AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has confirmed that the beginning of the 2027 season will look different as the league works through venue availability.
The MCG will be unavailable from Thursday, March 11-15, as it hosts the 150th Anniversary Cricket test between Australia and England.
If the AFL holds its current structure, starting the season on the opening weekend of March, it will see the MCG unavailable for the Opening Round and Round 1.
"I don't necessarily subscribe to (the disjointed start to the year), but what I do subscribe to is reviewing every season and making sure that whether it's opening round, whether it's teams having 18 days off between games and the like, is that right from a competition integrity perspective, is it helping us for making sure that we've got the fans and the broadcast numbers?" Dillon said on SEN.
"So as I said, the crowds are up, the broadcast numbers are really strong at the moment, but we will listen to our clubs about that. And I think I've been on the record on this one. We have got complexity next year with some venue availability, so the start of the season will look different. And we'll review, particularly once we get through,
"I think, this weekend, where everyone's playing out their buyers, and we'll just see. You know, what is the outcome of that been."
The AFL faced a similar circumstance in 2015, when Australia hosted New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup on March 29 at the MCG.
That year, Round 1 began five days later on Thursday, April 2, which ultimately pushed the grand final into October.
But the scheduling headache will need to take into account the three added weeks the league has welcomed to the fixture since 2015.
Dillon also answered why reigning premiers, Brisbane, have been shunted to an off-Broadway clash again in Gather Round.
The Lions have played all their clashes at Mt Barker, Norwood Oval, and soon will grace the Barossa Park field against North Melbourne on Saturday.
"The fixture is a complex beast," Dillon said. "Their record would probably say that, if we're here this time next year, I think you'd see them on Adelaide Oval."
The NFL is coming to the MCG this year during the semi-final weekend, which has also caused a stir if two Victorian sides host finals.
The game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers is on Friday, September 11. However, Dillon remained confident that a game could be played 24 hours later at the venue.
"I think we can work with the MCC and the Victorian Government, the NFL to make sure that we can turn the MCG around for a final on Saturday night," he said.
"And if we have two finals in Melbourne that weekend, we can play one on Sunday, or we've also got Marvel Stadium if that's required."
