Eddie McGuire will not feature in Nine’s suite of football magazine shows in 2027, as the network has replaced its Tuesday night edition of Footy Classified.
The program will be replaced by another weekly episode of Nine’s Footy Furnace, which like Footy Classified is also produced by McGuire’s JAM TV, though it is not expected to be aired on Nine’s broadcast channels.
Instead, it will be relegated to Nine’s digital platform 9Now, or potentially even behind the paywall of Stan Sport.
McGuire has been a mainstay on Nine, and has hosted Footy Classified’s second show of the week since 2020, initially airing on Wednesdays before moving to Tuesday night. Footy Classified will continue to broadcast on Monday evenings.
“The Tuesday edition of Footy Classified will not return next year,” a Nine spokesperson said.
The decision is part of a move to align Nine’s broadcast output across its national network, with AFL content usually not going to air in NRL-dominated states New South Wales and Queensland.
Nine is the official free-to-air broadcaster for the NRL, while Seven broadcasts the AFL alongside Foxtel and its digital brand Kayo.
Magazine-style programming has increased recently due to the significant outlay on sports broadcast rights and the relatively low cost to produce studio-made panel shows, such as Footy Classified. Nine owns this masthead.
This masthead’s Sam McClure currently hosts the Monday edition of Footy Classified, with regular panellists including Matthew Lloyd, Jimmy Bartel and journalist Damian Barrett.
McGuire will continue to present other programming on the network, including the Melbourne Cup Spring Racing Carnival.
He is also expected to feature in several other projects on the network in 2027. He was chief executive of the company between 2006 and 2007.
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