AFL grand final, Bathurst 1000 avoid date clash

The threat of Australia’s greatest annual motor race clashing with the AFL grand final next year has been avoided.

A compressed schedule forced upon the AFL with the Cricket World Cup being hosted in Australia next year will see the bumper footy final held on October 3, according to the AFL schedule released today.

As previously reported, V8 Supercars had been bracing for a conflict of dates after the AFL suggested it may have to stage the final on October 10, the same weekend as its Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The AFL will kick off its season on the Easter long weekend with only one bye during the home and away season.

The delayed start had been forced upon the AFL with venues heavily booked for the Cricket World Cup, which runs from February 14 to March 29.

The World Cup has in turn been cited by V8 Supercars as a primary reason for an expected date clash between its pre-season test day and the Bathurst 12 Hour next season.

Had the AFL put its grand final on a week later and conflicted with the traditional Top 10 Shootout at Mount Panorama, V8 Supercars said that it virtually had no room to move and avoid a clash.

The last time the Bathurst 1000 clashed with an AFL grand final was in 1995, a year after also running up against the footy in 1994.

V8 Supercars is on track to release the composition of its 2015 schedule at the Wilson Security Sandown 500 from September 12-14.

Aside from the Australian Grand Prix potentially becoming a points-paying event for the first time, minimal changes are expected for the balance of the calendar.

Hopes of a return to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, have faded as the category focusses its international ambitions on a push into Asia in 2016.