But it won't be happening any time soon, if at all.
The League's deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Thursday that the game's finances dictated that the home and away season must remain at a minimum of 22 games.
Bartel had argued in a column for Fairfax Media earlier this month that the "less is more" philosophy would mean players wouldn't be rested for less meaningful games, and that pretty much every game over the season would have ramifications for the finals or the wooden spoon.
"I read it and it made some good points," McLachlan told AFL.com.au on Thursday.
"I'm not dismissive of the article but we have a football economy that's set up around 22 games, and its not going backwards unless the clubs, players and the industry want to take less money."
The AFL is locked into broadcasting agreements until the end of 2016 that dictate a 22-game home and away season. In theory, that could change when the next broadcasting agreement is signed off, but McLachlan said that is unlikely.
"You can't rule anything out ever, but it would be very difficult. It would be unprecedented for a sports league to have less content rather than more.
"There's nothing I've seen about contraction because the football economy is set around a certain length and its really difficult to contract. It's just the way it is," he said.
The League's general manager of broadcasting and fixturing, Simon Lethlean, has started a review of the length of the entire football season, taking into account the pre-season, the NAB Cup and the home and away season.
The AFL Players Association is already firm in its stance that the length of pre-season training needs to be reduced with players from all clubs reporting back to work on the same day.
There is sympathy within the AFL towards the view of the New South Wales and Queensland-based clubs to commence the home and away season around the same time as the NRL season.
But all sorts of factors come into play such as the availability of grounds, particularly the MCG, and the length and format of the NAB Cup.
"There is discussion around what it looks like," McLachlan said.
"The coaches tell us they have to play a minimum of three games before the start of the season irrespective of what the games look like.
"There will always be a NAB cup, (we're) just not sure what form it would take," he said.
Ashley Browne is an AFL Media senior writer. @afl_hashbrowne.
