07-17-2015, 12:52 AM
(07-17-2015, 12:22 AM)Raydan link Wrote:Don't expect any favours from the fixture next season. It's TV rights negotiation time again, so expect 2 games against Richmond, Collingwood and Essendon. Expect more Saturday night games against the Hawthorns, Norths and Geelong and Sunday games interstate against non Victorian clubs, as that swells the TV numbers.
Hawthorn, Collingwood, Richmond and Bulldogs to get the lions share of Friday night games.
I also wonder if Fox Footy will tip in as much money again? With the world wide trend being streaming and Australia changing to the NBN as well as the massive take up of Netflix, over the next 5 years I can see the main way we watch football at home is a streamed internet game.
Conspiracy theory time...
The AFL 'expirimented' with the fixture last season and to a lesser extent this season (Thursdays) in order to test the market. Usually, increasing $'s is their main focus. However, given the players are asking for more and more money, and the media rights are up at the end of next year, the AFL now has a leg to stand on to knock them back for an excessive increase.
In short, the AFL don't want to pay increasing salaries to clubs, so they took a hit in the hip pocket