Thursday Night Final and Week 1 of the Finals

[FootyJunkie]

With the introduction of the bye week between Round 23 and Week 1 of the Finals, there is a chance that the AFL will stage a Thursday Night Final. The impression seems to be that it will only go ahead if there is a final that takes place outside Victoria.... not sure why, but the mid-season Thursday Night home and away games are all outside Victoria - 1 in Perth, 2 in Adelaide, and 1 up in Sydney. MCG of course getting the season opener on Holy Thursday. Any reason why the AFL thinks a mid-season or final on a Thursday Night in Melbourne would not work?

The other question is that if a Thursday Night final goes ahead, the rest of the schedule will definitely be Friday Night and Saturday Night... leaving one afternoon final to be played... but on what day? Saturday or Sunday?

On one hand, the AFL like staggering their schedules quite a bit and could market Week 1 as a "Finals Festival over Four Days - Thursday Night, Friday Night, Saturday Night, and Sunday afternoon". If they went with this, it would be ideal to have the following schedule...

Thu N: 2v3
Fri N: 6v7
Sat N: 1v4
Sun: 5v8

Gives the Qualifying Final loser only an extra day's break over their Semi Final opponent.

However, the AFL is keen to stage their QFs first and would like to see them staged in the big TV time slots of Thursday Night and Friday Night, but that would provide a 2 day difference for the Semi Finals opponents...

Thu N: 2v3
Fri N: 1v4
Sat N: 6v7
Sun: 5v8

I don't think that's ideal.

The other option is to stage the afternoon final on the Saturday...

Thu N: 2v3
Fri N: 6v7
Sat: 1v4
Sat N: 5v8

2v3 loser would get a an extra day's break while there would be only a few hours difference in break in the other Semi. Again, if the AFL insist on QFs played first...

Thu N: 2v3
Fri N: 1v4
Sat: 6v7
Sat N: 5v8

... its a difference of 2 days break in one Semi and a 1 day break in the other.

Anyways... its certainly some fixturing considerations the AFL will take into account if the Thursday Night Final does go ahead as speculated.

 

[Galaxy]

Please no.

 

[wally funk]

No way they'd schedule a Thursday final. Utter madness.

 

[BoxMatrix]

No way they'd schedule a Thursday final. Utter madness.

Why not? It's better for the teams than a stupid Sunday final...

 

[FootyJunkie]

Four finals over 4 days in Week 1 could pretty much rule out Etihad Stadium or Simonds Stadium from ever hosting a final ever again.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Four finals over 4 days in Week 1 could pretty much rule out Etihad Stadium or Simonds Stadium from ever hosting a final ever again.

So it's in the AFL's best interest, given no final at etihad forces "blockbuster" games in the season there, meaning more TV viewers

 

[Giants FC]

Thursday night final is inevitable. Ch 7 will be licking their lips at the prospect of a final in such a high-rating timeslot.
I suspect you'll find finals on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday 3:20 & Saturday night - avoiding Sunday will eliminate six-day breaks for the finals.

 

[Lensen]

Why is an extra two days in week 2 for teams finishing higher an issue?

I mean with the week off it will have three fifths of **** all impact anyway but the more benefits for finishing higher the better

 

[simmo97]

Thu N: 2v3
Fri N: 6v7
Sat: 1v4
Sat N: 5v8

this would be best setup if Thursday Night Football is introduced for finals next year and the difference in breaks which the 2 Qualifying final losers get over their Semi final opponent really should not be a issue as all teams would of had a week off before the finals.

 

[pazza]

Thursday night final opens the prospect for the State leagues and Local leagues to have show case finals on the Sunday.

 

[scarecrow2k1]

Thursday night games are outside Vic because these teams get to the games in numbers due to potentially having 1 or 2 Friday night games all season. Vics get heaps of them so the afl risks having a poorly attended Thursday game.

Having said that, that's not a risk theyd face in the finals, so if they do chose a Thursday night final, no reason it can't be in vic. I think if its done it will go to the top side.

 

[Marley10]

Thursday night final is inevitable. Ch 7 will be licking their lips at the prospect of a final in such a high-rating timeslot.
I suspect you'll find finals on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday 3:20 & Saturday night - avoiding Sunday will eliminate six-day breaks for the finals.

But I like the Sunday afternoon EF final, especially in Melbourne. The MCG EF Finals in that timeslot has drawn massive crowds in 2011, 2013 and 2015, with the other two years being sold out games in Perth and Adelaide.
The 6 day break didn't stop North and Port from reaching a prelim the last two years, and they both had to travel!

If anything goes, it's the Saturday arvo for me.

 

[juss]

Id be happy to have a Thursday night final. Would rate well on TV and fans of those teams are still going to attend. Allows you to spread 4 finals over 4 days giving each more attention. The Sunday final should probably start at either the old 1:10 timeslot or 2:10 rather than 3:20

 

[FootyJunkie]

Id be happy to have a Thursday night final. Would rate well on TV and fans of those teams are still going to attend. Allows you to spread 4 finals over 4 days giving each more attention. The Sunday final should probably start at either the old 1:10 timeslot or 2:10 rather than 3:20

Ch 7 would dictate it stays at 3:20

 

[Suma Magic]

I'll be so desperate for football by the Thursday that I'd be happy to kick things off then.

 

[PerfectFooty]

Thursdays are great for a little show piece to keep the middle of the season interesting. but i'd think the final on a thursday would put people off going (yes i know thursday games were well attended this year). Besides so many of the finals have moved to night time slots we should at least keep the two during the day in the first week of finals, otherwise what is the point of maximising the beautiful conditions of september if you're going to play all the finals but 1 (excluding the grand final) at night

 

[wally funk]

Why not? It's better for the teams than a stupid Sunday final...

It isn't better for teams that played on a Saturday or Sunday the week before, and I'm confident the 'week off before finals' experiment won't last more than a year or two.

Thursday night footy is as absurd as Sunday night and Monday night footy. If they believe there is a profit in it for either Seven or the AFL, it will be trialled. And hopefully dropped when the crowds are underwhelming.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Crowd will come as long as the the start time is the same as Friday Night.

 

[maxmustard]

Crowd will come as long as the the start time is the same as Friday Night.

Except people have to work/school the next morning.

 

[Augustine]

I'm just getting sad at the seeming slow death of daytime footy!

 

[simmo97]

I'm just getting sad at the seeming slow death of daytime footy!

1 less final during the day does not mean daytime football is dying.

 

[Severe]

Sunday elimination finals have not been pleasant of recent years.

 

[Rob]

Hadn't thought about it until now, but it's not a bad idea at all. Only issue is that if it's a Qualifying final there's an extra break for the winning team on top of what is already a long break.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

It's a clever idea. People aren't going to pass up seeing their team in a final.

 

[MightyHawks]

A Thursday night final makes it harder for people traveling interstate at short notice