The need to protect the value of the current broadcast rights deal has driven the AFL’s decision to introduce a wildcard finals round in 2026.

Colin Smith, a sports rights analyst at Global Media Sports, said the decision was necessary to ensure AFL remains attractive to media companies in the sports rights market beyond the life of the current deal which expires in 2031.

“The AFL is rightly concerned, not necessarily about enhancing the value of broadcast rights, but protecting value. [This decision is about] actually recovering value as opposed to increasing value,” Smith told this masthead.

Channel Seven had an average national audience of about one million viewers for each of this year’s eight finals leading into the grand final between Geelong and the Brisbane Lions.

However, the

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