THE AFL admitted yesterday that it was unlikely ever to switch the venue of a match, even if it was to the detriment of fans.

The "best fit" policy the league trumpeted when it began playing games at Docklands in 2000 guaranteed that any game likely to draw more than the venue's 52,000 capacity would be moved to the MCG.

But seven years on, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said yesterday that edict had become out-dated.

Demetriou would not concede that Sunday's Col—lingwood-Hawthorn match — a contest between the fourth and second-placed sides that will be played at Telstra Dome at 5.10pm — would deny attendance to possibly thousands.

The Kangaroos and the Western Bulldogs will play at the MCG on the same day at 2.10pm.

Only in extreme circumstances — a problematic surface was the only example Demetriou offered in a news briefing yesterday — would games be relocated, he said.

"I said in 2000 … there was this thing called best fit. Today, that does not exist because things have changed.

"I don't think we'll be moving games. There are too many other things now in the mix. What we should do is get the games in their right spots early.

"Contractual obligations have changed over the past two or three years. We play 45 games at the MCG, 42 at Telstra Dome. We have a minimum number of games required at Skilled Stadium.

"We've got clubs that have got arrangements with various venues and we've got to respect all those things and, at the same time, respect our supporters."

Demetriou would not concede that the scheduling of Collingwood v Hawthorn at Telstra Dome was wrong, but said that occasionally there would be "idiosyncrasies" in the draw. "I don't subscribe to the theory that there's going to be 10,000 people (miss out). Based on all our data, the average attendance for this game has been somewhere around 36-35,000. Last year, we got 41,000."

The AFL's mid-season review, which it detailed yesterday, forecasts that an attendance record will be set by the end of this season.

A total of 3.494 million people have attended matches over 12 weeks this year — a 75,000 increase on last year's figure.

Demetriou credited the evenness of the competition and made mention of the return of the "Carlton franchise" since Richard Pratt took over as president.

Carlton (up 41 per cent) and Collingwood (up 34) were the clubs with the most improved average attendances this year.

The Western Bulldogs were down 17 per cent, while Port Adelaide and the Kangaroos (both down 14) had the next worst drops.

Participation levels are also up, as are club membership counts. Adelaide, Carlton, Fremantle, West Coast and the Western Bulldogs have all recorded membership records this year.

The Brisbane Lions are down 17 per cent on last year's figure, the Kangaroos down 12, Geelong 11 and Collingwood 2.

The league described the free-to-air ratings, in the first season of a new television broadcasting deal, as "solid".

"Friday nights are slightly up on 2006 and Saturdays are slightly down. What's interesting is that after round five, it was the complete opposite," Gillon McLachlan, the AFL's chief broadcasting and commercial officer, said.

Pay-TV station Fox Sports registered an average viewership that more than doubled that of the now defunct Fox Footy channel in 2006.

But South Australia is posing a problem for the league. Port Adelaide's membership is down six per cent on last season and average attendances in Adelaide rank fourth behind Victoria, Western Australia and NSW.

Scheduling the showdown on a Saturday afternoon this year had been a mistake, Demetriou said.