“It is with regret that The Footy Show will no longer be produced,” Matt Scriven managing director of Nine’s Melbourne said in a statement. “It has been a tough decision to end the program that has been such a trailblazer, but sadly the new show has not captured audiences in the way we had hoped.”
Nine pulled the plug eight episodes into the new season, after it plummeted to an all-time-ratings low of 53,000 viewers in Melbourne last week. Whilst Channel Seven’s rival AFL show The Front Bar scored 278,000 viewers in Melbourne on the same night.
The Footy Show first aired in 1994. It is Australia’s longest-running sports entertainment prime time program. Over its 25-year reign, it produced 735 shows.
In an interview with Triple M this morning, long-standing host Eddie McGuire shared that he was “sad and gratified at the same time” over the programs end. “It changed my life, it was the biggest thing in my life.”
Que sera, sera. It’s taken me 22 years to figure out that there is both an AFL Footy Show and an NRL Footy Show, it’s truly been a day of learning for us all.
In the spirit of all things AFL, why don’t you read our article AFL is completely insane, if you’re American now!
