AFL Says Sunday Night Footy Can't Be Justifiied As Fans Stay Away

[Eastdog]

AFL says Sunday night footy can't be justified as fans stay away
Ben Guthrie
June 30, 2014 12:24 PM


Collingwood president Eddie McGuire at the MCG on Sunday night
SUNDAY night football is all but dead, with the AFL saying it has heard the fans' opposition to the timeslot.

Just 40,936 fans showed up for the Collingwood-Carlton clash at the MCG on Sunday night - the lowest attendance between the sides since a 1921 semi-final attracted 37,813.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire was so incensed by the low crowd that he demanded compensation from the AFL.

The game attracted strong TV ratings, however, with 1.019 million tuning in.

The AFL has now completed its trial of Thursday night (six) and Sunday night matches (six) and chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it was clear fans had voted with their feet and Thursday night was the preference.

"It is the AFL's view that the trial in 2014 has shown us that there is a place for Thursday night matches as event games in our schedule but there is not the same appetite for Sunday night in the fixture," McLachlan said in a statement.

"Sunday night matches have drawn strong viewer numbers on both the Fox Footy Channel and the Seven Network but crowd numbers have been strongly impacted, particularly in the games played in this timeslot in Melbourne in rounds one, three, 12 and last night."

McLachlan said crowd attendances were an essential part of the AFL's strategies.

"We will always look at new initiatives - just as we have done in the past with Friday night and Saturday twilight football - but match-day attendance is a core ingredient of the success of our game and, in this instance, we acknowledge the very strong feedback from our fans and our clubs in relation to Sunday night football, particularly in Victoria."

"While the two national Seven/Fox Footy Sunday night matches (rounds 3 and 15) have drawn comparable television viewers to a Friday night game, the impact on attendance does not justify moving matches into this new timeslot and the AFL remains committed to attendances at the ground as critical to our game."


THURSDAY NIGHT
ROUND
MATCH
BROADCASTER
AVG. TV AUDIENCE
CROWD

1

Geelong vs. Adelaide Crows
FOX
446,754
23,622

2
Richmond vs. Carlton
SEVEN
1,084,586
62,037

5
Brisbane Lions vs. Richmond
SEVEN
1,060,444
20,676

9
Adelaide Crows vs. Collingwood
SEVEN
1,193,119
50,051

11
Sydney Swans vs. Geelong Cats
SEVEN
1,029,669
37,355

19
Fremantle vs. Carlton
SEVEN
-
-


SUNDAY NIGHT
ROUND
MATCH
BROADCASTER
AVG. TV AUDIENCE
CROWD

1
Carlton vs. Port Adelaide
FOX
446,297
24,640

1
West Coast Eagles vs. Western Bulldogs
FOX
353,921
36,752

3 Essendon vs. Carlton
SEVEN
979,585
62,730

11 West Coast Eagles vs. North Melbourne
FOX
319,688
35,914

12
North Melbourne vs. Richmond
FOX
196,172
32,977

15
Collingwood vs. Carlton
SEVEN

1,019,315
40,939

[anfo27]

I don't know how other woofers feel but hearing Eddie complain about the fixture & demanding compensation really gets up my nose. When we played the pies 2 weeks ago at 3:20 on a Sunday there was only 28k fans and again Gary Pert complained about playing at that time & how their members do not want to go to the football at that time on a Sunday.

When we play in that time slot, which is every fortnight, and attract similar crowds we are called a shit club with no supporters but the big boys get a taste of how we live and they don't like it. Why is PG not complaining every time we have to play at that time? We are treated like a second class citizen & i'm getting sick & tired of it! We need to be making a hell of a lot more noise & demand fair go. There is plenty of prime time slots to go around but we continuously get ignored.

I've been so put off of footy this year because of constantly being shafted by Vlad that i haven't watched most of the Friday night or Saturday night games this year.The only ones i have seen is when i meet up at a mates house but thats more of a social catch up then sit down and watch the game. There is only so much you can take & the release of our fixture last year was it for me. The AFL can go forth & multiply.

[ledge]

They want equalisation well, share the Friday and Saturday night games, the AFL tells us pull a crowd and you will get those time slots... So if collingwood isn't pulling a crowd they shouldn't be getting Friday and Saturday nights either.