It was revealed late last week that the AFLW competition fixture could be changed to six home and away rounds plus two rounds of finals, despite two new teams being introduced this season, bringing the total number of teams to 10.
The players are upset, as they see this format as treating their competition with disrespect. Players often move interstate for the competition, spend longer training in the pre-season than playing in the competition, and teams would not play each other at least once under the proposed format.
Obviously, there are logistical reasons why the AFL may see see a compact fixture as necessary. Currently, the AFL has to consider scheduling AFLX, AFLW, and the AFL pre-season competition before the AFL season proper. There are only so many weeks in the year, and unless you are willing to start the AFLW earlier in the new year, or late in the current year, they you will have overlap between competitions, with games from different competitions being played on the same day across the country. This happens somewhat already, with AFLW and AFL pre-season games occasionally scheduled on the same day earlier this year.
Overlapping competitions would seemingly reduce the AFL's ability to have a year-round presence, but to schedule the competitions so they run sequentially and without overlap would also position the AFL in direct competition against other sports in the summer, with tennis, cricket, soccer, and basketball, among others, all in-season from about November through to March.
The AFLW is also a maturing competition, and until the quality of the average female player has been allowed to develop, it could be argued that the quality of the game, especially over a drawn-out season, could result in less of a spectacle.
This makes it hard to garner the attention of sponsors and television broadcasters, as was reported on Footy Classified this week:
The commentators debated if television coverage of every AFLW game was necessary, with some saying it was fundamental to the future of the game, and others suggesting to start the season with 'Match of the Round' coverage, and then work up towards complete television coverage by the end of the competition.
However, if the AFL can't get the television coverage they want for the AFLW, I believe this is the perfect opportunity for the AFL to produce their own coverage of the AFLW and show it on their own online and mobile platforms. Coverage could be free with embedded advertising, or be supported with a variety of subscriptions, such as a $20 season pass, or $5 micro-transaction on a round-by-round basis.
A longer season could be scheduled for the AFLW, with the early season games that are in competition with other sports being available via their own platforms. Then, as the competition from other sports dissipates, and as the AFLW season heads towards it's conclusion, the broadcast coverage ramps up with more games on traditional broadcast coverage. Traditional broadcasters don't have to carry as much risk, as they don't have to show many early season games where the quality of the games and interest in the competition is probably not as high.
This is exactly what Cricket Australia has done with women's matches previously, and for memory, the online numbers of people watching were better than expected.
Additionally, all research suggests that younger people are consuming more content online and on mobile devices, so by shifting the game to those platforms, you have a way to reach the younger demographic that sports would try to engage with.
It would also allow them to test their ability to produce their own games, which gives them data and logistical information about costs, production set-ups, travel, distribution, engagement, revenues, and so on.
More importantly, that information would possibly put them in a better position for when the next round of broadcasting rights come up for sale. By producing their own games, they would have some idea of what control they have over the coverage, what revenues they could possibly earn, what their potential reach is, and so on, and weigh up that information against the benefits of going with free-to-air, subscription television, or another new media player such as Facebook or Google/YouTube.
Tennis Australia has taken back their own rights, and while admittedly tennis is a global game with global markets to sell rights to, they are more in control of their product and have become less reliant on the performance of Australian players in the tournament to generate revenue from their broadcasting rights. The NRL has also reportedly taken back some control over their digital rights from Telstra as well, possibly in a move to produce their own games or at least have more control over their online coverage.
Perhaps a long term solution would be to have a fully-fledged AFLW competition running in the winter, the true seasonal home of Australian Rules Football. A winter competition could accommodate a longer season, with fully developed players and coaches competing in better quality games. Combined with the AFL men's competition, the additional games in the winter that the AFLW provides could lead to almost daily coverage of AFL games in some format on television from March through to October.
But until the AFLW matures and finds the corporate and broadcasting support that that scenario requires, I believe there is no better time for the league to at least contemplate producing their own games.
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