Australian rules great Paul Roos says he is baffled by suggestions the AFL could potentially introduce an in-season tournament.
The AFL is considering a tournament similar to the NBA Cup, with the idea floated in last week’s meeting between the CEOs of the league’s 19 clubs.
The tournament would likely be introduced after Tasmania’s arrival in 2028, and the winner could stand to receive $5 million in prize money in addition to a guaranteed finals spot.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon confirmed in a statement last week that the potential in-season tournament was one of a number of ideas “with a focus on creating more content and marquee moments” during the season.
The NBA Cup has spiced up the league’s regular season, but Roos does not want a similar thing to happen in the AFL. (Getty Images: Ethan Miller)
The NBA introduced its in-season tournament during the 2023–24 season as a way to add weight to regular-season games played in the early portion of the season, but Roos believes the AFL should steer clear of mimicking the world’s best basketball league.
“If there’s a league you don’t want to follow in the world, it’s the NBA,” he told the ABC AFL Daily podcast.
“The NBA ratings have absolutely plummeted. It is unwatchable now. I’m an ex-basketball player and a huge, huge basketball fan, I watched the NBA Finals and no other games at all.
“They have destroyed their league by doing dumb stuff like play-in tournaments and mid-season games and changing rules offensively so you can’t touch anyone, scores are 150–140, and you’ll see the ratings have reflected it.”
Loading…
Roos, who currently resides in Hawaii, explained his dismay at the constant Americanisation of Australia’s leading sporting codes.
“I just don’t understand Australian sports administrators’ fixation with American sport,” he said.
“Living over here now, we do not want to go down the path of a lot of what America represents now [in terms of] sport.
“It’s all about the individual, players changing clubs, it’s all about money and all about less time at the club and more time on holidays, and this is where we’re heading.
“I don’t understand it. It’s not in my realm of thinking.”
Roos was the captain of Fitzroy at a time when the club was bleeding money in the early 90s.
However, he does not believe the league’s poorer clubs need the financial boost the in-season tournament could provide, like the Lions needed before their merger with the Brisbane Bears.
AFL boss Andrew Dillon confirmed last week that the in-season tournament was one of a number of ideas floated to the league’s CEOs. (Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
“Even the $5 million, let’s be honest, the lower clubs are pumped up by the AFL anyway,” he said.
“You’re not going out of business now if you’re an AFL club, so what’s $5 million?
“Just be honest around what it’s for. What is the AFL trying to achieve?
“We have a great competition, we have fans going to the game left, right and centre, we have ratings through the roof, so the game has never been in better shape.
“Why do we want to change something that’s not broken just because we’ve got a three-game gap between ninth and 10th? Is that the reason? That’ll change next year.
“I don’t know what the objective is, that’s the concern.”