THE AFL has stuck with tradition after deciding to start this year's Grand Final at the regular time slot of 2.30pm.

The League's chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirmed on Friday the AFL had resisted calls to move the premiership decider to a twilight start time this year.

McLachlan said the AFL Commission had hotly debated the topic before choosing to stick with the status quo.

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"The Grand Final this year will start at 2.30," McLachlan said.

"It was a long discussion. As I've said, there's an appetite to look at a different start time in the near future, but on balance there was a prevailing view that tradition prevailed and we'll stay at 2.30 this year."

MCC chief executive Stephen Gough supported the AFL's call to start the Grand Final during the day, with McLachlan saying the possible income generated by a later start time was not important.

"Money's irrelevant," McLachlan said.

"It's [about] creating the best possible sporting event for our supporters. And clearly there are some aspects to twilight or night that would mean the broader event could be better.

"But on the other side of the fence, we're one of the oldest competitions in the world and we've been playing at 2.30 on Saturday afternoon and that's important to a lot of people as well.

"That's the debate and the balance. I'm sure we'll have a look at a twilight [Grand Final] at some point."

The AFL Commission met this week with club officials, captains and the League's executive, and McLachlan said the issue separated views. 

"It was an evenly split conversation. It was exactly as I articulated a few weeks ago – there was probably half the room very keen to stay where it is and half the room want to have a look at a twilight," McLachlan said.

"In the end, I think when a room is divided, incumbency prevails…if you have divided views, you stay where you are.