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Join our Fantasy SRP league“Overwhelmingly sad”: The unfortunate VFL broadcast situation
SEN • January 28th, 2026 9:06 am
Channel 7 is preparing to walk away from broadcasting the VFL in 2026 and beyond.
A Herald Sun report suggests that the Seven network believes broadcasting the state league is simply no longer commercially viable.
Seven has been broadcasting the VFL since 2015. The competition has been broadcast on free-to-air TV for the last five decades, most well known on the ABC.
In 2025, the VFL’s Saturday night fixture went up against Fox Footy’s Super Saturday and was unable to compete for ratings.
SEN Breakfast’s Sam Edmund and Kane Cornes, a Channel 7 talent, commented on the sadness of the situation.
“This is the old formula isn’t it, that spending a lot to cover live sport and not getting the ratings and return means there’s no commercial viability,” Edmund said.
Cornes added: “With no free-to-air (AFL) on Saturdays last year, Channel 7 made an investment in the VFL and they were showing the game on a Saturday night from one of three venues (Frankston, IKON Park and Whitten Oval), but clearly the ratings weren’t what they expected or needed to be.
“The first I knew about it was reading it in the Herald Sun last night. Just overwhelmingly sad for that competition.
“We’ll see whether the ABC or SBS or one of the Foxtel sports stations picks it up.
“But right now it’s not looking good, unfortunately.”
Edmund continued: “In many ways it’s no surprise. How could it possibly compete with Super Saturday on Fox?
“What are people going to watch? That’s if they’re even watching football to begin with given the exclusivity Fox had on Saturdays in Victoria.
“Maybe going to Saturday night was a mistake in hindsight as well, maybe it should have stuck to the arvo.
“Certainly a long way from those halcyon days on the ABC, unfortunately.”
The VFL will continue to be “broadcast live and free via AFL channels” according to VFL spokesman Sam Zito.
