2020 AFL season

Played during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season commenced on 19 March and was suspended four days later; it resumed on 11 June and ran until 24 October.

Virus outbreaks and interstate travel restrictions precluded games in many states for much of the season, with all clubs spending parts of the season temporarily relocated to quarantine hubs, particularly in South East Queensland where almost half of all matches were played – including the Grand Final, the first time it had been played outside Victoria.

Restrictions imposed by the different state governments related to social distancing, lockdowns of non-essential services which lasted for three months across the country, and border controls for interstate and international travel, all had significant effects on the completion of the 2020 season.

On 15 May, as most states began easing restrictions, the league's plan to resume the season was announced: clubs began non-contact training from 18 May, and full contact training from 25 May ahead of resuming competitive matches from 11 June,[3] with the revised fixture released gradually throughout the year, and changing regularly and often at short notice when the situation forced it.

Although this forced two planned Round 5 matches—Richmond vs West Coast and Melbourne vs Sydney—to be redrawn at less than a week's notice (Richmond instead faced Melbourne in Victoria, and Sydney faced West Coast in Queensland) and the entire planned Round 6 and 7 fixtures to be redrawn, the season continued without suspension.

The gradual release of the fixture also allowed the flexibility to reschedule any games which were postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests among players or staff.

Players and club personnel were subject to protocols which extended to players' personal lives, which were above and beyond the lockdown guidelines still in place for the general public, in order to protect the AFL season from suffering an outbreak; and families and partners who were part of quarantine hubs came under the same restrictions.

[5] There were many breaches during the season, resulting in fines for the players and clubs involved, or suspensions in the most egregious cases: Throughout the season, AFL-listed players were not permitted to participate in the state league competitions (the VFL, SANFL, WAFL and NEAFL) due to the greater risk of external threats in the semi-professional state league environment; this meant there was no formal competitive reserves football for players who were not selected in the seniors.

Clubs based in the same state were permitted to arrange ad hoc scratch matches for their unselected players against each other and in empty stadiums to enable some match practice; these could be stand-alone games or curtain raisers to senior games.

This precluded a conventional interstate home-and-away fixture, and meant that Queensland – which maintained few virus cases and had the most favourable quarantine arrangements – became critical to the completion of the season.

[20] The border restrictions were managed by requiring several clubs to relocate outside their states; or, to set-up in weeks-long quarantine hubs, in which clubs travelled at the same time to a restricted state for an extended three- or four-week trip, quarantined there and played several games against other teams in the hub.

Among the most notable occurred in Round 6, when all nine games were played in New South Wales and Queensland, traditionally rugby league territory.

[citation needed] Government restrictions on gatherings meant that, starting in Round 1, crowds were locked out of senior VFL/AFL matches for the first time in the code's history.

Prior to the resumption, the league renegotiated its $417-million-per-year broadcast deals with the Seven Network and Foxtel, ultimately resulting in a total television revenue reduction of approximately $150 million over 2020–2022.

[47] A one-off benefit match was played on 28 February 2020, as a fundraiser for the relief effort for the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.

Played prior to the pandemic's spread to Australia, it was the highest-attended football match of the year.