AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has defended his decision to keep the Grand Final at the MCG on SEN.
The AFL and Victorian government are set to officially announce their $500 million deal later today that will keep the Grand Final in Melbourne and held at the MCG until 2057, which undoubtedly ruffled some feathers and left non-Victorian teams disappointed.
โThis is such a big event, one of the biggest events in the world, you need to be planning a year or two out,โ McLachlan told SEN.
The AFL boss conceded that logistics remain the biggest reason for locking the main event down in one location.
"You canโt have the Grand Final going to the top ranked team because you need to know where youโre playing the Grand Final from a long way out," McLachlan explained to SEN.
โWe are committed to the MCG, itโs been here for 100 years, it holds 100,000 people and we get the most amount of people coming to it and you feel itโs the home of our Grand Final."
โWe have gone for a model where we maximise the crowd."
McLachlan mentioned that his decision on a Grant Final reform to a twilight time slot will come later this month and is aware of the talks surrounding the best of three Grand Final series that some non-Victorian clubs are reportedly clamoring for.
