As many in the sporting world of Australia know, the AFL have had to relocate to Queensland. It was announced in July that the AFL competition would be making the move for the rest of 2020. This is due to the COVID-19 pandemic locking down the state of Victoria, which is the base of the competition as well as the home of majority of the AFL’s Clubs.
AFL is a sport loved all over Australia but mainly Victorians. The drastic move up north has allowed the state of Queensland the rare opportunity to watch and support all teams at various matches each week. This is a big change as the state only have 2 local teams that would sometimes go weeks without playing at home.
The hope is that although this move was not ideal, it has brought in a whole new fan base from areas that were not considered before. For sports lovers in Queensland, who were deprived of being able to watch or attend live sport for months due to thee pandemic lockdowns, they see this as an opportunity to go and watch more live sport and potentially end up following the sport and a team for seasons to come.
It was announced on the 2nd of September that the AFL grand final will be held in Queensland at the Brisbane Cricket Ground also known as the Gabba in October. This is ground-breaking news for the sport as the grand final has never been held out of the state of Vitoria in the history of AFL.
There are many discussions about what the reception to this event will be like, with the hope that as many Queenslanders as COVID restrictions will allow attend. The AFL also expect to have a record-breaking number of viewers watching the broadcast, as the Queensland borders are closed to every other state, meaning that fans from across the country and especially in Victoria will have no choice but to watch the event from their screens.
Despite the players and clubs having to make many sacrifices to make the competition possible this season, this may turn out to be one of the best things the AFL have done in gaining more fans. The impact will be able to be seen in full affect next season as the AFL hopefully will be able to return to its home base in Victoria, with more people tuning in and supporting the sport from Queensland.
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