Commercialisation of sport

May 31, 2026

Great article by Chas and John. Commercialisation of sport leads to rule changes as well. With AFL, advertisements appear every time a goal is scored. The television stations contracts with the AFL demand a minimum number of goals per game. Rebates payable to TV stations if not met. Hence, rule changes to speed the game: kick off from full back no longer within the square, but outside the square; A ball kicked out of bounds is no longer a throw-in, but a free kick. The recent reduction of score reviews is consistent with this, because from an advertiser’s perspective, the 30 seconds spent on the review is ‘dead time’. From a viewer’s perspective, with ad breaks on goals, continuity is lost. Watching the players celebrate a goal, and move back to the centre is an integral part of the game. The viewing experience is degraded by replacing this with maximum ad-break time on goals.