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Dead Heat!

"It's going to be a draw!" cried Bruce McAvaney. But it's good news for TV networks and media buyers.

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“It’s going to be a draw!” cried Bruce McAvaney.

“Unbelievable!”

And at 68 points each Collingwood and St. Kilda tied the 2010 AFL Grand Final. The match could have gone either way in the closing minutes, but the rule of no Extra Time put an end to that.

The tie may be bad news for teams and spectators, but it’s good news for TV networks and media buyers who will be racing to do it all over again and soak up the revenue and ratings from a repeat performance. It takes a lot to mount a broadcast of this scale, but for Seven it will net them twice the eyeballs.

Not since 1977 has the Grand Final been tied. But now with multichannels and the very expensive 3D experiment the ramifications are far more involved.

Amendments on this one will ricochet right across the week, particularly if it impacts on The Footy Show (which had already wrapped for the year) and Game Day Prime Time.

Then there are the brekkie shows which had planned to ramp up NRL coverage next week. Its Grand Final takes place Sunday week.

And all of this on the eve of the Commonwealth Games. It will be a three-way sports mega-weekend.

Spare a thought for Producers who will be crewing all over again, and juggling logistics one more time.

The event is one of the biggest audiences of the television year.

So big they had to do it twice.

60 Responses

  3. I just had a thought David. You said that this will be good news for tv networks and media buyers. I assume that Seven have already booked advertising for the next week (and probably at dirt cheap rates for Saturday day time).

    Can/do Seven simply cancel these bookings and rebook adverts at a premium rate, or are we simply going to see hundreds of ads about retirement homes during next weekends broadcast)?

    I’m not an AFL fan at all, but am interested how this works.

  5. It was all too evident why 7 doesn’t normally do the AFL in HD. The problems of insufficient bandwidth were all too evident, and made the picture excruciating to watch on occasions.

  6. One assumes there’ll be another Grand Final breakfast, etc.

    I’ll call this Grand Final the ‘Election Grand FInal’ as it eerily mirrors the recent Federal Election result.

    The AFL should get Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakenshott to decide the outcome as well !!

  7. 2 x 10 minutes of extra time and 5 minutes of golden point if needed. The current replay system is not fair on the players and is just a money grabbing chance for the AFL.

    And, was that Nicky Webster hanging from the balloon, God she’s let her self go !!

  10. @ Kuttsywood, that 4 million for the Oz Openw here Lleyton made the final was in primetime so I would be surprised if it gets to it but it will probably heading close to it.

  11. This coming W’End is going ***Super**
    As for todays match the last ‘Quarter’ was just amazing to watch.
    & Hayes & BGoddard in that quarter were just Amazing..
    Tho insaying that for mine St Kilda gave it there all & only could get a draw while Collingwood have a little extra to give Swan was down so was Didak.

  13. Fantastic match but in a way wish we had extra time instead. The way i see how extra time should work is the first team to score a goal, not a behind, wins the match.

    Anyway Seven will be laughing at this one. They get to broadcast another Grand Final. Ten will probably be going why did we have to go the odd years lol

  14. I’m gutted. I am a fanatical Pies supporter and I can only equate this to having the best sex of your life but not quite having an orgasm. Missed it by That much!

  16. The rule is simple – extra time is allowed in preliminary finals, but not in the Grand Final. Every single player knew that, which is why they reacted the way they did when the siren sounded. Clearly, judging by the uproar that has swept across the eastern states, the majority of the spectators did not know about this rule, which has been in place for the best part of a century. Given that this is only the third time in VFL/AFL history that a draw has occurred in the Grand Final, it’s not surprising that next to no one knows about it (the last time it happened was in 1977 and Collingwood were involved then, too). Yes, it’s a stupid rule, but for the moment, it’s just the way things are.

  17. @Adam: you are half correct. The equipment needed for the Commonwealth Games will have arrived in India by now. As for the road cycling championships, this is the last thing the organisers need because the GF replay clashes with the woman’s road race. It will mean diminishing ratings for Ten which will broadcast the race finish.

  18. Good point david about re booking crews. I know a number of people that worked on the afl gf will be flying to india this week. Theres also talk of converting NSW SD ob trucks to HD

  19. I’ll admit, i can’t stand afl. But what is wrong with a replay?

    Even if they had extra time what if it was still a draw then…penalties like in soccer? Sure it works in soccer, but as a soccer fan its a horrible way to win/lose after such a game (anybody will tell you that).

    If its so tied, a replay is fair enough. Everybody has to live with it the same…

  20. Poor diddums – unlimited interchange and 4 quarters with breaks and the poor sods can’t go an extra 10 mins…. give them bigger shorts, unsqueeze their nuts and let them grow a proper set and get out there and play….

  21. Seven must be rubbing their hands in glee. 2010 AFL grand final replay, will likely be the top program of the year (possibly highest rater since the Oz Open final that pulled 4mill a few years back).

    Expect a shortage of HD trucks for the next few weeks, as it will be massive pressure on high def production truck operators, to back up for both AFL replay and NRL final, which could flow onto events like the Bathurst 1000.

    I wouldn’t expect the AFL GF replay to be in 3D, unless there are two 3D crews in Australia, one dedicated to the NRL, one dedicated to the AFL.

  23. What a game. It was fantastic to be there. Next weekend is a huge weekend for sport. Apart form the other things both the AFL & NRL grand final are on the same weekend.

    But who won’t be complaining is ch7. They will love having it again and I reckon the ratings will be higher. It is a logistical nightmare for everyone though.

  24. Weird or a coinidence or jinxed by Julia.gillard… as I saw Julia speaking to some crowd before the game started going on about how like politics she didn’t want to see a draw…

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