I’ve always had a problem with the Grand Final underwriting the MCC and Victorian stadium deals when the GF belongs to the whole AFL. To the extent the GF is used as a bargaining chip – which it absolutely is - it should be in benefit of the whole AFL, not just the Victorian public. They didn’t even consider that before the last GF deal; Eddie, Gil and Dan Andrews just met in a wine cellar and worked out what was best for the people of Melbourne.
There’s a version of the AFL hosting the Grand Final at the MCG every year that I would be fine with. It would involve a greater allocation of seats for non-Victoria teams playing (because so few are AFL or MCC who get 50% of the seats), the AFL leaning on their airline partner to put on more flights to get them there, teams playing a minimum number of games at the MCG, and non-Victorian clubs being able to train there. All of that is very reasonable and achievable if the AFL just turned their mind to the fact that there is some unfairness to both the fans and teams in the AFL GF being hosted in Melbourne every year.
But they just can’t. They feel in their bones it just belongs to them so they don’t have that empathy. In that case the only way to get them to understand is to have the lived experience of a few-times-in-a-lifetime experience of their team winning a premiership and just not being able to get there to see it in person. Or their team losing to a lower-placed finisher who got to host the game on their ground.
So what problem does it solve? Hopefully an empathy gap leading to some pretty simple changes to make the GF fairer for everyone.
Starting in 2058.
