PLAY-IN tournaments, lengthening the season, selling games, growing State of Origin and shortening match duration are all expected to be debated at the CEOs conference later this month as clubs have been encouraged to bring ideas on the competition structure for 2028 and beyond.

The League has scheduled a two-day conference on the Gold Coast on June 22-23 with all club chief executives invited to attend.

The mid-year conference is a regular part of the AFL's programming and takes on extra significance this year as the League works through its competition model, with Tasmania set to enter the League in 2028. It follows Tuesday's meeting of club presidents and CEOs ahead of the Australian Football Hall of Fame event on Tuesday night.

AFL.com.au understands clubs have been prompted to think about the future of the competition structure as part of the conference, given the AFL has already made clear it has to decide between adding or losing a round with the complexities of a 19th team.

There is a view the AFL faces two decisions to make on their future fixture: if they lose or add a game, and then, should they decide to add a game, how to make the 24th game fit into the season?

Club bosses contacted by AFL.com.au had different views on that, including keeping the season as 11 home games, 11 away games, Gather Round and then using the extra game to try something revolutionary, such as a 'play-in' tournament ahead of Wildcard Round or similar.

The NBA's 'play-in' tournament is a similar model to the Wildcard Round that has been introduced for this AFL season, where a group of teams progress to the next stage of the finals and the rest play off for spots.

One concept raised was that there could be 18 rounds where every team faces each other once, and the remaining rounds before the Wildcard Round is a 'play in' tournament.

Another view canvassed was, if there is another round of games added to the fixture, game time should be slightly shortened, and that placing the successful return of State of Origin games was also integral in the next iterations of the fixture once Tasmania is in the competition.

Another concept that clubs have considered is whether an extra game could see them sell off more home games to the AFL, like is done for Magic Round in the NRL.

Unlike Gather Round, where games are essentially neutral apart from the Crows and Power contests, the NRL home teams for Magic Round effectively move one of their home games to Brisbane and are provided financial compensation from the League.

The pending talks on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which the AFL and AFL Players Association have agreed will commence in the second half of this season, as well as club funding models are also expected to be on the agenda for the two-day summit.