Fixture exclusive: AFL gives itself over to Thursday night football

The AFL has finally given itself over to Thursday night football, scheduling a whopping 23 games in the timeslot for next season.

There will be only two weeks in the 2025 season where matches will not be played on a Thursday night in what looms as a significant change to how fans watch the game.

The league will roll out Thursday night games in each of the first 16 weeks of the year, from Opening Round to Round 15.

It will then be included in seven of the last nine weeks of the home and away season, with the league set to put it on ice for two weeks for flexibility leading into finals.

It was reported last month by SEN.com.au that the league was set to take Thursday night football to record levels next year.

The 2024 home-and-away season featured 14 Thursday night games, up from 12 in 2023 and nine in 2022.

But the AFL will on Thursday pull back the curtain on a fixture dominated by the rise of the ever-popular timeslot.

It can also be revealed that Essendon will feature in the most Thursday night games in the first 16 weeks, playing four games on that week night.

Carlton, Hawthorn, Geelong, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane Lions will each play three Thursday night games in the first 16 weeks.

In all, 15 of the 18 clubs will play Thursday night football at least once in the first 16 weeks of the season.

The splurge coincides with the first year of the AFL’s $4.5 billion broadcast rights deal – the biggest sports deal rights deal in Australian history – which runs until 2031.