Under the current arrangements, which run until 2024, Seven has Friday and Saturday nights on free to air, plus 3.20pm games on Sundays with Foxtel (broadcasting as Fox Sports and on Kayo) owning the rights to the other time slots. Seven also broadcasts special event games such as Anzac Day’s Collingwood and Essendon matches, Easter Monday, Good Friday eve, Anzac Day eve and the Queen’s Birthday.

Seven shares Thursday night broadcasts with Foxtel, for a split of five and a half games for Fox and three and a half games for Seven on free to air over the home-and-away rounds.

There have been 18 AFL games go past the million-viewer mark this season, exactly half on Friday nights, and almost a quarter on Thursday nights, in a measure of the popularity of those slots.

The Fox Footy view is that its production – which is tailored for a more rusted-on AFL fan than Seven’s broader demographic – is superior to Seven’s and is thus more attractive for its subscribers.

The current deal, worth a total of $946 million for 2023 and 2024, includes Seven providing the commentary, but if Foxtel retains the rights with Seven, as most industry observers think most likely, the pay operator could install its own commentators for all games before 2025.

The AFL has received pitches for the broadcast rights – a deal that underpins the finances of the 18 clubs and the game – from not only Seven and Foxtel, but also cashed-up Paramount, the owner of Network Ten, and global giant Amazon is also believed to have a case for at least one of the nine games. Paramount, which would share the rights between Ten and pay-streaming service Paramount Plus, has bid for the entire rights.

Channel Nine, the owner of this masthead, also is a potential bidder for a share of the rights.

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Foxtel uses ex-star players such as Buckley, Riewoldt, King, Jonathan Brown, Jason Dunstall, Garry Lyon and Nick Dal Santo in special comments, plus a range of callers headed by Hudson, Dwayne Russell, Adam Papalia (Perth), Brenton Speed and Kelli Underwood. Sarah Jones often hosts Fox’s studio coverage of the Seven games, when Fox Footy takes over during quarter-time breaks, and the post-game coverage, while former Carlton and Adelaide star Eddie Betts has been added to the Fox team this year.

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