Seven aids AFL's Sydney push

[Beaussie]

So looking forward to this season. 4 games a week all live in Sydney. Good to see Kirk joining the commentary team too. Yay. =D>

Seven aids AFL's Sydney push
Neil Cordy
The Daily Telegraph
February 10, 201212:00AM

THE AFL's bid to win the hearts and minds of Sydney has been given a massive boost with Channel Seven committing to show at least four games of live AFL in the harbour city on 7mate each weekend.

This will bring an unprecedented amount of live free-to-air AFL to the Sydney market - ensuring Swans and Giants fans will be able to see live every match their teams play.

In a bid to make Seven's AFL coverage more appealing to the Sydney market, former Swans captain and crowd favourite Brett Kirk will join their commentary team.

Kirk will patrol the boundary line on Seven's coverage.

"This role won't have as many highs and lows as winning and losing but it will be fun," Kirk told The Daily Telegraph.

Dual Geelong premiership captain Tom Harley, who has lived in Sydney for more than two years since retiring from the game and is boss of AFL NSW, will also join Kirk in the Seven commentary team.

The grand final remains on the anti-siphoning list and will be shown exclusively on Seven.

However, the question remains, will Sydneysiders watch more AFL when given the opportunity?

Harley believes the television coverage is essential in developing appeal to 12- to 16 year-olds.

While it's fine to have the games on television in Sydney, Harley is aware the Giants will struggle to win matches and is keen to sell the game in other ways than on-field success for the Swans and Giants .

"It has to be more than winning games, it's about facility development, community engagement, quality clubs and quality volunteers," Harley said.

Seven's coverage will include the Friday night match, Saturday afternoon and night matches and the Sunday match of the day.

The network is keen to bring a number of technological changes to the match coverage.

The super-slow motion replays and the spider camera which flew above the players at the recent Australian Tennis Open are likely to get a run on Seven's coverage.

Executive producer Nick Barrow is also keen to see more interaction between fans and commentators through social media.

"Having the likes of Brett Kirk, Cameron Ling, Tom Harley, who are straight out of the game, they're on Twitter every five minutes anyway. So to be able to engage the audience, not just through the TV screen, is going to be a new addition to the coverage," Barrow said.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6267218661

[cos789]

There is no doubt that television exposure can make a huge difference.
AF started in the USA with a bang when it was one of the original sports on Pay TV.
PNG basically flipped to rl when the TV coverage fliipped.
Having four games on TV means the TV viewer can very casually pick up a game of AF
and a casual interest can spark enough curiosity to attend a game especially with the introduction of GWS.
It's no good if you have to search out your favourite sport on TV.
Every time I come to Sydney I search unsuccessfully for the local AF game on Fox.

[TLPG]

I hope that means live AFL into Canberra and regional NSW! Suck on that, Prime!

[Beaussie]

I hope that means live AFL into Canberra and regional NSW! Suck on that, Prime!

All 4 FTA games will be broadcast live on 7mate in NSW/ACT and QLD. 7mate on Prime in Canberra and regional areas.