EDDIE McGuire outlined what he believes the future of the AFL looks like on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Footy Classified, the former Collingwood president said he would expand to a 20-team competition by 2028, with teams in Tasmania and Darwin\/North Queensland.<\/p>\n
He would shift to a 20-game streamlined fixture and a 12-team finals series to inject $20 million into the TV rights.<\/p>\n
McGuire\u2019s proposal also included three games to be played on the west coast of the United States and a Victorian team to be the \u201cbreakthrough\u201d team in Tasmania until the standalone side is ready in 2028.<\/p>\n
He adds the Tasmanian Government must commit $20 million indefinitely to help keep the team afloat.<\/p>\n
Kane Cornes outlined his worry with McGuire\u2019s plan, suggesting there might not be enough talent to support another 90 AFL players.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concern would be, is there enough talent in Australia to accommodate 20 AFL teams,\u201d Cornes told SEN SA Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlready we\u2019re seeing North Melbourne look like they can\u2019t win a game of footy, and you\u2019d question how some of these AFL players, with all due respect, are getting a game on an AFL list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw six games decided by 30 points or more. If you had two more teams, are we getting to three or four games per round that no one cares about, and everyone switches off?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be the only thing. Can a country like Australia with our population sustain 20 AFL teams with the talent that we\u2019ve got at our disposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, you\u2019d have to say probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cornes added that these two new teams must have sustainable supporter bases that turn up and help keep them financially viable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want four teams with three wins each for the year and sixteen of their games, no one cares about and no one\u2019s turning up to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, Gold Coast\u2019s Round 1 game, I know it was wet, they had 6000 in attendance. That is concerning. North Melbourne had 13,000 against Port Adelaide in Round 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s factors around that. How many would turn up in Tassie? How many would go to a home game? I don\u2019t know. Can you sustain it? You don\u2019t want money-sucking teams, like Gold Coast and GWS have been, we can\u2019t afford to add another two to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I played in Darwin, they turned out, it didn\u2019t matter who was playing because they\u2019re passionate about it, but it is a tough place to play because of how wet the ball gets.\u201d<\/p>\n
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