CHANNEL 10 has buckled to pressure and will screen tomorrow's Richmond-Carlton blockbuster live from 7.30pm.
Ten's head of football, David Barham, confirmed on radio SEN this morning the showdown between ex-teammates Chris Judd and Ben Cousins would be shown live.
The last remaining general admission tickets to the AFL season opener were sold on Tuesday.
And a stampede for MCC reserve tickets means a bumper crowd of up to 90,000 is expected for the 7.40pm showdown. The AFL reserve is also sold out.
The backflip comes after Ten chiefs claimed they required several days' notice to alert the public to a change to its advertised broadcast time.
"We need at least three or four days to be able to get the change of time out there to the public. It's too late," Mr Barham said. The network had originally planned to show the match on a 30-minute delay.
Richmond president Gary March had called on the network to reverse its decision.
"It's disappointing for those people who can't get along - it will probably be our biggest-ever home-and-away game with a finals-like atmosphere," March said.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said the League had not been approached by Ten with a submission to telecast the game live, as required under broadcast rules.
"That may well change tomorrow," he said.
Friday night's Grand Final rematch between Hawthorn and Geelong is also expected to attract a massive crowd
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