ok well let's see if the ratings in the two semi finals and grand final sits at just about the average for aleague games. If that's the case then I guess finals hold no real interest. But grand finals in the past alone usually get 4-5 times the average rating so clearly some extra people are interested aren't they. 

I'm not really searching for an argument more just a factual statement that finals games is a ratings winner in comparison to regular season games. And in any event if we didn't have finals we'd see an even bigger drop of interest in the final weeks of the season as teams playing in 3rd 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th wouldn't be playing for anything either.

Promotion relegation will no doubt help, but until then, finals is an absolute must. 

Tbf just cos you have pro rel doesnt mean you have to do away with the finals. 

I am a huge believer that we need even games away and home and the first past the post given far more respect than the gf winner

However that doesnt mean i want it gone. It plays a role and gives teams more games and another chance for high pressure environments. 

Fri TV #ALeague #SBSViceland #ALFinals #BRIvWSW 64k (Syd 30k Mel 8k Bri 18k Ade 4k Bri 5k)

Beat me to it.

That 5k at the end would belong to Perth, not Brisbane.

In fact, the 18k who watched the final in Brisbane is 1k higher than the Brisbane ratings for the AFL last night on 7Mate, so you would have to describe that as a huge win for football.

Agree. 7Mate has a lot more reach than Viceland and gives scope to potential.

112k on Fox last night, up from the 109k for the same finals game last year.

Good result all round.

Meanwhile Rugby's Super Rugby game rated 41,000. AFL only 200k for their big friday game as well.

Holding our own.

"In fact, the 18k who watched the final in Brisbane is 1k higher than the Brisbane ratings for the AFL last night on 7Mate, so you would have to describe that as a huge win for football."

There was no Brisbane team playing in that shitty AFL game in Adelaide last night.

You reckon 18k Brisbane viewers for a Brisbane home final in Broich's last game is a "huge win"?

Fuck me we set the bar low for ourselves sometimes.

And the 30k who watched in Sydney is almost double the 16k who watched the AFL. 

If a billion are watching around the world people will complain why isn't it 3 billion, then complain that everything is the FFA's fault. It is a good result and proves finals have a presence in Aus.

I was reading on here yesterday finals make no difference to ratings. They did now people are saying that a massive jump in viewers is not good enough. I guess some don't like to admit they are wrong.

Definitely good.

Yeeaaah, eat that AFL! EAT IT!

An excellent result all round, football was definitely the winner on the night.

Well it was your multi that brought up the AFL ratings, I'm just helping it along. There were also 8k watching in Sydney on Foxtel of course, so a total of 24k isn't bad for AFL in Sydney. Although when you factor in the massive amount of marketing dollars and media it receives, probably not so great.

Massive game as well, from what my mate who follows ALF tells me. Two most successful clubs in their game's history, cracking contest until Port kicked away late would have kept the neutral Sydney based fan gripped and deterred from flicking over to watch the Wanderers, Bunnies or Tahs... 

It would be pretty much your standard non-Swans AFL rating in Sydney.

Wonder how the afl Sydney derby rated, in Sydney....

Considering it was on their primary channel they would be hoping for well over 100k in Sydney.

But they didn't. Just because you declare something it doesnt make it so

Brisbane managed to get 17.5k attendance. This was about 2.5k lower than the current H/A season high
The ratings on Fox were 112k. A mere 3k higher than a similar fixture last season. This isn't even margin of error. And it isn't even the highest rating
The SBS ratings were dreadful. There have been higher ratings at the start of this season and even those were shit

Massive jump! Wow! Really????


Finals are just a higher than average regular season game, with the exception of the grand final. And the Melbourne v Liverpool game out rated the grand final both in terms of ratings and attendance by some margin so there are ways to replace it

A finals system doesn't add anything special to the season. It is an optional extra component that we either have or don't have based on how we want to award the title

As a code we are so caught up in it as a critical component that we absolutely must have or the code will bleed money but this simply isn't true

More when I get back early next week but have been in the US on business for the last three weeks.... while I was there I went to a number of sporting events and more on this latter... 

Football by far the number 4 code in viewing, but has for the last three years overtaken Basketball in player numbers ....

They broadcast over 50 live games a week of Football, and the MLS is in direct competition with European matches... makes for interesting discussions... 

This was the Football rating over a 6 day period last week.

Apr 10-16: World Soccer Talk
1070k – América / Querétaro Univision; 669000 UDN; 401000
968k – Tigres / Chivas UniMás; 465000 UDN; 503000
889k – América / Necaxa UniMás; 412000 UDN; 477000
826k – Southampton / Man City NBC; 784000 Unvso; 42000
816k – Man Utd / Chelsea NBCSN; 816000 —; —
761k – Tigres / Pumas Univision; 482000 UDN; 279000
748k – Juventus / Barcelona FS1; 391000 FOXD; 357000
701k – Toluca / Monterrey Univision; 522000 UDN; 179000
542k – Barcelona / Sociedad beIN; 139000 beIE; 403000
447k – West Brom / Liverpool NBCSN; 415000 Unvso; 32000
401k – Toluca / Cruz Azul —; — UDN; 401000
390k – Sporting / Real Madrid beIN; 134000 beIE; 256000
383k – Bayern / Real Madrid FS1; 383000 —; —
377k – Orlando City / Los Angeles Galaxy FOX; 346000 FOXD; 31000
361k – Crystal Palace / Leicester City NBCSN; 361000 —; —
340k – Leverkusen / Bayern FOX; 282000 FOXD; 58000
327k – Puebla / Cruz Azul —; — UDN; 327000
298k – San Jose Earthquakes / FC Dallas UniMás; 256000 UDN; 42000
284k – Pachuca / Chivas —; — Unvso; 284000
260k – Spurs / Bournemouth NBCSN; 260000 —; —
241k – Querétaro / Tijuana —; — UDN; 241000
211k – Anderlecht / Man Utd FS1; 211000 —; —
203k – Atlético Madrid / Osasuna beIN; 57000 beIE; 146000
198k – Philadelphia Union / New York City ESPN; 198000 ESPND; —
188k – Chiapas / Tijuana —; — UDN; 188000
180k – Chiapas / León —; — UDN; 180000
174k – Crystal Palace / Arsenal NBCSN; 174000 —; —
96k – Dortmund / Monaco FS2; 96000 —; —
92k – Atlético Madrid / Leicester City FS2; 41000 FOXD; 51000
88k – Dortmund / Frankfurt FS1; 88000 —; —
82k – Thorns / Pride Lifetime; 82000 —; —
82k – Valencia / Sevilla beIN; 8000 beIE; 74000
65k – Bremen / Hamburg FS1; 65000 —; —
61k – Darmstadt / Schalke FS1; 51000 FOXD; 10000
53k – Pachuca / Morelia —; — Unvso; 53000
50k – Betis / Eibar —; — beIE; 50000
50k – Granada / Celta Vigo —; — beIE; 50000
43k – Inter Milan / AC Milan beIN; 25000 beIE; 18000
31k – Sociedad / Sporting beIN; 7000 beIE; 24000
26k – Athletic / Las Palmas —; — beIE; 26000
18k – Vitória / Sporting CP —; — UDN; 18000
18k – Angers / PSG beIN; 18000 —; —
18k – Hoffenheim / Mönchengladbach FS2; 6000 FOXD; 12000
17k – Ajax / Schalke FS2; 17000 —; —
14k – Marseille / Saint-Étienne beIN; 14000 —; —
11k – Wolves / Brighton beIN; 11000 —; —
10k – Armada / Deltas beIN; 10000 —; —
5k – Bristol / QPR beIN; 5000 —; —

@ bluebird

I was there Friday night and I don't give a toss about attendance and ratings, that was a cracking game and the best for a year by a country mile. Roar have played better this season but the drama that is finals football made Friday night unforgettable for those that were there. Add it to the ling list of great finals games I've seen. Nothing matches it. There were fans hugging each other as they stood in the stadium after the game, the majority stayed on instead of heading for the station and for no other reason than to milk the drama - we won nothing other than a game of football on Friday, but it was special.

So for me, if finals football "has to go" the simple question is why? I can see no reason why we should get rid of it.

Only 73k in Sydney on the main channel, that's a disaster:

MoreSat TV #AFL Seven/7mate Night 600k: Seven 473k (Syd 73k Mel 258k Ade 142k) 7mate Per 127k

To get one million in the US is like getting 80k in Australia.
Similarly, that 800k rating for Man utd vs Chelsea is a bit like getting 70k on SBS in Australia.
Hardly earth shattering news.

Yeah, for primary channel prime time on a Saturday night in a city of 5 million it certainly isn't there for the advertising revenue.

An extra 45k in Sydney on Fox, exactly half the Melbourne audience:

Fox in Sydney - 45k -----Sat STV #AFL #FoxFooty #AFLSwansGiants 228k: Metro 193k (Syd 45k Mel 89k Bri 16k Ade 26k Per 17k)

Actually, I just noticed that game came 7th and 8th in the Sat ratings:

7	SEVEN’S AFL: SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL	Channel 7	473,000	73,000	258,000		142,000
8	SEVEN’S AFL: SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL – PRE MATCH	Channel 7	445,000	90,000	207,000		149,000
9	GETAWAY	Channel 9	376,000	119,000	139,000	59,000	28,000	30,000
10	NEW TRICKS RPT	ABC	360,000	88,000	109,000	72,000	35,000	54,000
11	GARDENING AUSTRALIA-EV	ABC	353,000	88,000	125,000	59,000	37,000	43,000
12	TEN EYEWITNESS NEWS SAT	Channel 10	307,000	78,000	87,000	60,000	24,000	58,000

Also, the Sydney ratings are around the level of the Sydney ratings for TEN Eyewitness news and Gardening Australia.  Doesn't actually look all that bad when viewed from that perspective.  Maybe it's not the disaster I thought it was.

Well, if that game is value in Sydney then you would definitely think a fta football package with Sydney and Melbourne derbies, world cup qualifiers and high profile friendlies would have to be worth something as well.

It's definitely worth something, but at this stage, it would appear to not be worth more than $2 million per annum (if we are to believe current reports).

Well then that would also give you an idea of what AFL is worth in the NSW/QLD market.

That might be correct, but if they're pocketing billions in total, I doubt they are losing too much sleep over it.