The inaugural match of the Australian Football League Women's league between Carlton and Collingwood on Friday night "was an attendance and broadcast-ratings success but the league insists there are no immediate plans for expansion," according to Jon Pierik of THE AGE. Figures released on Saturday show the match at Ikon Park "before more than 22,000 supporters also scored a combined national peak audience of 1.1 million and metro and regional average of 773,000 on free-to-air broadcaster, Channel 7 and 7mate." The five-city metro average audience was 593,000 on Channel 7 and 7mate, with a peak of 828,000. Seven also said that the "clash was the top-rating program in Melbourne," attracting an average audience of 424,000 and a peak Melbourne audience of 551,000. Seven's match coverage on pay-TV's Fox Footy delivered an average audience of 123,000 across metro and regional, and a peak of 175,000. AFL Game & Market Development GM Simon Lethlean was "delighted with the figures." He said, "What it shows is this competition has great legs, great momentum, the summer campaign and promotion the athletes have done for us has resonated with the community" (THE AGE, 2/4).
