TRADITION has won for now with the AFL sticking with a 2.30pm AEST bounce for this year's Grand Final.

Chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirmed the decision on radio on Friday morning.

The debate about moving the Grand Final to a twilight timeslot intensified as the new $2.508 billion media rights deal began.

McLachlan said he expected the decision to be popular with fans.

"The majority of supporters want to keep it at 2.30pm," McLachlan told reporters on Friday.

"That isn't the only reason you keep it there, but it means that when you're going to make a change and ask the public to trust you and say 'this is going to be better,' you want to be really confident that every aspect will be better.

"Until we are definitive about that, it will stay the same."

The AFL confirmed on Friday morning the Commission had accepted McLachlan's recommendation to keep the game in its traditional Saturday afternoon slot for this season.

Discussion about the Grand Final timeslot has raged for the past few years, but picked up further once McLachlan said in October last year a twilight start was "inevitable".

"I've said that I think there's an inevitability within this broadcast contract, when that is I don't know," McLachlan said.
"We've made the decision for this year."

The last four Saturday preliminary finals were successfully played in the twilight timeslot and the AFL Commission had planned to make a decision before the season's start.

Fans were generally against a switch in various polls in recent weeks, but broadcaster Channel Seven and many AFL captains were in favour of the later start.

McLachlan also said this week any change would not be about making more money for the AFL.

This year's Grand Final will be staged at 2.30pm AEST on Saturday, September 30.