Coronavirus: AFL takes round-one gamble, season to begin Thursday night

The AFL season will launch on Thursday night after expert health advice that suggested a go-ahead was feasible.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan. Picture: AAP

The AFL has gambled on a Thursday night season launch without a crowd after expert health advice that ­suggested a go-ahead was feasible despite the dark shadow of the ­coronavirus crisis.

An exhausted AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan on Wednesday night revealed the sport’s ruling body had cleared the way for the blockbuster clash between league giants Carlton and ­Richmond.

Yet Thursday night’s game will be like no other, with crowds precluded from attending the MCG and a community in deep economic and social shock.

Mr McLachlan said the league and the nation could not be ­hobbled completely by the virus.

“We actually can’t stand still, we aren’t going to stand still,” he said.

The 11-member AFL Commission deliberated for hours before going ahead with the first game, part of a strategy for a truncated 17-match home-and-away season.

The decision will have the backing of a majority of AFL clubs despite the nation heading into uncharted territory on the virus.

Had the league vetoed a start to the season, it could have imperilled the financial viability of the entire competition.

“Things are changing daily,” Mr McLachlan conceded of the COVID-19 landscape.

“It is going to take un­precedented action to get through it all.”

Amid stark warnings of a global recession or worse, the AFL industry was aghast at the prospect of no play this season, having already cut the competition home-and-away rounds to 17 — five fewer than normal.

Scott Morrison had earlier implored the various codes to make decisions that were within the rules.

The Prime Minister said it was up to the league to determine what should occur.

“When it comes to (sport) — whether it is the AFL, the NRL or any others — that’s a decision for them to make in accordance to rules that have been established,” Mr Morrison said.

“No gatherings of more than 500. No internal gatherings of 100 or more.

“The CEOs of the AFL and the NRL can make the decisions on what is best for their game.”

Mr McLachlan reportedly ­obtained the support of virtually all of the clubs for the season to begin, although insiders are deeply concerned that the pandemic will worsen as the season unfolds.

Winter will be the peak period for contamination.

The AFL has said it wants the full 17 rounds plus finals to be finished this year, even if it means pushing into summer.

Failure to start the competition would have delivered a massive psychological blow to the sport and the broadcast deal is predi­cated on the number of games beamed into millions of houses.

Games will be played with 16-minute quarters in a bid to enable multiple matches to be held each week, enabling the players to recover fully in time for the next match.

Mr McLachlan conceded that the sport faced deeply uncertain times as it attempted to stitch ­together a season in improbable circumstances.

“We don’t know how many games we will get in this 153-game journey,” he said.

The AFL women’s competition will proceed but will shun the final two weeks of the home-and-away season and go straight to finals.

The decision comes as the AFL faces uncertainty over its $2.5bn broadcast rights deal, with fewer games and the spectre of a truncated season threatening to undermine the revenue stream that underpins the competition.

The league is facing a possible reduction in its fees under ­minimum delivery requirements struck several years ago in the ­record-breaking deal.

The situation was “completely fluid”, senior sources said, as the league examined ways to maximise the benefits this season for the two main broadcasters, the Seven Network and Fox Sports.

The Australian understands broadcasters want to put on the backburner any negotiations about an extension of the record $2.5bn deal that ends in 2022.

The AFL has privately been encouraging negotiations on a “roll and renewal” of the rights for an extra two years but the calamitous impact of the coronavirus has shifted the landscape.