The league plans to add a 17th team in the Gold Coast by 2011 and eventually an 18th in western Sydney, The Age reports.
AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick has revealed the league has begun preparing to sell a nine-games-per-round home-and-away season as the linchpin of broadcast rights beyond 2011. It will announce a tender process for two new club licences before the start of this season.
As it is "virtually impossible" to tempt even the most struggling Victorian club to move, Fitzpatrick said he had spoken to all three AFL TV broadcasters and the Nine Network about the league's intention to expand by 2012. "We've spoken to the networks and they are very keen to get more content. It's quite clear the Melbourne clubs have emotional attachments and infrastructures they are not prepared to relinquish."
North Melbourne's decision not to accept the league's offer to move to the Gold Coast showed how reluctant Melbourne clubs are to move, Fitzpatrick said.
"If you can't get a team to relocate on the basis that North was offered, then I don't think it's ever going to happen. In a sense it has solved a problem for us. If we are looking at establishing a 17th team on the Gold Coast by 2010-2011, the 18th team out of Sydney could follow within a year," he said.
Fitzpatrick will outline his expansion plans to the 16 existing clubs next week.
Fitzpatrick and league CEO Andrew Demetriou outlined the expanded competition plans to channels Seven, Nine, Ten and Foxtel in Sydney before Christmas.
Fitzpatrick did not rule out shortening the premiership season to 17 rounds by 2012 to ensure each team played each other once. "It's obviously something we'd look at."
The Blacktown stadium should be completed in time for a NAB Cup pre-season fixture in March next year. The two-oval complex will be home for the second Sydney team, to play most of its home games at Telstra Stadium at Homebush.
Mr Fitzpatrick also revealed that the AFL was considering drug testing footballers by taking hair or saliva samples. "We are reviewing our illicit drugs policy and these new technologies we are investigating, of hair and oral testing, could detect drug use going back three months."
