the same point of the earth) satellites so they could always know there would be a certain number in view for reliability, etc. A geosynchronous orbit is about the same distance as the world's circumference at the equator (~35,000 km vs ~40,000+ km). So yes, if the coverage was beamed to one of those satellites and back to the HQ by a dish on a TV van - it was roughly the equivalent of going around the world twice.