Channel 7 sports director Chris Jones confirms network’s push for later start to AFL grand final

Channel 7 sports director Chris Jones has made his feelings about the AFL grand final abundantly clear: he wants it to start at a later time.

Jones says Seven is in “constant dialogue” with the league and believes it is only a matter of time before the grand final is moved to a twilight slot.

The AFL grand final traditionally starts at 2.30pm AEST and the AFL has refused to change it, despite an annual debate.

When Melbourne was locked down during the COVID years, the grand final started at 6.30pm AEST when it was held at the Gabba, and 5.15pm AWST when it was in Perth.

And while both those grand finals were considered to be a raging success, traditionalists believe the day slot is better, arguing it is more family friendly and helps people of an older demographic attend the game live, and also families with young children.

But Jones says TV ratings would significantly improve with a later start.

Fans who want it changed also argue that the spectacle would be way superior at night, particularly for the entertainment which is usually accompanied by pyrotechnics.

“I can’t speak for (the AFL but) what I can say is that we have constant dialogue with them,” Jones told SEN.

“Clearly we’d love a night grand final. I think we’re headed towards a twilight grand final, hopefully.”

This year the AFL and the NRL grand final had the same “reach” of 6.4 million but the NRL event (which is on a Sunday night) had an average TV audience of 4.46 million slightly bettering the AFL grand final of 4.18 million.

“I think you’ve just got to look at the numbers of the NRL grand final this year,” Jones said.

“It was the perfect setup for (the NRL) with Brisbane and Melbourne big into this market here in primetime.

“There’s no doubt the audience is much more significant (at night).

“I’ve debated this a lot with (The Agenda Setters star journalist Caroline Wilson) and the likes who are more the traditionalists.

“(But) the more people we can bring the better.

“I’ve got a nine and a 12-year-old at home and I know it’s more difficult the later it gets.

“But hopefully we transition to a twilight grand final.”

Jones said all evidence suggested TV ratings would improve with a night game.

“If we put it at twilight it will rate better,” he said.

“If we put it at night it will rate even better again.

“It’s definitely something that we’re talking to (the AFL) about and we’ve lobbied them on.

“But when you look at the fixture as a whole, what we get with the primetime qualifying finals, prelim finals, etcetera, is unreal.

“We’d love to push for that twilight grand final as soon as possible.”

The 2026 AFL fixture will be unveiled in two weeks and Jones said Thursday night was an “absolute priority” for Seven.

“That will take us all the way to the Commonwealth Games in late July which is awesome,” he said.

“The other one that has really unlocked for us is Sunday night footy.

“Sunday night is the highest rating day of the week. So clearly to put live sport into that slot is critical for us moving forward.

“I think we’ve done a really good job with the AFL of identifying those public holiday weekends in different states and trying to schedule Sunday night matches on those days.”