Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire took part in a heated clash with veteran journalist Caroline Wilson on Wednesday night as the AFL Grand Final saga rumbled on.
The showpiece event is set to return to the MCG this year after Covid forced the decider to be staged interstate, and the success of the trips to Brisbane and Perth has forced bosses to have a re-think.
Both games in 2020 and 2021 were held at a later time daftar slot deposit pulsa than the traditional 2.30pm bounce time and viewing figures have reflected that the switch has been a hit for broadcasters.
Caroline Wilson (L) and Eddie McGuire (R) were involved in a fiery clash on air on Wednesday
Melbourne’s 2021 premiership win over the Western Bulldogs garnered a national audience of 3.9million viewers, a seven figure increase on the 2.9m who tuned into watch Richmond beat GWS at the MCG – a 2.30pm kick off.
With AFL crowd attendances down this season, and Gillon McLachlan negotiating a new broadcast deal in one of his final acts as AFL chief executive, onlookers feel the time is right for a switch to a twilight start time.
McGuire, a strong advocate of a twilight bounce, made his views abundantly clear to Wilson, an AFL traditionalist on Channel 9′s Footy Classified, arguing that the later start time would help increase pay for male and female AFL players.
Below is the fiery exchange in full, with fellow pundits Ross Lyon and and Matthew Lloyd interjecting.
High viewing figures for the twilight Grand Finals has stirred debate around the 2.30pm start
Wilson: ‘I think it would be nice, given that the grand final hasn’t been at the ‘G’ since 2019, it would be great to see an afternoon grand final and I dispute the fact that the media rights are going to be worth that much more money if the grand final is played in twilight.’
McGuire: ‘Caro’, I just can’t be vehemently more opposed to you.
AFLW, AFLM, Covid deficit, possible class actions, Tasmania, half the clubs are still insolvent and you want to go in with half the ratings? They’ll drop two million people if it’s played on a Saturday afternoon.’
Lyon: ‘What does that equate to in a metric?
Because we all say day or twilight — what’s the metric between the two? How many millions of dollars?’
Wilson: ‘It’s not all about money, Ross.’
McGuire: ‘Yeah it is, it is!’
Wilson: ‘No, it’s about the heart of the game.
How many traditions do you strip away?’
Former Collingwood president McGuire says a twilight start will help pay AFLW players more
Lyon: ‘Do you (Wilson) want gender equity in the suburbs?
You can roll your eyes Caroline but someone’s got to pay.’
Wilson: ‘It’s one game, the game is not going to live or die on an afternoon or twilight grand final. Ed throws up 2019, it was Richmond-GWS, who no one really supports.’
Lyon: ‘Do you (Wilson) know the metric?’
Wilson: ‘No, but the broadcasters tell me that the money is not that significantly different.
Yes, obviously the ratings are higher.’
McGuire: ‘That’s the broadcasters who said they weren’t going to put any more money in and who gave everyone a haircut when Covid came in. Suddenly there’s some overseas fair dinkum money coming in, and at $1.68 earlier today, it’s getting cheaper for the overseasers by the second.
This is the thing people have got to get past this Cinderella thing that we have. We do live in the real world in the AFL. If the women want to get more money — and so they should — someone’s got to pay for it.’
Wilson: ‘It’s one game, Ed.
It’s not going to change everything.’
Lyon: ‘I like your (McGuire) perspective because it’s a club president perspective. You understand the cost of a club.’
However, Wilson wants the AFL to stick with traditions and not move away from a 2.30pm start
McGuire: ‘This is from a business (perspective).
I’ll tell you more than that mate, I’ll give you the tip. When Mr. Amazon, Mr. Paramount comes to the table and says, ‘What are the top shows?’, and it’s got Married At First Sight and all the rest of it, because we left 2 million people on the table in Queensland and New South Wales-’
Wilson: ‘They look at the whole-’
McGuire: ‘Let me finish.
Sorry Caro, I wouldn’t know, I’ve only done the negotiations and ran a footy club for 23 years. I’ll tell you what’s going on: we need to get the money in. If it’s two hours difference and it makes you get two to two and a half million more people in the areas that we’ve spent $100 million to try and get people to watch, why wouldn’t we put it on at night if we’re trying to get Queensland to build the game?
In the No.1 and No.3 markets in Australia, why would we make it as hard as possible? It’s called ‘prime time’ for a reason.’
Wilson: ‘I don’t think you’ll get another 1000 kids in Greater Western Sydney giving up soccer to play Australian rules footy-’
Lyon: ‘What do you lose?’
Wilson: ‘What do you gain? (You lose) another tradition.’
McGuire: ‘Caro, stop for a second.
Caro, Caro! Stop please.’
Wilson: ‘Ed, there’s no need to shout.’
McGuire says the sport could lose out on as much as $50million if it doesn’t make the switch
McGuire: ‘They play ring tin tin on a Saturday afternoon. It’s not about getting them to play, it’s getting them to watch and see the ads, and if you’re prepared to leave $50 million on the table and have us be behind three State of Origin games and an NRL grand final at a time where we’re fighting for our lives because the ratings are off and people aren’t turning up to games, you’ve got to be off your head.
I think the AFL commission are absolutely derelict in their duty if they do not have a good look at this and I don’t want to hear ‘Oh, we’re keeping the bounce’. Three weeks ago they wanted to keep the bounce, now they’ve banned it for women.’
Lyon: ‘Slow down. Is it $50 million? Is that what you (McGuire) think it is?
Because you can’t leave $50 million on the table.’
McGuire: ‘Mate it could be $100 million. Who knows, it doesn’t matter.’
Matthew Lloyd: ‘It’s a great argument because there’s a lot of people who would agree with tradition, so I understand the argument.
The passion and seeing the side from a money perspective and the tradition, but it’s just a matter of time before it goes in that direction.’
McGuire: ‘Mate, I love the tradition, but we don’t play six games on a Saturday anymore.
Can I just say this? we’ve got 1350 mouths to feed just playing footy, forget about grassroots, forget about all the other stuff we have to do. Where’s the money coming from? Caro didn’t want to put up the Northern Stand at the MCG because of tradition. It was cancer-ridden, there were leather seats that were made out of-’
Wilson: ‘No I didn’t, that’s not true!’
McGuire: ‘Hey, don’t make me go and find your column because I’ve got it indelibly marked up here (points to his head).’
Wilson: ‘That is an absolutely wicked lie, Ed!
Stop it.’
