CEO of the Melbourne Cricket Club Stuart Fox will exercise “common sense” when dealing with the AFL Grand Final and the finals series in general.

Assuming the season is delayed and the finals are pushed back into deep October or later, the MCG will likely become unavailable due to the cricket World Cup.

Fox, who previously served as CEO of Hawthorn, said they can at best push into the second week of the month for the Grand Final, but no later.

“There’s certainly a possibility we could push into the first two weeks of October,” Fox told *SEN’s Whateley.

“After that it becomes very challenging because we have a contract in place with the ICC and cricket is bringing a World Cup to Australia and we need to think about how significant that is to Australia, to the economy and to viewership around the world.

“It’s highly unlikely that event will be disrupted and we need to respect that so I think possibly the first two weeks of October, knowing that if you use the second week of October you need 14 days to get pitches in and it takes the good part of four days to get the six or seven pitches in and then it takes 10 days from there to prep the pitch.

“Our first World Cup game is on the 25th of October and that does present challenges and I know (AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan) has said we could play until Christmas and maybe we could play here in late November or December, but cricket is obviously the priority at that time of year as well.”

The MCG has exclusive access to the Grand Final until 2057 under a new deal organised in 2019, however Fox said that they will not enforce that if the season is thrown out of whack because of the coronavirus.

“I just think common sense has to prevail here. If we all live and die by legal contracts over the next six months, we are all going to be in court for the next three or four years,” he said.

“I think it is a collective and we have all got to work together, particularly us and the AFL and the clubs.

“If we pushed our legal responsibilities and obligations to the letter of the law, I think we are all going to go broke.

“If we all take a hit and we wear it together as an industry we can get through it.

“At the moment Gillon wants the Grand Final (at the MCG). We want the Grand Final here and so does the government and we know it’s the best venue to host the Grand Final and it is tradition.

“Obviously we want it, but there’s got to be some common sense. We have to be (open to common sense).

“I’m not saying we want to lose the Grand Final. The finals series is really important to us and it is to the AFL so I do think it is going to be important that we are measured, we are sensible and we work together because there are so many bigger issues in sport alone and our industry.”

Fox added that they are still preparing the ground, assuming tomorrow's Carlton versus Richmond game goes ahead.