Asymmetries in scheduling slots and game-day revenues: An example from the Australian Football League

This article investigates three related questions: first, whether the Australian Football League exhibits attendance asymmetries across the available playing slots; second, whether various subgroups of teams in the AFL have equal access to the more highly attended time slots; and, third, whether asymmetries in the first two phenomena can drive meaningful asymmetries in match-day revenues across clubs. We find that asymmetries exist not only across the various playing slots, but also in various teams’ access to the more highly attended slots. Further, by providing some novel estimates of revenue streams from television and gate receipts, we show that these asymmetries can drive substantial differences in game-day revenues. A key implication is that scheduling should be treated with the same critical analysis as the many other factors that affect the financial performance of clubs.