Adelaide Crows hopeful of prime time Showdown, opening Gather Round, as 2025 fixture nears
The Crows want another prime time Thursday or Friday night Showdown, but will national TV figures count against them? Plus, there still could be a game in Mount Barker in 2025.
Adelaide remains hopeful but unsure if it will host a prime time stand-alone Showdown for a second straight season.
Staging a Thursday or Friday night home match against Port Adelaide was one of the Crows’ main scheduling requests for 2025 after being granted it for the first time this year.
The AFL handed Adelaide a stand-alone Thursday night Showdown in round 8 as part of fixture redress for the costly goal umpiring howler against Sydney the previous season.
It was also some reward for the Crows’ entertaining play as the highest scoring team of 2023.
Twelve months on, Adelaide’s fixture request case to the league is not as strong, given the redress does not apply and the club is coming off a 15th-placed finish.
Host broadcaster Channel 7, which has input on fixturing, is said to be mindful about having the game by itself in prime time despite its history of thrilling finishes.
According to the station’s figures, the Showdown ranked ninth nationally of 14 Thursday night games in 2024, recording an average TV audience of 609,700.
In Adelaide, it ranked No. 1 with 180,900 viewers.
The May clash was the first time two non-Victorian clubs had played a Thursday or Friday night stand-alone minor-round match since Brisbane hosted Sydney in round 14 last year.
The match drew 52,106 people through the turnstiles – Adelaide’s largest home crowd since the 2017 preliminary final against Geelong.
Speaking to Channel 7 in May, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said it was great to see a Showdown on the national stage.
“Whether it’s Thursday nights or Friday nights, it’s a fixture that’s worthy of national attention,” Dillon said.
“There’s something special about the Showdowns.”
Among the Crows’ other fixture requests were kicking off Gather Round for a third straight season and hosting a match during Opening Round.
Adelaide, which played Carlton and Melbourne in Thursday night games during the first two footy festivals, hoped to take on a big Victorian club again.
The Crows will be overlooked for hosting a game during Opening Round given the state already has Gather Round.
Adelaide was believed to be in the mix to play a pre-season game in Mount Barker, in what would be a coup for the town after being overlooked for Gather Round.
The AFL has discussed scheduling the Crows in a trial match at Summit Sport and Recreation Park against an interstate club.
As this masthead revealed on Saturday, Mount Barker’s two-year, three-game run of hosting Gather Round was set to end as the footy festival’s pair of regional matches headed to the Barossa Valley for 2025.
Summit Sport and Recreation Park hosted clashes between West Coast-Sydney and GWS-Gold Coast in April, as well as North Melbourne-Brisbane in 2023.
Adelaide played its internal trial in Port Lincoln this year, before taking on the Power at Alberton Oval and West Coast at Richmond in pre-season.
The AFL is expected to release the 2025 fixture in a fortnight and its trial match schedule in December.
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