Couch fans big winners in draw

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ANDREW Demetriou's mantra in his decade as AFL boss has always been to maximise attendances.

Yet the draw his executives will release today at AFL House shows increasing the league's future TV rights deals is just a crucial for Demetriou and Co.

There are two clear themes that will emerge from the 29-week extravaganza when the bells and whistles are stripped away.

The equalisation formula introduced by the league will ensure a season that has never been closer or had more of a logjam for September spots.

But what is just as apparent is that the action will also never be easier to watch from the couch.

The trial of as many as five Sunday games is an exciting prospect, but is also guaranteed to cost the AFL fans through the turnstiles.

Consider the two best Sunday night contests as revealed by the Herald Sun: Carlton v Collingwood on June 29, and Essendon v Carlton on April 6.

This Collingwood fan lets it all out after a Magpies loss.

Play either of those games on Saturday afternoon at the MCG and you guarantee 85,000 supporters and probably hope for more.

In their Sunday 7.40pm timeslot, anything over 60,000 supporters would be a win.

So there go 50,000 supporters in one stroke of fixture boss Simon Lethlean's pen.

Yet push aside the attendance issue and there is no doubt Sunday night football shapes as the cash cow that will increase the league's current $1.258 billion TV rights deal.

The league is two years into a five-season deal and will start preliminary talks on the next deal sooner rather than later.

With Monday Night Footy no chance on a weekly basis and the league not keen on a night Grand Final, Sunday Night Football is the carrot for broadcasters keen for exclusive timeslots.

But if Friday and Sunday night football is the almost exclusive domain of quality sides, there will be plenty in this draw for the bottom-six sides.

They are almost guaranteed a brilliant on-field draw given they receive one or no double meetings against top-six sides and two or three meetings against fellow bottom-six sides.

On face value it creates an enormous opportunity for sides like West Coast, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast to shoot up the ladder as Adelaide did in 2012.

North Melbourne and Essendon, which both finished out of the finals, will also believe their draws give them a chance to leapfrog into the eight.

Even on a conservative estimate there are 13 sides which have exceptional claims to making September.

It also means sides like the Demons and St Kilda face enormous commercial challenges because of the glut of poorly attended home fixtures that presents.

If you are a football lover with a membership, a Foxtel subscription and a desire to be still at the footy at 11pm on Sunday night, this fixture is for you.

If you are a TV executive desperate for ratings in a competitive market is just as exciting.

But families unwilling to have kids out at 11pm on a Sunday night or traditionalist who love quality MCG games at 2pm on Saturday afternoon might find the cupboard is bare.

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