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Leagues and Governing Bodies

AFLX Opening Weekend Attracts Int'l Interest

Suns' Touk Miller is pulled down by Swans' Daniel Robinson during one of the inaugural matches of the new AFLX at Alliance Stadium.Getty Images

AFLX is "here to stay following a hugely popular three-day introduction," according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. The inaugural short-game ­concept with new and adapted rules "attracted more than 40,000 fans to tournaments in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, and rated well" on TV. Allianz Stadium in Sydney got its "first taste of modified Australian football" with 9,892 spectators on Saturday. Coopers Stadium in Adelaide launched the series on Thursday with a "near-­capacity crowd" of 10,253, while ­Etihad Stadium in Melbourne ­attracted 22,585 on Friday. The "success" of AFLX "will prompt the league to introduce the new concept around the world, starting almost certainly in Hong Kong" in Nov. '19 "with as many as six clubs initially involved." Before then, AFLX GM of China and India Dave Stevenson said that there would be "some tinkering" around the structure of the shortened version of the game. Stevenson: "We might look at such things as changing the zones or adding more players than the current seven." He added that the league had interest from "multiple" clubs, promoters and int'l stadiums to play the game overseas from '19 (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/19). In Melbourne, Daniel Cherny reported TV ratings were "modest" by Australian Football League standards, with the three events drawing an average five-city metro audience of 122,333 on Channel Seven's secondary channels, up against the Winter Olympics on Channel Seven, and an average of 75,667 on Fox Footy. The biggest TV audience came on Thursday, when 171,000 watched across the five metro cities on 7Two and 82,000 tuned in on Foxtel (THE AGE, 2/18).

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