Australian Football Association of North America

Report by Johnson Leung for AFANA in Melbourne

The AFL is concerned that some commercial breaks between goals during TV broadcasts are blowing out, leading to longer quarters.

Supporters at games are growing increasingly impatient at the sight of umpires standing motionless in the center of the ground, waiting for the red light to flash to restart play.

AFL chief broadcasting and commercial officer Gillon McLachlan confirmed he had raised the issue with broadcasters, and wanted the break to be closer to 30 seconds. However, an investigation by the Herald Sun newspaper found breaks averaged 45 seconds during Round 10, with replays shown on top of commercials.

In Round 10, the average gap between goals in the Carlton-Western Bulldogs clash was 45.1sec - 50 per cent higher than the league's ideal benchmark. And it was even worse in the Collingwood-Fremantle game two days earlier, with an average of 49.6sec between goals. Channel Seven, which covered both matches, blamed the delay in the Pies-Dockers clash on a problem with the red light signifying the time to restart play. Foxtel, which does not play advertisements between goals, also averaged beyond 40 seconds between goals in Round 10 by playing extensive replays between goals.

With the game becoming more continuous, particularly under the quick kick-in rule, broadcasters are running short on opportunities to air replays. Channel Ten has mounted a strong defence of its coverage, which includes some replays in conjunction with commercial breaks.

Ten's AFL executive producer David Barham said the network had little choice but to try and squeeze replays into commercial breaks after losing about 25 replay opportunities a game because of the quick kick-in rule, and tightening time between goals could "significantly damage" the quality of TV broadcasts. "If there is a contentious issue in the game now, from a broadcasting point of view where do you put it?" Barham asked.

Apart from longer gaps between goals, Seven also inserts more advertisements between goals in its delayed telecast of the Sunday afternoon game into Victoria, so that the match broadcast ends just before the 6pm news, in order to retain viewers for the network's primetime line-up. It means fans watching Seven's coverage in Victoria miss out on the winning team singing the club song, post-match interviews and analysis, all of which are included in the national telecast.

Source: Herald Sun