Australian Football League Games On Sunday Nights Set For Channel Seven

Sunday night TV "is set for a football revolution" with the Australian Football League "to trial up to three prime-time games on Channel Seven for the first time in that timeslot in 2014," according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. The move means that "next year's home-and-away season will feature 7:40pm games on five of the seven week nights from Thursday night through until Monday night with the Sunday night fixture seen by the league as a long-term prospect -- preferable and more practical than Monday night." Sunday night football "has been regarded as an attractive proposition by the game's governing body given the relative dearth of quality free-to-air programming on a night once regarded as a weekly ratings high point." AFL clubs "were warned in a recent meeting of the 18 chief executives to expect some experimental fixturing in 2014 with the introduction of two byes, the early start to the season and the need to combat rival football codes" (THE AGE, 10/29).