Channel 7 will be negotiating with the AFL to push the start time of the AFL grand final to later in the day, according to Channel 7's director of sport, Chris Jones.
Jones said Channel 7's position was clear and understandable if you look at how successful the NRL Grand Final was this year, claiming 'there’s no doubt the audience is much more significant'.
“I can’t speak for them (the AFL), what I can say is that we have constant dialogue with them,” Jones said on SEN Breakfast.
“Clearly, we’d love a night Grand Final. I think we’re headed towards a twilight Grand Final, hopefully.
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“I think you’ve just got to look at the numbers of the NRL Grand Final did this year. It was the perfect setup for them with Brisbane and Melbourne big into this market here in prime time, there is no doubt the audience is more significant."
The director of sport at Channel 7 admitted that it would become 'more difficult' for younger people to watch the later it starts, but said it would have better ratings 'no question'.
“If we put it at twilight, it will rate better. If we put it at night, it will rate even better again," Jones said.
“It’s definitely something that we’re talking to them (the AFL) about and we’ve lobbied them on, but when you look at the fixture as a whole, what we get with the prime time qualifying finals, prelim finals, etc, is unreal.
“We’d love to push for that twilight Grand Final as soon as possible.”
Jones said Channel 7 would make Thursday night games an 'absolute priority' and would like to see more Sunday night football, with both rating highly.
“The other one that has really unlocked for us is Sunday night footy. Sunday night is the highest rating day of the week. So clearly, to put live sport into that slot is critical for us moving forward.
I think we’ve done a really good job with the AFL of identifying those public holiday weekends in different states and trying to schedule Sunday night matches on those days.”
The 2025 AFLW Grand Final start time has been confirmed to be at night if hosted in Victoria or a twilight start time if hosted by Adelaide or Brisbane.