I'm not so keen on the potential 17 round season though.
AFL plans 2 new clubs in 4 years
Caroline Wilson, Chief Football Writer | February 16, 2008
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/a ... 07682.html
THE AFL will become an 18-team competition within four years, with plans to establish a Gold Coast team by 2011 and a team in western Sydney by 2012.
In an exclusive interview with The Age, AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick has revealed the league has begun packaging a nine-game per round, home-and-away season to be sold as the linchpin of AFL broadcast rights beyond 2011. It is set to announce a tender process for two new club licences before the start of this season.
Conceding that it would prove "virtually impossible" to tempt even the most struggling Victorian club to move, Mr Fitzpatrick said he had spoken to all three AFL TV broadcasters, and the Nine Network, about the league's intention to expand by 2012. "We've spoken to the networks and they are very keen to get more content. It's quite clear the Melbourne clubs have emotional attachments and infrastructures they are not prepared to relinquish."
The AFL had done much work last year trying to persuade North Melbourne to move to the Gold Coast, and was disappointed when it chose not to. "If you can't get a team to relocate on the basis that North was offered, then I don't think it's ever going to happen. In a sense it has solved a problem for us. If we are looking at establishing a 17th team on the Gold Coast by 2010-2011, the 18th team out of Sydney could follow within a year."
Mr Fitzpatrick will outline his expansion plans to the 16 existing clubs next week. The plans include building a 10,000-seat stadium, with administrative, training and social facilities, at Blacktown in Sydney's west.
#Mr Fitzpatrick and league chief executive Andrew Demetriou outlined the expanded competition plans to channels Seven, Nine, Ten and Foxtel in Sydney before Christmas.
Nine executive Jeff Browne, whose network plans to bid with Foxtel for the media rights beyond 2011, said: "I have a policy of not discussing any talks we might have with the AFL."
The new Queensland team is expected to be offered similar inducements to the $100 million package put to North Melbourne.
Mr Fitzpatrick did not rule out shortening the premiership season to 17 rounds by 2012 to ensure each team played each other once. "It's obviously something we'd look at."
By building the Blacktown stadium, Mr Demetriou's aim to schedule a weekly game in Sydney by 2015 has been brought forward by three years.
Mr Fitzpatrick, who became AFL chairman a year ago, said: "One of the issues I had when I came in was that we didn't have the relationship with government that we should have and other codes were organising themselves quite successfully around us."
The Blacktown stadium should be completed in time for a NAB Cup pre-season fixture in March next year. The two-oval complex will be home for the second Sydney team, to play most of its home games at Telstra Stadium at Homebush.
The league's plan is certain to antagonise the Sydney Swans, which have long insisted the Sydney market is nowhere near ready for another team.
Mr Fitzpatrick also revealed that the AFL was considering drug testing footballers by taking hair or saliva samples. "We are reviewing our illicit drugs policy and these new technologies we are investigating, of hair and oral testing, could detect drug use going back three months."
